A Guide to the Internet for Older Adults: A Guide to the Internet for Older Adults By Citizen Schools Thomas M. Menino, Mayor


Slide2: The Garfield School’s Masters of the Tech Universe Vivian, Nicholas, Jermeil, Erasmo, Omar, Evelis, Amoura, and Heneille.


Forward: Forward Students from the Garfield Campus of Citizen Schools have assembled this guide book for using the Internet. The guide was designed by students (ages 9-13) and volunteers from the Veronica Smith Senior Center in Brighton. The guide is designed especially for older adults not already familiar with the Internet. Over 10 weeks, students met with older adult volunteers and taught aspects of the Internet to them. During this time, they assembled this helpful information. Both groups learned much about the Internet and about each other. It has been our great pleasure to participate in this program. Jennifer Latchford Margaret Wall Citizen Teachers


Purpose of the Guide: Purpose of the Guide


Slide5:     Teaching Tips First Model the activity for your students - show an example to someone that doesn’t know how to do something Second use Scaffolding to help them do it - let the person do the example by themselves but offer to help if they need it   Third Coach them along when they have trouble - help them when they make a mistake   Fourth Fade - let them do it by themselves Teaching is difficult. But there are some tips that might make it easier. There are four major phases to teaching – Model, Scaffold, Coach and then Fade.


Computer Basics: Computer Basics On/Off button (1) Screen/monitor (2) Mouse (3) Speakers (4) Floppy/CD drives (5) (4) (2) (3) (5) (1)


 What is the Internet?  :   What is the Internet?   The Internet is a place that helps you find information quickly without having to search yourself. It also helps you communicate to your friends, family or relatives. You could buy or even sell anything you would like to without leaving your home. The Internet is located everywhere in the world like in Brazil, India, Russia and so on. Even though you pay for it, it’s worth it.


Using the InternetLessons: Using the Internet Lessons Getting onto the Internet E-mail Setting up an e-mail account Sending an e-mail Replying to an e-mail Opening e-mail attachments Searching the Web Using a search engine Saving favorites and bookmarks


Lesson 1Getting onto the Internet: Lesson 1 Getting onto the Internet First you should take your mouse and move it so that the little arrow is on top of the Internet e on your desktop. Remember that the e is lower case and under it it says Internet Explorer so that when you are there you double click it and wait until your screen comes up. A clue to know you are in the internet is that there is the lower case e on the right hand side of the top of the screen.


Slide10: Lesson 1 Getting onto the Internet Web Page format Below is what the top menu bars of your Internet screen will look like. Use the top menu bar to help open, save or view web pages. Use the second menu bar to move between pages (Back and Forward), get back to where you started (Home), search the internet and save your favorites. Or if you know the address you are looking for just type it in the address bar. Top Menu Bar Second Menu Bar Address Bar


Slide11:   Steps to set up a free Yahoo Mail Account: Go into the internet (launch the browser)  Type in the address bar http://www.yahoo.com Go to “Check email” Click on “Sign me up”  Make up a name for your yahoo ID (your email address) Make up a password you would remember (No spaces) Retype user password above E-mail is a handy way to keep in touch with people from all over the country and the world. All you need is an e-mail account and your friend’s e-mail address and you’re all set. Lesson 2 E-mail: setting up an account


Lesson 2E-mail: setting up an account(continued): Security Question: In case you forget password you can use this. (To change click on arrow and pick which ever one) Write your answer Put your birthday (Month, Day, Year) Skip “Current email Write down: First name, Last name, Pick residence, zip (postal code), Gender, Occupation, and Industry  If you want anything from email to also email you, click on box Click on “Submit Form” Lesson 2 E-mail: setting up an account (continued)


Slide13:   You must enter your user name and password every time you use your mail account – make sure you write them down and keep them in a safe place. Entering your user name and ID is called logging in. Saving the www.yahoo.com address in your favorites or bookmarks is an easy way to get back to the address – this is shown later in the guide. Yahoo mail has an address book feature that allows you to keep addresses for handy reference. To check this out select address book when you are logged into your mail account. Lesson 2 E-mail: Tips (continued)


