A Guide to the Internet for Older Adults

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A Guide to the Internet for Older Adults
Thomas M. Menino, Mayor
By Citizen Schools
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The Garfield Schools Masters of the Tech
Universe Vivian, Nicholas, Jermeil,
Erasmo, Omar, Evelis, Amoura, and Heneille.
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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
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Purpose of the Guide

• The purpose of the guide is to teach older
  adults about the Internet. By reading the guide
  we will give you helpful information about the
  internet, e-mail accounts, how to read your mail,
  how to send mail, and how to search for exciting
  web addresses.
• Also, this book will help you know how to do
  things on the Internet, like e-mail. This helps
  you so you can keep in touch with people
  throughout the world including all of South
  America, North America, Asia, Africa, Europe,
  Australia, and if you have a relative with a
  computer in Antarctica you can also talk to him
  or her.

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Teaching Tips
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.
First Model the activity for your students - show
an example to someone that doesnt 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
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Computer Basics

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

(2)
(4)
(1)
(5)
(3)
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 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, its worth it.

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Using the InternetLessons

• 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

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Lesson 1Getting 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.

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Lesson 1Getting 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
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Lesson 2E-mail setting up an account
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
friends e-mail address and youre all set.

• 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

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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

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Lesson 2E-mail Tips(continued)

• 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.

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Lesson 2E-mail sending e-mail

• Login to your e-mail account (refer to earlier
  lesson if you forgot)
• Click on Compose on the left hand side
• Write in the box that is next to it
• Enter e-mail address
• Go to box next to subject
• Write title of the email
• Write message back in the big box at the bottom
• Scroll to the bottom of the page
• Hit send button
• Your mail has been sent

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

• Login to your e-mail account (refer to earlier
  lesson)
• Compose a message (refer to earlier lesson)
• Click on Edit Attachment
• Click on Browse to find the picture
• Choose the file
• Click on the File
• Click on Open
• Click on Attach File
• Click on Done
• Press send
• Your message and file has been sent

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Lesson 2E-mail replying to e-mail

• Login to your e-mail account (refer to earlier
  lesson)
• Open the message that you want to reply to
• Press Reply
• Click in the box below
• The name of the person that you want to e-mail if
  there address is there
• Write to the person above the writing they did
• Then when done go down and press Send
• Your reply has now been sent!

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Lesson 3Search 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.
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Lesson 3Search Engines listing

• 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

www.37.com www.hotbot.com www.aol.com www.mamma.
com www.metacrawler.com www.allonesearch.com www.t
hebighub.com
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Lesson 3Search Engines - Tips

• Dont write www - Do the fast way name.com
• Use and and or to further reduce your search
• Use the websites 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.

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Lesson 3Search Engines Other Search Methods

• 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

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Lesson 3Search Engines Other Search
Methods(Ask Jeeves cont)

• Type in question in the empty space then click on
  Ask or click on Ask For shopping questions
• All of your questions would be changed around so
  pick one that most fits your question that you
  asked
• Have fun as you go along

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Lesson 3Search Engines Saving Favorites

• 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. 

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Sites of interest to Older Adults
During our searching weve found some sites that
we found interesting Weve listed them by topic
below.

• 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
• Doctors 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

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Sites of interest to Older Adults (Cont)

• Travel
• Travelocity http//www.travelocity.com
• Senior Travel http//www.senior.com/travel
• Travel.com http//travel.com
• Economy Travel http//economytravel.com
• Travel.yahoo.com http//www.travel.yahoo.com
• Elder Treks http//www.eldertreks.com

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Sites of interest to Older Adults (Cont)

• 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/rea
  d.html
• Boston Globe http//www.boston.com
• Books online http//www.amazon.com

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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

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Masters of the Tech Universe
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Masters of the Tech Universe
Working with one of our Adult Volunteers
Working with Linda, our constant companion