Creating An Account, Using Your Inbox, Sending s and Learn My Way.

Transcription

1 Creating An Account, Using Your Inbox, Sending s and Learn My Way. 1 The first thing we are going to do is to create an account. Having an account is an easy and free way to contact friends, family and businesses at the click of a mouse. There are two different kinds of package out there, web based and computer based. Both these services allow you to receive and send s but they are different to. Questions What are the differences between an package installed on a computer and a web based package? Do you know the name of any services or packages? If so, are they web based or installed on a computer? If your address is a Gmail and your friend is a Hotmail, can you each other? And what s the difference? Notes: Page 1 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

2 2 The easiest accounts to use are those that are web based, plus there normally free making them accessible for everybody. 3 There are many different services that are provided by the Internet companies which offer web based . For example Google offer you their Gmail service, Microsoft offer you their Hotmail service and BT offer you their Yahoo service. These services all the look similar and offer you roughly the same thing making them the more popular choice when creating an account. 4 We re going to use Google as our providers and create a Gmail account. Follow the steps on the right to create your account. Steps to Google Search 1. Double left-click on the Internet Explorer icon. 2. Enter into the address bar. 3. Click on the Gmail link in the top right hand corner. 4. Once you ve clicked Gmail, you know need to Create an account. Page 2 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

3 5 Once you ve clicked on the Create an Account button, the package will direct you to a page that requests some of your personal information such as your first name, surname, birthday and mobile phone number. You may feel that you don t want to give them some of your details and that s fine. Some of the fields are mandatory though and you have to give them this information to successfully create an account. Questions What is your username? How secure can you make your password? Why do you think they ask for an alternative account or your mobile phone number? How can you tell if a field is mandatory? 6 Once you ve created the account, make sure you record a copy of your username, a password hint; the alternative e- mail address/phone number and the answer to your secret question in case you forget them and have to request a new password. Once you ve made a copy of this were going to open a new tab and use to learn more about . Page 3 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

4 7 Now you re on learn my way, you need to log in to your account. Have you remembered to bring your little books containing your log-in details? If not, speak to a volunteer and they will help you remember your username/password or set you up with a training account until either next time or in the worst case scenario, they have to make you a new account. Using the mouse click on the grey button at the top of the page which says sign in. The form that comes up now is the sign-in form. Fill this in with the help of a volunteer. Once you ve filled in your username and password, click log in and the webpage should change to the list of courses similarly to when we did the keyboard and mouse course. 8 Now you ve logged back in to learn my way, you ll see there are various courses available. You should have completed keyboard basics and mouse basics from the Getting Started section. We re now going to look at courses from the Online Basics section. Click on the blue arrow to drop down the courses within the Online Basics. Can you see the course labelled Using ? Left-click on the link to get the course material. Page 4 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

5 9 A pop-up should appear welcoming you to Online Basics and asking you whether you wish to have audio on or off. If you wish to have audio on, ask a volunteer and they will provide you with headphones so the computer will read out the text to you. If you find it read s it too fast, then chose audio off and read it at your own pace. 10 Once you ve selected you re audio settings and clicked Start, you should be taken to a screen with the modules for Using listed. Left-click in the circle alongside the module title packages and then select the Next that appears in the bottom right hand-corner. Does your page look like this? 11 Once you ve clicked Next, the module will begin and start to walk you through the steps needed to complete it. When you ve read each page, click next again. To the right is a list of varying things you may see on these pages which are interactive and require you to complete a task. Once you ve completed the first module, move on to the others and complete them. The play symbol will show you a video of a certain skill or technique. The start symbol will start a task which you have to complete. Remember to click the finish symbol before clicking next to see if you have done the task correctly. Page 5 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

6 12 Once you ve completed all the modules, there is a small test to make sure you ve learnt the necessary skills to sign-off the course. All these modules are available for you to go over at a later date. If you struggle with the quiz, ask a volunteer to help. The arrows can be clicked to change the screen as it shows you a variety of different images based around the relevant page. 13 Once you ve completed all the modules you need to close down the course page by selecting Close from the top right hand corner. Once you ve closed down the course page, you need to then need to logout of your learn my way account by clicking on the grey Sign-out located at the top of the page. Page 6 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

7 14 Once you ve logged out of learn my way, we need to close down the tab and return to our account. Now we ve returned to our e- mail account we re going to look at reading, replying and sending s. 15 Does your inbox look the inbox on the right? Your inbox is the place where all incoming s can be found and is the first page that greets you after logginng into your account. The number of unread s in your inbox is typically displayed in bold and brackets next to inbox to indicate to you how many s you have received. The word inbox acts as a link and allows you to navigate back to your inbox at any time. 16 To open an that is in your inbox, you must firstly ensure you are on the inbox page. Once you are in your inbox, you need to look for the which is in bold. The bold indicates that the is unread. This may also have an unopened envelope symbol next to it also indicating that it is unread. To open the , in this case from the Gmail Team you have to click on the name of er. Open an and then return to your inbox. Page 7 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

8 17 When you ve returned to your inbox, you ll notice that the number in the brackets has changed, in this case from 3 to 2 and the font of the writing isn t bold anymore. Both of these signs indicate that an has been read. 18 Once you ve managed to open the you may decide you want to reply to the you ve been sent. The first step here is to click the Relpy button highlighted in the picture. The location of the reply function will differ between providers but in general it is above the along side other options such as Add a Cc and Attach a file. The person s address will automatically be put in the To: box, meaning if your unsure of their address, it s done for you already. Begin typing your message into the space highlighted. Once you ve completed the writing of your , just click Send and your will be sent. If you have any problems, ask a volunteer for help. Page 8 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

9 19 Now to send an from scratch. For this you will need to know the person s address or have it in your contact list. By clicking the Compose Mail or New button you will be taken to a page similar to that when we used the reply button but this one will be blank. To: - This box is where the e- mail address of the receipient goes. Subject This enables you to give the a heading, so the recipient has an idea what is in the prior to opening it. This space is where you will type the . Some providers provide spell checks but other s don t so make sure to check spelling and punctuation before sending the . Once you ve completed the , click the send button and your will be sent. 20 Once you ve sent the you should receive a message letting you know that the message has been sent. Once you ve seen this message you have looked at how to read an from your inbox, reply to an you ve received and send an to one of your contacts. We now need to logout of our account. To do this we need to left-click on the blue silhouette of a person in the top-right hand corner. A drop Page 9 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.

10 down box will appear with an option to sign out. Click sign-out to sign out of your account. 21 To Try it yourself you need to be able to access your account. If you don t have internet at home, you can attend a local library or any of the Starting Point drop-in sessions. TRY IT YOURSELF. To practice your skills, log-in to your account and check your inbox, reply to any s and compose any s to contacts that you may need to. Page 10 of 10 Sole property of Starting Point. Permission required for reuse.