Redirecting First Class Mail to Gmail

Are you ready to make the switch from FirstClass to Gmail?

by Kathleen Grace and DJ Fikru

Are you concerned that by making the switch from FirstClass to Gmail that you may miss emails that people send to your FirstClass account?  The answer is no.  There are steps that you can take to insure that you get all of your emails. 

How to send your emails from your FirstClass email account to your new Gmail account.

1. Log into FirstClass
    
2. Click on Preferences

3. From the Preferences Window, select Messaging.

4. On the Mail Rules tab, find the section called Automatically forward.
   Set the fields as follows:
• Local Mail - Yes
• Internet Mail - Yes

5. Change the Method box to Redirect.

6. In the Forward to box, add your Winchester Gmail address.
   ( First Initial + Last Name + @winchesterps.org )
   For example, if David Ortiz worked here in Winchester, his email address would be dortiz@winchesterps.org.

7. Finally, click Apply and then OK.

After completing these steps, all new FirstClass emails will be redirected from First Class to Gmail.  Meaning that your emails will exist in both FirstClass and in Gmail.  

Before you start using your new Gmail account, please see the blog entry Making the Move to Gmail from FirstClass.  Here you will find important information to insure that your emails get delivered correctly.

Google Sites: How to find a teacher's web page

Browse WinchesterPS.org Google Sites

It is possible to view other Google sites within your school or the district.

These viewable sites have been made visible by their authors.

To view all visible WinchesterPS.org sites, 

1. Go to https://sites.google.com/a/winchesterps.org
    
2. The sites that you have created will be listed in the body of the page.
   If they are not, click on the link My Sites in winchesterps.org in the left navigation bar.
    
3. To view all sites, click on Browse Sites in the left hand navigation bar (see green circle below).

4. Choose a category to browse.  For example, to find this blog, you can search on the categories: computer, technology, instructional technology or professional development.

Google Drive Basics - What Do The Icons Mean?

As you start to use Google Drive, you will encounter icons that indicate different file types.  Here is a quick guide to what the icons mean.

Google Drive Icons


Google Apps for Education allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and forms from your Google Drive.  These file types are created when you click on the Create button in Google Drive (see right).

The icons associated with these file types can be found below.

Icons for Other File Types

Google Apps for Education also allows you to upload files to your Google Drive.  These files may be from Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat or other external applications.  

The icons that Google uses for these file types are as follows: 

Where will I see these icons?

You will see these icons next to your file name in your Google Drive (see below).  By knowing what the icons mean, you can quickly determine what kind of file type you have in your Google Drive.  

You can learn more about Google Drive Basics at Georgia Southern University's web site.

Accessing your Gmail Account is as Easy as 1-2-3.

Now that you have received your new Gmail account, you may be a little confused about how you get to Gmail the next time you want to login.  It is not difficult if you follow the steps below.

Step 1.  Open your browser.

You may access your Gmail using any browser that you choose: Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome.  The choice is up to you, but I recommend Chrome because it, too, is a Google product.

Start your browser and open your Google search screen (i.e., surf to Google.com).  

Step 2. Sign In.

If you have not logged in already, you will see the screen below.

In the the top right of the screen, you will see a blue Sign In button (see above in red box).  Click on the Sign In button.

If you are already signed in, you will not see the Sign In box.  Instead, you will see your username in place of the Sign in Button.  Continue to Step 3.

If you have logged into Gmail on the computer before, you should see a screen similar to the one below.  In this case, I would click on my name to log into my school account. 

If the account listed in this screen is not my account, I would click on Add Account and follow the steps below.

If you have never logged in using your Google account on the computer, you will receive the screen below. Type in your username and password and click Sign In.

Step 3.  Go to Gmail.

When you are logged in, the sign in button on the Google screen changes to your Gmail account address (see red box below).

Accessing Gmail once you are logged in can be done by clicking on the word Mail in the top right of the Google search screen.  

You may also access Gmail by clicking on the Google bar icon  .  
This icon, located in the top right corner of your screen allows you to easily switch between many different Google products with just one click.  For example, when I click the Google bar icon, I'm given the screen below.  Here I can access google search, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Sites, Google Groups, and my Contacts.  

Click on the Google Mail Icon to access your email account.
As you can see, getting your Gmail is as easy as 1-2-3, no matter where you are and no matter what computer your are using.

Setting up your Gmail Account - General Settings

Now that you have your new Gmail account, you may want to personalize your Gmail desktop.  This is done via Gmail settings which you access by clicking on the gear icon (right).

Select the Settings option.

At the top of the Settings page is the navigation menu below:

By clicking on the General tab, you can modify the following settings:

Text Style.  You can decide the font, text size, and color of your outgoing messages by changing the Default text style.

Desktop Notifications. Do you want people to be able to instant message you when you are in google?  If you do, make sure that Chat notifications is set to on.  Would you like a sound to indicate that you have a new message?  These settings are established by the buttons labeled Desktop Notifications.

Profile Picture.  I think it is a great idea to set your profile picture.  This is your professional account and it is helpful for the people whom you will be communicating with from this account (e.g., teachers, admin, parents, students).  You have the choice of making this image available to everyone, or only those people with whom you chat.

Email Signature.  Because this is your professional account, you should include a professional signature at the bottom of your email message.  Include your title, department, school, and contact information. As a teacher, you might consider including a link to your class web pages, blog, or twitter page.

Vacation responder.  If you are not going to be available whether through vacation, illness, or perhaps family leave, this is a great place to let people know that you will have limited availability to your email and whom else they may want to contact while you are away.

The above is just a summary of some of the settings under the general tab. When you access the settings, you will see the other settings that you can modify. You will also notice that Google does a great job of providing information regarding the purpose of the additional settings where you can learn more about them.

What is Cloud Storage?

What is cloud based storage and why do I need it?

If you use more than one computer (work laptop, home computer, smartphone, tablet), you often want to access the files on one computer while you are on another computer. 

Online cloud storage applications allow you to share your files between devices (and between people). It also offers synchronization - meaning that if store a file in the online storage folder on one computer, the application will automatically update to your other devices.

So, instead of storing your information on your hard drive or carrying around a flash drive, you store your information in an internet drive.  Because the information is available through the internet, it is available any where that you have access to the internet.

As a Google Apps for Education school, we will have access to a Cloud Storage system called Google Drive.  Google Drive can store your pictures, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. 

How safe are your files in Google Drive?
When you go to Google Drive in your browser, notice that the URL in the address bar will begin with https:// rather than http://.  The "s" stands for secure and tells you that a secure communication protocol is being used to transfer your file from your computer to the server and back.  Any data being sent is encrypted so that it cannot be stolen as it travels the internet.

However, this security does not extend to the file being stored on Google's servers.  The files located on drive are secured via your password.  So choose a strong password and don't share your password with others.  

If you would like to read more about Cloud Computing, check out the article below.

• What is Cloud Computing - Good Housekeeping Article

Winchester delves into Google Apps for Education

Google Apps for Education

The move has begun to migrate the Winchester Public Schools email system from First Class to GMail.  But even better, we will now have access to Google Apps for Education with 30GB of free storage and access to Google office apps like Docs, Sheets, Present and Forms.  

Email Addresses will change

Your email address will no longer be sent to the winchester.k12.ma.us server.  As teachers and staff, your new email address will be your first initial, last name @winchesterps.org.  

For example, my email address is kgrace@winchesterps.org.  If Walt Disney taught at our school, his email address would be wdisney@winchesterps.org.