Administrative Assistant Fundamentals

Become an indispensable member of the corporate team as an Administrative Assistant. This course will help you master essential job responsibilities as you identify opportunities and implement solutions for increased productivity throughout your company.

SHARE
6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs
Currently Enrolling
Offered in partnership with your preferred school

Florida International University

Change School
Learning method

Administrative Assistant Fundamentals

Enroll Now

Course code: cop

Rapid growth in the health, legal services, data processing, management, public relations, and other industries have created many new job opportunities for administrative assistants. This course will help you discover and master the essentials of managerial and staff support, information and records management, communications technology, travel and meeting coordination, space planning, and office ergonomics. You will become an indispensable member of your team by identifying opportunities and implementing solutions to turn your office into a high productivity machine.

This course and its follow up (Administrative Assistant Applications) may help you prepare for the internationally-recognized Certified Administrative Professional® (CAP®) exam offered by the International Association of Administrative Professionals® (IAAP®).

Note: This course is not affiliated with, nor has it been endorsed by, the International Association of Administrative Professionals® (IAAP®).

What you will learn

  • Essentials of managerial and staff support.
  • Information and records management.
  • Communications technology.
  • Travel and meeting coordination.
  • Space planning and office ergonomics.

How you will benefit

  • Become an indispensable member of your team when you put your newfound knowledge and skills into practice.
  • Increase your job opportunities and earnings potential.
  • Continue your education with our Administrative Assistant Applications course to prepare for the Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) exam.

How the course is taught

  • Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
  • 6 Weeks or 3 Months access
  • 24 course hours

In the first lesson, you will learn why organizations need administrative assistants and explore the types of work that they perform. You will be introduced to the different administrative specialties and look at an overview of their varied duties and requirements. You will learn about the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), and the professional certification—Certified Administrative Professional (CAP)—that IAAP offers.

As an administrative assistant, you frequently participate in office planning. This lesson will help you to understand that an office is an interdependent system where everything works together. You will see that creating an office environment requires bringing many components together.

In today's fast-paced world, organizations move very quickly and make split-second decisions that have far reaching implications. In this lesson, you will learn how to effectively use information management to create a successful office operation and help increase your value to your organization.

Telecommunications, communications, and technology fit together like a hand in a glove. This lesson will show you how telecommunications technology enables you to access information, share knowledge, and communicate without boundaries.

In this lesson, you will learn how to productively use reprographics and manage records, two duties that are frequently handled by administrative assistants. You will also discover that records management is the management of paper documents, micromedia, and other documents.

As an administrative assistant, you spend a lot of your day inputting and storing data, retrieving and analyzing information, and producing presentations, newsletters, numerical reports, graphs, and charts. To better help you focus on computer hardware and software in this lesson to help you better understand the properties of your office computer system.

This lesson covers scheduling and coordinating meetings, conferences, and business travel. As an administrative assistant, you play an important role in helping co-workers arrive at the right place at the right time. You also provide them with information and materials that enhance their effectiveness while they travel and participate in meetings.

A critical responsibility of administrative assistants is coordinating numerous office activities. This lesson examines how to create practical policies and procedures. You will focus on the use of policies and procedures that meet organizational objectives and create order in your day-to-day activities.

As an administrative assistant, you spend much of your time reading and composing business documents. This lesson's objective is to enhance your business writing skills. After you finish this lesson, you will have an increased ability to write high-quality business documents.

This lesson bridges the subjects of written and verbal communication by discussing the principles of grammar and punctuation. It's likely that you need to help others with their written communication, so you will also review the mechanics of proofreading.

As an administrative assistant, you practice interpersonal communication in a variety of ways, ranging from one-on-one to communicating in a group. This lesson will explain how your desire to share thoughts and ideas creates the first part of communication and how you create the second part when you listen, interpret, and react to feedback.

This final lesson will teach you how to perform basic research—something administrative assistants are often asked to do. It also discusses the steps you take to create a meaningful and memorable presentation, including strategies for starting your preparation and the software that can help you create a polished piece.

Becky Swaim

Becky Swaim has taught since 2000, focusing on Administrative Assistant Fundamentals, Administrative Assistant Applications, and Individual Excellence. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from California State University, Long Beach. Her experience includes managing large staff in medical billing and collections and as a program manager to various medical practices.

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 8 or later.
  • Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.​

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.​

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.​

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.​

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

You may become an office or administrative assistant through education or work experience. Employers typically prefer some education beyond a high school diploma, and completing an administrative assistant training course proves you have the required skills.

There are no official certifications that are required to work as an administrative assistant. However, if you do want a certification to add to your resume, you may sit for the CAP exam, designated by the International Association of Administrative Professionals.

Administrative Assistant ApplicationsFundamentalsEffective Business WritingFundamentalsGrammar RefresherFundamentalsIndividual ExcellenceFundamentalsAchieving Success with Difficult PeopleFundamentalsKeyboardingFundamentalsExplore a Career as an Administrative Medical AssistantFundamentals
Fundamentals
Administrative Assistant Applications
Fundamentals
Effective Business Writing
Fundamentals
Grammar Refresher
Fundamentals
Individual Excellence
Fundamentals
Achieving Success with Difficult People
Fundamentals
Keyboarding
Fundamentals
Explore a Career as an Administrative Medical Assistant