Free E-mail

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Free E-Mail

Table of contents

1 Outline 2 Handouts 3 Teaching Guide 3.1 What Is E-Mail? 3.2 Anatomy Of An Email Address 3.3 Email Service Providers 3.4 Sign Up For Email at MyWay 3.5 Go over basic commands, functions 3.6 Practice sending a message 3.7 Show attachment process 3.8 Show address book 3.9 SPAM, other information

Outline

1. What Is E-mail?
2. Anatomy of E-mail Address
3. E-mail service providers
4. Sign Up For Email at MyWay
   1. Go over basic commands, functions
   2. Practice sending a message
   3. Show address book
   4. Show attachment process
5. Recap if you have time

Handouts

1. MyWay screenshots

Teaching Guide

What Is E-Mail?

E-mail is a way of sending a message to another person through the Internet. Any person with an email address of their own can send an email to any email address that they know.

Advantages of web based e-mail

1. Free
2. Always available from any computer that has internet access

Disadvantages of web based e-mail

1. Must be logged on to the Internet to access
2. Limited storage space (not as big a problem as it used to be)
3. Attracts SPAM (junk mail)

Anatomy Of An Email Address

What is an email address and what does it look like?

username@place.type (and sometimes .country after that)

example: crashsolo23@myway.com

1. username Your unique name for this email service. Some email services have millions of clients, and new users have to get very creative with their usernames, to avoid duplicating another user.
2. @ Indicates where the user name stops, and also that the address is an email address and not a web site. Web sites do not have “@” symbols in them.
3. place The domain or network on where you have your email account.
4. type The type of organization your domain or network is. (.com = commercial, .net = network, .org = organization, .edu = educational institution, etc.)
5. country Non US addresses and web sites have a two letter country code, such as .uk (United Kingdom) or .ca (Canada)

An Email address is not the same as a web address. Email addresses have an @ symbol in them, and web addresses do not. You cannot put an email address into your browser address bar and get anywhere. To send an email address, you must first log in to your own email program, and start from there.

Email Service Providers

There are many companies that provide free email, if you are able to get onto the Internet. You can get onto the Internet from the library if you have a library card. You can also get onto the Internet at some types of businesses, sometimes for free and sometimes for a fee.

Every email provider has different pros and cons - some provide more space, which can be nice if you are receiving a lot of photos via email. Some provide higher security and better spam blockers. Our library has chosen MyWay for use in these classes for two main reasons: First, they aren't huge like Yahoo or AOL, so it's easier to get a username that you like. Second, their form to fill out is very short.

Depending on what you plan on doing with the Internet and with your email address, sometimes it can be a good idea to have two email addresses. Besides getting practice setting up an email address, having a second address gives you some options. You can give out your main email address to family, friends, and contacts that you trust and want to hear from. You can keep a second email address for use when you need to sign up for something online, or at those sites that require an email address in order to view pages or go farther into the site. Some places online will sell your email address to advertisers, who will use it to send you advertisements and spam.

Sign Up For Email at MyWay

This is how to get a My Way account. Short explanation version:

1. Go to www.myway.com
2. Click on “My Email” near the top of the web page
3. Choose “Sign Up!”
4. Fill out the form completely.
   1. Username is the part that goes first in the e-mail address
   2. Password is the password you will use each time you want to get into you’re My Way account.
   3. Click “I Agree” to the terms and policies at the bottom, and there you are in your new inbox.
5. To get into your account next time, follow steps 1 and 2, then select “Sign In” instead of Sign Up.

Go over basic commands, functions

1. To check your messages, go to the Inbox.
2. To look at a specific message, click on it's Subject.
3. To send a message to the Trash, check the box next to the message, and click Delete, or move the massage to the Trash file.
4. To empty your Trash (permanently remove the messages in your Trash file), click "empty" next to the Trash file.

Practice sending a message

TEACHING HINT:

A good exercise here is to have each student in the class and the teacher (who should have a junk email address just for this purpose) exchange their new email addresses and email each other. Have each of them write their new address on a piece of scrap paper, one for each other student and one for the teacher. This gives them practice understanding what their new address is. Also it is exciting and instructive for them to see their emails show up on their neighbor's computer. To send a message:

1. Click on “Compose Message.”
2. Put the email address of the person you are sending to in “To:”
3. In the Subject, write one or two words to describe what the email is about.
4. Write the letter in the big white box.
5. Click "Send" at the bottom.

Show attachment process

To Attach a file to your email:

1. Click “Attach” then use Browse to find the file you want to attach.
2. You are attaching a file that is either in your computer or on a disk or other device. You have to find the file in the folders offered for your computer.
3. Click Open when you find the file.
4. Click “Attach File” followed by “Return to my Message”
5. “Send” your message.

Show address book

1. Your address book is arranged alphabetically.
2. When you open a message from someone, there is a link at the top of the message to add them to your address book.
   1. When you click that link, you'll be asked to fill in a short form about the email address.
   2. Some of the form will already be filled in - just check it for accuracy.
3. When you send a message to someone who is not in your address book, you will be asked if you want to add that person to your address book.

SPAM, other information

1. Things to write down and keep safe: Your full e-mail address, your user name, your password.
2. Things to avoid: Spam. Don’t open attachments from unfamiliar email addresses, and don’t transmit passwords or account information through email.

TEACHING HINT: Before dismissing the class, have the students completely log out of my way. Then have then log into my way, find their email, and log into their email. Explain that this is what they have to do to access their email, no matter where they are in the world or what computer they are using.