National Historical Site Vacation – Final Exam

This is your final exam in Computer Apps Advanced. This will take approximately 2 weeks and will use Internet Explorer, Excel, Word, Publisher, and PowerPoint. You are going to plan a trip to 6 historical parks in the U.S.

You are to spend no more than 20 days and $7,700.00 on your journey.

Please use the following conditions.

The trip begins in Indianapolis at the airport. You will drive to the airport, park your car and rent a vehicle. You will drive the rental to all the sites then leave the car and fly home from the last city you visit. Plan your trip so that you can drive to each park without backtracking too much to save time and money.

You have 3 people traveling with you: 2 adults and a 10 year-old child. (Total of 4 people)

You will begin your trip on June 1st and return to Indianapolis before 10 PM on the 20^th.

NOTE: You will be dropped off and picked up at the airport by friends. There is no expense required for either of these trips.

Some information is supplied for you. Follow the guidelines and enjoy the experience.

The following files are used in the project and may be downloaded here:

(Right Click on the link and then left click “Save Target As” to open up the save dialog box.)

Historic Trip.xlsx

Itinerary Planner.xlsx

PARAMETERS

You may travel no more than 650 miles daily in the automobile, less than 400 is preferable.

Make the plan as realistic as possible.

You must determine motel/hotel prices for the cities in which you wish to stay.

You must determine entry/gate fees for the parks you visit

You must determine Airline prices for your entire party back to Indianapolis.

You may exceed the maximum miles by 10% on 2 days if needed.

The following sites will help you with your planning and finding prices. You may use other sites as long as the requirements are followed exactly.

REQS

At least one site must be chosen from each of the following areas:

New England - http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/ne_us.pdf

West - http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/westus.pdf

Deep South - http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/southus.pdf

Midwest - http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/midwestus.pdf

Complete map of US including capital cities (most have airports) can be found at http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/uscap.pdf

STEP 1 Research of Sites

http://www.historyplace.com/tourism/usa.htm

National Parks and Museums Home

TIME MANAGEMENT HINT: Research at least 2 sites per day spending no more than 3 days choosing sites. Look at the features of the park and what you would see there if you visited. More detailed timeline at bottom of page.

Record in WORD:

Historical Site postal address including city and state.

URL to the site.

Name

Date or era represented at the historical site.

Is it recognition of an individual? If so, whom?

What it is about?

Write a paragraph telling about the site and why you want to visit it.

Note any entry fees and expenses associated with the site.

Where XXX = Your Initials - Save document as “XXX-Research.docx” in a new folder in your My Documents called “XXX-Trip Planner”

STEP 2 Plan your trip

Use the file “Itinerary Planner.xlsx” to chart expenses, places visited and miles traveled, so you will be able to complete the “Historic Trip.xlsx” file later. Save file as xxx-Itinerary Planner.xlsx

Use the following resources to estimate your expenses:

EXPENSES CALCULATIONS

Auto Expenses

Car Rental is 41.00/day for a 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee (2WD).

You must calculate gas and mileage. Information on how to do this will be provided.

Food Expenses:

Fast food

Breakfast 18.54

Lunch 24.23

Dinner 25.79

Moderate Restaurants

Breakfast 26.50

Lunch 42.79

Dinner 55.18

Finer Restaurants

Breakfast 68.90

Lunch 102.00

Dinner 170.00

Snack stops on the highway 15.85

You may also calculate picnics at the parks for 23.00 per meal.

Note whether or not the hotel/motel you choose offers a free breakfast, this could save you money.

Mapping your trip

www.randmcnally.com

www.mapquest.com

Gasoline Expenses

http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com

How to calculate and use the above site

http://www.ehow.com/how_4678880_gas-expenses-next-trip-free.html

Airline and Accommodations

www.expedia.com.

www.travelocity.com

www.orbitz.com

STEP 3 Complete Historical Trip.xlsx

Parts of the sheet already have formulas inserted.

Do not forget to use absolute references to bring all

expenses and add them correctly on the summary sheet.

Save the file as “XXX_Historical Trip.xlsx” every few minutes.

Save the completed file in the new folder in your

“My Documents” called “XXX-Trip Planner”

Make sure the sheet correctly shows all expenses and totals them on the summary sheet.

You may add expense categories as needed. Double check the formulas after adding rows or columns to make certain they are still correctly calculating. Absolute references will not change even if a row or column is added.

STEP 4 Making a Brochure

We will have a brief tutorial in class about Publisher, but the following may be used as a guide also.

Open Microsoft Publisher. Select the heading “Publications for Print” then select “Brochures” then click “Informational” Choose any design.

Cancel the box that displays for Personal Information. Your screen should look similar to figure on the next page.

Switch pages here. Change brochure attributes here Change Pictures Add text.

EXPERIMENT

Publisher is not difficult to learn and uses all the formatting principles you have already learned in a readily printable format.

Use some of the paragraphs from the Word document you created doing your research and collect pictures from the websites about the historical sites to create a brochure that is informative, and attractive.

Save final draft as xxx-Brochure.pub in the xxx-Trip Planner Folder in your My Documents folder.

STEP 5 Presentations

Create a PowerPoint presentation with a title slide that

shows all 6 sites with pictures and a bulleted list of

features of the park. A slide should also be included

that summarizes days spent, miles traveled, and all

expenses. It should be at least 8 slides long.

1-Title

6- Content

1-Expenses

It should have embedded links to each site on its respective slide and embedded music to play for duration.

It should advance automatically and loop as if it was for use in an unattended kiosk.

Presentation will be graded on content, design, grammar and operability.

Note: It should be saved as a ppsx not a pptx

Save final presentation as xxx-trip.ppsx in the xxx-Trip Planner Folder in your My Documents folder.

TIMELINE

Time management will be critical on this project. Unlike the website project, it may not be possible to extend deadlines. You may work on this project at home, but you will be given the time below in class to complete the project. Most students should have more than enough time. If you are falling behind, you may “catch-up” at lunch, study halls, after school or at home. Please pre-arrange times if you wish to use the lab.

The following is a suggested timeline. You may be able to complete some steps more quickly and spend more time on others. This is to be used as a guideline. Pace yourself and finish well.

“… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Heb 12:1b NIV

Step 1 3 Days

Step 2 2 Days

Step 3 2 Days

Step 4 2 Days

Step 5 3 Days

You will be given a total of 12 class periods to complete this project.

Due Date will be announced at the assignment of this project.

If you have ANY questions - ASK