Recently, I received several emails from former students—now working professionals—asking whether I could share videos explaining some of the features I used in class when they were at university. In response, I’ve uploaded a series of five short tutorials to my YouTube channel.

It’s a channel I hadn’t used for quite some time, but revisiting it made me reflect on the kinds of skills and knowledge people value for both professional and personal development. That reflection led me not only to upload these videos, but also to begin incorporating more freely available resources that anyone can access.

Knowing which tools to use when creating a document can save a significant amount of time. I’m reminded of a class where a group of students confidently described themselves as highly tech-savvy. During the lesson, I introduced an activity where they had to create a hierarchy chart for an organisation based on information provided.

In the first part of the activity, students worked in groups using index cards or Post-it notes to organise and present the information. Once each group agreed that their layout was correct, they were asked to recreate the same structure in a document. After fifteen minutes of watching them insert shapes, struggle to add titles, and manually connect lines, I stopped the activity.

I then directed everyone’s attention to the screen, opened a similar document, and created the hierarchy chart using SmartArt in Microsoft Word. The contrast was immediate.

Some might ask why I didn’t show them this method from the beginning. My response is simple: if students already knew how to complete that step efficiently, we could have moved on without spending time revisiting it. They were also working collaboratively, and typically one or two students would know a quicker method and share it with the group—supporting peer learning and communication skills.

However, by realising they didn’t know this shortcut, everyone paid attention. In later activities, students began asking whether there was a faster or smarter way to complete tasks—exactly the mindset I hoped to encourage.

If, like those students, you’ve never used SmartArt and need to create flow charts or hierarchy charts, now is a great time to try it. There’s a short YouTube video to help you get started