Slide14: Lesson 2 E-mail: sending e-mail


Slide15: Lesson 2 E-mail: sending a picture with e-mail


Slide16: Lesson 2 E-mail: replying to e-mail


Slide17: Lesson 3 Search Engines Search engines use keyword searches to help you find specific information on anything you would want to know. For example, if you go to www.yahoo.com, there is a box and you type in a word or words of the subject that you like. For example, if you like cooking then you would type the word you are looking for and click “search” and wait until the screen returns some web addresses and then you type in the web address and kaboom – you got it. Use “and” and “or” in your searches to get better results. For example, if you search for “soccer and Boston” you will get results for Boston soccer sites. If you use “or” instead you will get results either about Boston or about soccer.


Slide18: List of Search Engines: www.yahoo.com www.msn.com www.lycos.com www.google.com www.altavista.com www.excite.com www.goto.com www.nbci.com Lesson 3 Search Engines – listing www.37.com www.hotbot.com www.aol.com www.mamma.com www.metacrawler.com www.allonesearch.com www.thebighub.com


Slide19: Don’t write www - Do the fast way name.com Use “and” and “or” to further reduce your search Use the website’s categories to help you figure out what you are looking for. Use the bookmark/favorites feature to prevent you from having to do the same search again. Lesson 3 Search Engines - Tips


Slide20: Ask Jeeves is a different kind of search engine that allows you to ask questions rather than just type in key words.   How to get to Ask Jeeves Get onto the Internet (refer to earlier lesson) Go to address spacebar and click in it Erase address that is already on the address space Type in www.askjeeves.com (or just jump to the site from this live link) Press enter Click on search space on the left of “Ask” Lesson 3 Search Engines – Other Search Methods


Lesson 3Search Engines – Other Search Methods(Ask Jeeves con’t): Lesson 3 Search Engines – Other Search Methods (Ask Jeeves con’t)


Slide22: Go to your website Then go to “Favorites” on the toolbar Then go to “Add to Favorites” Click on “ok” to add Then you can click on the “Envelope” icon on the toolbar and it will show you your saved sites.   Lesson 3 Search Engines – Saving Favorites


Slide23: Sites of interest to Older Adults Health Health A-Z http://www.healthatoz.com MedicineNet http://www.medicinenet.com Yahoo Health! http://www.health.yahoo.com Healthfinder http://www.healthfinder.gov Doctor’s Guide http://www.docguide.com Medical Encyclopedia http://content.health.msn.com/encyclopedia eMedicine http://www.emedicine.com Healthology http://healthology.com Health Magazine http://www.healthmag.com During our searching we’ve found some sites that we found interesting We’ve listed them by topic below.


Slide24: Sites of interest to Older Adults (Con’t)


Slide25: Other Interesting Sites City of Boston http://www.cityofboston.gov Grand Times http://www.grandtimes.com Senior Lifestyle http://www.senior-lifestyle.com Wired Seniors http://www.seniorssearch.com Senior Pages http://www.seniorpages.com Senior Cyborgs http://www.online96.com/seniors/read.html Boston Globe http://www.boston.com Books online http://www.amazon.com Sites of interest to Older Adults (Con’t)


Internet Terms Glossary: Internet Terms Glossary E-mail – a way to send messages to friends, family or others through the internet. Search engines – A method to search for any type of information or something you want to search for. Server – A computer box that stores web pages. Attachments – Something you can send with your e-mail such as pictures, greeting cards, etc. Reply – To answer back an e-mail message you received from someone. Favorites – Saving your favorite web pages. Web pages – A page on the internet that gives you information on that subject. Mouse – No, a computer mouse is not an animal, but it is a hand sized shape that you move to get to places


Slide27: Master’s of the Tech Universe


Slide28: Master’s of the Tech Universe Working with Linda, our constant companion Working with one of our Adult Volunteers