2. Log-on to a district computer
• Turn on computer.
• Enter user-id and password.
3. Activation
• Change your password
– Hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE
– Select “Change a password”
– Type in your existing password
– Enter your new password (8 characters)
– Verify your new password (8 characters)
4. Initial Account Access
• Open Internet Explorer
• Go to google.ca
• Click ‘Sign-in’
• Type in your username@learn.cssd.ab.ca
• Enter your District password
• Click ‘Sign-in’
5. Navigating Your Google Homepage - I
• The black tool bar across the top of the webpage
are your personal tools
– Search
– Images
– Documents
– Calendar
– Sites
– Groups
– Contacts
– Maps
– More
6. Navigating your Google Homepage - II
• Clicking on ‘More’ gives you access to:
– YouTube
– News
– Translate
– Books
– Blogger
– Reader
– Finance
– Photos
– Videos
– And ‘Even More’
7. Navigating your Google Homepage - III
• iGoogle – a personalized Google experience.
– Click on iGoogle
– Select the options you would like to see on your
homepage
– Select a theme
– Select your country
– Enter your postal code
– Click ‘See your page’
8. Your iGoogle Homepage
• Your personal page includes a selection of
gadgets:
– The Google Search Bar
– Gmail preview window
– To-do list
– CBC | Top Stories
– YouTube
– Weather
– Sportsnet.ca
9. Adding Gadgets to your iGoogle
Homepage
• Add gadgets by selecting the ‘add gadgets’
button on the top right of the screen
• Select the gadget from the list. A description
will appear
• Click “Add gadget now”. The button will
change to ‘Added’
• Click ‘Back to iGoogle’
10. Modifying and Moving Gadgets
• Moving gadgets
– Click on the gadget title bar and drag to the
desired position
• Deleting gadgets
– Float the mouse in the upper right hand corner of
the gadget, select the ‘gears’ dropdown menu,
select ‘Delete Gadget’
– Confirm
11. Logging out of your Google Account
• Locate and click on your account ID in the
upper right hand corner of your homepage
• Select “Sign Out”
Editor's Notes
This presentation can be used by a facilitator to lead a group of Calgary Catholic School District employees on how to activate, access, and set-up their @learn.cssd.ab.ca – google accounts. The Notes will be in regular type. Script will be italicized.Welcome! This short presentation will guide you through the activation, access, and set-up of your new ‘learn’ account. These accounts were created by a partnership with Google. All information is housed by Google, but has been integrated with our Active Directory for user accounts and passwords. All communications received and sent through these accounts are monitored by district personnel.”
Turn-on your computer. Once the log-on screen appears, enter your credentials and log into your computer. Be patient and wait for the entire log-on and boot-up sequence to complete.
Once you have logged into your computer, press CTRL-ALT-DELETE. A menu of commands will appear. Select “Change a password”. It is necessary for you to change your password for Google to update your district password with your Google account and activate.Type in your current password.Enter your new password twice. There are several password restrictions in place (such as length, complexity, and security). If the system does not accept your password, please try again with a new password. A good word of advice is that your password can include an ascending number. For example ‘Apple001’ could be your password, and when you are forced to change your password, just the number changes. This can help with memory.
Once your password is changed, open Internet Explorer.Type in “google.ca” or “google.com” in the address bar and hit Enter. You will be brought to the Google search page.There is a ‘sign in’ button in grey located in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Click ‘Sign in’.Enter your user-ID as your firstname.lastname@learn.cssd.ab.ca. This is similar to your account id, but it is imperative that you add ‘learn’ before ‘cssd’.In the password box enter your District password.Click on ‘Sign-in’.
Once you are logged into Google, there are some subtle changes. Notice that there is a black bar that runs along the top of the webpage. These are your personalized Google tools. You can personalize searching, uploading and sharing images, access Google Docs (on-line Word Processor, spreadsheet, forms, and drawings), your personalized Google calendar, a site bookmarking tool, groups, contacts, and personalized Google maps. There are more tools by clicking’ More’.
By clicking on ‘More’ you get access to less-frequently used Google tools such as YouTube, Google News, Google Translate, Google Books, Blogger, Reader (keep a collection of your on-line books), Finance (for keeping track of your investment portfolio), photos, videos, and ‘Even morel.
In the bottom left hand corner of your screen, you will see text that says ‘iGoogle’. This function will customize your Google homepage from an empty plain white screen to a personalized experience. To access iGoogle, click on iGoogle.A window will open. Select the boxes of the tools that you would like to see on your homepage. You can select as few or as many as you would like.Select Canada as your country.Enter your postal code for personalized information (you may also chose to leave this blank if you wish).Click on ‘See your page’. Your new iGoogle page will appear.
YouriGoogle page is a collection of gadgets. Gadgets are small tiled windows that each serve a specific function. These gadgets can be closed, modified, or moved at your request. The default gadgets that open are: the Google search bar, a Gmail preview window, a to-do list, CBC Top Stories, a YouTube viewing window, a weather window, and a sportnset,ca window. All of the gadgets are set to configure with your location data so there is very little to set-up.
As a logged in user, you can add additional widgets (such as clocks, games, recipe finders, stock tickers, etc) to your iGoogle homepage.To add more gadgets, click on the ‘add gadgets’ button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. It will be a grey box with a small icon of gadget.Clicking on that button will take you to a google screen of pages upon pages of gadgets. You can browse by clicking on the next page arrows, or you can click in the search field to find specific gadgets.Once you have found a gadget you would like to add, click on the title. You will be taken to a second screen devoted to that gadget and it will provide you with more details. If you would like to continue and add the gadget, click on the ‘Add gadget now’ button. The button with change to blue and display ‘added’. Click the ‘Back to iGoogle’ button. You will see that your new gadget has been added to your iGoogle homepage.
You may prefer a different arrangement of the gadgets on your homepage. As you float your mouse over the top of a gadget (the title bar) you’ll notice that it ‘comes to life’ with options and the grey will change slightly. Moving the pointer away will change the gadget back to the static image. To move the gadget, float the pointer over the title bar – a four way arrow should appear. Click-and-drag the widget to your desired location. The remaining gadgets will auto-arrange themselves appropriately.Should you choose to delete a gadget, float over the title bar and click the newly appeared drop-down icon of the ‘gear’ and click ‘DELETE GADGET’. Confirm the deletion by clicking OK. Should you wish to re-add the gadget back at a later date, you can click the ‘Add Gadget’ tool and search for the gadget you want to replace.
That takes us to the end of accessing and navigating your learn account. If you choose to not log-out, then every time you open google.com or google.ca you will remain logged in and your iGoogle homepage will appear. Should you choose to log-out, click on your account ID (firstname.lastname@learn.cssd.ab.ca) and from the pull down menu, select “SIGN OUT”.
