This lesson teaches users how to use Gmail for email communication and collaboration. It covers signing up for a Gmail account, sending and receiving emails, attaching documents to emails, forwarding emails, using the archive feature, and Gchat for instant messaging within Gmail. The goal is to familiarize users with Gmail's collaboration tools.

1. Lesson 3: Email and Internet Communication
Goal of Lesson: This lesson will familiarize users with the use of
collaborative email. Gmail will be used because it allows for easy to use
collaboration tools, all within the same email account.
­Signing up for an email account
­Sending and receiving messages
­Attaching documents and photos to messages
­Using Gchat as a quick efficient way of communicating within the
email application

2. A. What is email used for?
Email has become the primary method of communicating in today’s workplace.
People use email to send electronic messages to each other. Many people use it for
keeping in touch with friends or family. Businesses increasingly use it for sending
official business like memos, reports, and documents.
Emails can carry attachments to the main message. Attachments are usually
documents files or photos that accompany the main written message.
The BOSCO user will become familiar with the Google email service, called Gmail.
Gmail is the most advanced, easy to use, free email service on the web today.
Furthermore, users will be able to open an email account that allows a number of
easy‐to‐use collaborative communication services. The user will learn how to use
Gchat and Google Documents (later lesson).
B. Signing up for a Gmail account
Task: User should create a Gmail email account
Turn on the computer; open the web browser and type the following web
address into the browser: www.gmail.com
After typing the address, simply press enter on the key on the keyboard
and wait for the browser to take you to gmail.com
After the page loads, click on the “Create New Account” link at the bottom
right hand corner of the page

3.
Start filling in the requested information in the boxes. This includes
1)First name
2)Last Name
3) Desired Login name
4) Choosing a password
5) Choosing a “Security Question” and answer and
6) Word Verification

4. Tips: Your login name is also your email address. It should be
something simple that incorporates part or all of your real name.
For example Okello Stephen might choose to use: ostephen23 as
his login name.
‐Click “Check Availability” to see if your suggested login
name has already been taken by another user
‐Choose a password that you can remember
‐Make sure it is 8 characters (numbers and letters) in
length
When you have completed the form click “I accept. Create my
account” at the bottom of the page. If you have made a mistake
Google will ask you to retype the information. As soon as you click
“Create my account” Gmail will open your email inbox.

5. C. Sending and Receiving Email
Task: At least two users should sign up for a Gmail account and proceed
to send and receive emails from each other
‐First user should go to www.gmail.com and sign into their Gmail
account
After signing in, your inbox will load and eventually open. Click on the
“Compose Mail” link at the top left portion of your page.
•
• After clicking on “Compose Mail” enter the recipients email address in
the “To” box; make sure you enter the address correctly

6. • Enter a subject in the subject box; a subject is a 1‐5 word summary of
your message, for example, many people use the subject “Hello” or
“Greetings” for messages to friends
• Enter the body of your message (the main text) in the large box.
When you are finished simply click “Send” at the bottom or top of your
message screen.
Task: Other partner should open email inbox and receive messages from users.
Partner should then reply to those emails.
• Sign in to Gmail inbox following steps above
• Click on new message

7. After clicking on the new message, it will open. Simply read the message and
then click “Reply,” found at the bottom of the message
After clicking “Reply,” simply type your response and then press “Send” when
you are finished
Practical exercise: Members should practice sending and receiving email
messages to each other

8. D. Sending Attachments in your email
Attachments are used often in email. An attachment is any document, photo,
spreadsheet, or other item that you “attach” to your main email message. For
example a student may send a teacher a regular email asking her about the exam
scores. She might reply back with a message and an attached spreadsheet
document that shows the exam scores. Attachments are used to send anything that
is too big or long to fit in a regular email message.
Attachments are so important today because it is the primary method that
individuals, businesses, and schools around the world send each other documents.
People no longer rely on the postal service to send reports and photos. They simply
send them through email, using attachments.
Task: User will sign into Gmail account and send a friend a message with any
document attached.
‐Sign into Gmail account
‐Click on “Compose mail” near top left of window
‐Fill out the “To” form with the recipients email address; fill out the subject
form
‐Select a document to attach by clicking on the “Attach a file” link

