Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 26 (1998-1999) March (No. 6)

Figure 1. Analysis of Expenses per Day

Table 2. Cost per day and a brief justification

Take a five-night virtual trip on the Internet. There is no limit on how much the trip can cost. The specific parts of the assignment follow. 

1. Search the Internet to find information about the location, price, and desirability of these trip activities:

   • airline or travel arrangements (round-trip)
   • hotel or other lodging (five nights)
   • restaurant (one dinner per day for five days)
   • local attractions (one per day for five days)
   • miscellaneous (as needed)

   You will need to determine where to go, where to stay, what to see, and where to eat.

    

2. Create a database with the following field names:

   • Day
   • URL
   • Activity Type
   • Activity Name
   • Cost
   • Location
   • Other

   Enter trip information that you found on the Web into your database. Numbers or facts that cannot be located after a reasonable amount of searching can be estimated. You will collect more data than you will need, so enter all of the data into the database and let its powers help you make decisions. Once activities for specific days have been decided, fill the day field. Save the file on your disk as “dbtrip.” You will need to generate and print a report that contains all similar activities; group them in alphabetical order within each activity type. Sort the activities by the day of the trip, and print a daily itinerary. These two printouts will become part of your portfolio.

    

3. Enter your trip expenses into a spreadsheet worksheet. Record the costs for airfare, lodging, dinners, attractions, and other miscellaneous items. Estimate an item’s cost if you cannot find it after a reasonable search. Enter formulas into the spreadsheet to calculate the breakfast cost as one-fourth of the dinner expense. Lunch cost should be calculated as two-thirds of the dinner expense. Enter formulas to calculate totals and averages for each activity and each day. Also calculate the percent of the overall total expense represented by the total activity expense and each total day expense. Place formulas in the appropriate cells and use the fill option to calculate the expenses automatically. Save the file on your disk as “sstrip.” Print the spreadsheet in landscape orientation on one piece of paper for the portfolio. Be sure the gridlines and headers appear on the hard copy.

   Create a graph that shows activity type and activity percent of expense. Create another graph that shows day and day percent of expense. Label the graphs. Copy the worksheet and the two graphs into a word-processing document and give a brief justification of cost. Save this file on your disk as “chtrip1.” Print these documents as part of the portfolio.

    

4. After all information has been accumulated, pretend you have taken the trip and write a creative story of approximately 750 words that describes your journey. Write about all the fun things you did. This is not the place to discuss cost. Create a cover page to accompany your story and insert a graphic from the Web as part of the page. Save the document on your disk as “wptrip1” and produce a hard copy for the portfolio.

    

5. Develop a PowerPoint presentation with at least 12 slides to describe what you did on your trip. Use custom or template backgrounds. Insert graphics into your presentation, which includes PowerPoint clipart on at least two slides, graphics from the Web on at least two slides, and WordArt on at least two slides. Insert sound into your presentation, including PowerPoint sound on at least two slides and sound from the Web on at least one slide. Select transitions, build effects for each slide, dim points on a slide, and change text color, size, and typeface. Save the document as “ppttrip1.” Print with six slides to a page for your portfolio.

    

6. Create a cover page for your portfolio that includes a graphic from the Web that represents your trip, your name in Word-Art, and your course and section number. Assemble your portfolio in this order: cover page, creative story, PowerPoint presentation, spreadsheet worksheet, two graphs, and database file.

Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.