Adobe Acrobat Tutorial
As a special education teacher, I have to fill out forms on a regular basis. I complete an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) on all of my students each year. The full plan can be anywhere from 5-15 pages long. Though the state has a computer program that creates these forms, our district has opted not to purchase it. So.....that means I fill out each page of the IEP using a carbon triplicate form. That requires a lot of time that I do not have to give. It takes away time that could be used to help my students. As a way of trying to give my time back to my students, I came up with a way to cut down on the time it takes to fill out the paperwork.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to create fill-in forms from existing forms. Though the development of the fill-in forms will take time, once completed, it should greatly cut down on time spent on paperwork. You will be able to use Adobe Acrobat to complete paperwork by electronically filling in, editing, and saving information.
NOTE: I came up with this method without the use of any Adobe Acrobat Manuals. I did consult the Help menu of the program, but found it to be much too technical to be easily understood. I have included a list of manuals on the Additional Information page of my tutorial that might assist you in creating your forms as well as working with other aspects of Adobe Acrobat.
My intended audience is teachers who would like to cut down on the amount of time it takes them to fill out forms.
ScannerAdobe Acrobat -- The screen shots in this tutorial were taken using version 4.0Microsoft Office -- Office 97 or above -- specifically Microsoft Word
I have a basic outline for the steps of creating a form. I am currently working on skeletons of the web pages. I am ordering a new version of Acrobat so that my screen shots will be up-to-date. I am waiting to do pictures until that comes in. I will be linking the pages sometime next week.
I have contacted a few people who would be willing to evaluate the site.
My original outline for this tutorial can be found at Adobe Acrobat in the Classroom. It was created for the ROE11 Technology Conference 2003.
This week, I uploaded my incomplete pages. I set up the cosmetic features (background, fonts, etc.) of the site as well as collecting additional information. I am currently working on preparing the individual pages for the addition of the screen shots. By clicking on the Tutorial link at the top of this page, you can view my project. I am continually updating the web site as I finish sections.
This week, I finished up the text portion of the site. I have found that my new version of Adobe Acrobat (6.0) does not look like it is going to arrive on time. So ....I am going to go ahead with my screen shots using my Acrobat 4.0. Hopefully once my software does come I can update the site at a later point.
Eventually, I would like to add pages on how to create multi-page forms and annotating and editing PDFs.
If you run across any errors or broken links, please email me at burrus@uiuc.edu.
I have complied a list of fellow teachers to work their way through my tutorial to evaluate it for accuracy, accessibility, and understanding.
Reviews:
Laura says: "It is really beautiful. It is very easy to understand and follow. I am very impressed!!!"
Tammy says: "I can appreciate your attempt at creating fill in forms as that also takes a lot of time away from my students in my class. I enjoyed using your tutorial and will absolutely try it in my class with forms I fill out weekly for our grade folders. Your tutorial makes creating these forms seem as easy as following step-by-step directions. I may practice a few and then get back with you with further comments but as it stands now it seems easy to follow, well explained, and professional looking."
Sheree says: "I find the Adobe Acrobat tutorial to be very well-written. Everything is simple to understand and explained extremely well. There are lots of pictures and examples that make understanding easy. The steps are well organized and progress in a logical way. The site itself is also well organized, uncluttered and easy to navigate. Ms. Burrus seems to have thought of everything necessary for even the most novice computer user to understand and she even adds additional tips that the beginning user will find helpful."
Tutorial Home ¦ Additional Information
Importing Forms ¦ Types of Fields ¦ Creating Fields ¦ Saving Forms ¦ Filling In Forms
Created
by Casey Jo Burrus
Bingham, Illinois
Created:
June 2003
Updated:
September 5, 2004
The background for this site can be downloaded at http://www.website-designs.com/index2.htm