9. ‐When you click on “Attach a file” a window will pop up asking you to select a
document. You must find your document by searching through the folders in
the window. Once you find you document click on it once and then click the
“Open” or “Select” button at the bottom of the popup window.
‐Once you have clicked “Open” or “Select,” your document will begin
uploading as an attachment in your Gmail message. Just be patient while it
uploads. You should spend time writing the body of your email message
while the attachment uploads.
Attachment uploading (see
progress bar)
‐When the attachment is finished uploading and you have typed your message, just
click send.

10. E. Email forwarding, Gchat, and other tools
There are other important functions that you should know about when using Gmail.
We’ll discuss a few basic tools here that will help you stay organized and
communicate more effectively.
The first thing we’ll discuss is how to forward email messages. Forwarding
messages allows you to send copies of a message from one person to a third party.
For example, I might receive an invitation sent from my brother and then proceed to
forward it to my mother.
Secondly, archiving old messages (as opposed to deleting them) will be discussed;
and finally, we’ll talk about an innovative email tool called Gchat that allows you to
send messages to your contacts in “real time.”
Task: User will practice forwarding a message from his/her inbox to another
user’s inbox
‐Sign into your gmail account
‐Click on and open an unread email message
‐After reading message, click on the “Forward” link found below the message
‐After clicking “Forward,” enter the recipients email address and then you
might also write some clarifying text in the body of the message, before
pressing “send.” Forwarding works especially well for attachments because
once you receive an attachment in an email message you will not have to
upload it again if you choose to forward it right away.

11.
You can add your own
clarifying message here
This area is the
forwarded message
(original message) that
you are passing on to
someone else
Task: User will learn how to archive (save) old messages
‐Gmail uses a tool called “Archive” to allow users to save old messages. With
Gmail, you have tons of memory space so you never have to delete a message
(unless it is junk mail, e.g., advertising or a lottery ticket scam, which should
always be deleted to prevent viruses)
‐Archiving is simple: First open your gmail account by signing in; read your
unread messages. When you are finished just click “Archive” right above the
message.

12. Once you have clicked “Archive” the message will disappear from your inbox.
However it is not gone forever! You can find your old messages by searching for
them.
Task: Search for your old archived messages within Gmail
‐To search for old messages that have been archived, just type the name of
the person who you sent the message to, email, address, subject, or anything
else you can remember that remotely pertains to the message in the Gmail
search box; then press the “Search Mail” button
‐After pressing “Search Mail” Gmail will show you the results of your search.
Simply browse the list to find the message you are looking for and click on it
to open. If you fail to find the message you are looking for, try refining your
search by using another search term
The message I was searching for
has appeared!

13. Task: Users will learn how to use the Gchat application within Gmail
Gchat (aka Google Chat) is a simple application that allows you to chat
instantly with other contacts you have who are also online at the same time
as you. This is preferable to email at times because you are chatting with
them in “real‐time” rather than waiting for a response back
‐Sign into your Gmail account or open your inbox if you already are signed in
‐On the left hand side of the window, near the bottom you’ll notice a box with
your name in it with a green dot next to your name; the window should be
labeled “chat”
‐You’ll have to add contacts to your Gchat list before you can chat with them;
To add a contact, click on the “Add contact” link in your Gchat window
After clicking on “Add contact” a pop up window will emerge; input the
contact email of those you would like to chat with and press “Send
Invites”

14.
‐If your contacts are online at the same time as you, you will see their
name appear in the Gchat menu with a green dot next to their name,
signifying that they are available.
‐To chat with them, simply click on their name
‐A popup chat window will appear in the bottom right hand side of your
screen. Begin typing in the box and press “Enter” on the keyboard to send
your message
Messages from the other person who is chatting with you will appear in
the same place

15.
Practical Exercise: Send partners emails with attachments and try to add
contacts for Gchat