JSS 3 First Term

Learning Objectives

• Describe the parts of an email message.
• Compose, attach, send and reply to email safely.
• State the uses of presentation software and the parts of its window.
• Choose a layout and arrange slides in a sensible order.

Parts of an Email Message

An email message has several fields. The To field holds the address of the recipient. The Cc field holds additional recipients who are copied, and the Bcc field holds recipients who are copied without being shown. The Subject field is a short summary of the message. The body holds the message itself. The attachment field holds files sent with the message.

The subject line is the most important part of a short message. It tells the recipient what the message is about before the body is opened, so it should be specific. A subject such as Assignment on Computer Parts is useful, while a subject such as Hello gives no information.

How Email Travels

When the message is sent, it goes first to the mail server of the sender, which is the computer that holds the account. The server looks up the address of the recipient and passes the message along the internet to the mail server that holds that account. The message then waits there until the recipient opens the mailbox and reads it.

Every email address has two parts separated by the at sign. The part before the at sign is the name of the account, and the part after it is the domain that holds the account. An address such as amina@cba.edu.ng means that the account named amina is held by the cba.edu.ng domain.

Delivery depends on both servers being online and connected. When a message cannot be delivered, a notification is returned to the sender. This is why a message that appears to have been sent should still be checked for a delivery notification.

Composing and Sending

Composing means writing a new message. Replying means answering a message that was received, and the reply keeps the original message above the new text. Forwarding means sending someone else's message on to a third person. A blind reply, in which the recipient cannot see who else received the message, is used for confidential replies.

Text in an email should be short. A message that needs several paragraphs is better sent as an attachment. Before sending, check three things: the addresses in the To field, the spelling of the subject, and that the right file is attached. A message sent to the wrong address cannot be recalled.

Attachments and Responsible Use

An attachment is a file sent with the message. Documents, pictures, sound and video can all be attached. A file that is compressed is sent as a single smaller file. Large attachments can be rejected by a mail server, so very large files are sent using a file sharing service instead.

Email is used for communication that should be recorded, such as a message to a teacher about a result. A subject line is required so that the message can be filed and found later. A professional email is polite, uses full sentences and does not use text abbreviations.

Care is needed with unknown senders. A message that asks for a password, an account number or money is almost always a scam. Personal details and passwords must never be sent in a message to an address that has not been confirmed as genuine.

Uses of Presentation Software

Presentation software produces slides for an audience. It is used for teaching a lesson, reporting project findings, advertising a product, explaining a proposal at a meeting and guiding a discussion. The slides are shown on a computer screen or a projector, one slide at a time.

Presentation software is closely related to word processing and spreadsheets. A chart made in a spreadsheet can be copied into a slide, and a report made in a word processor can be summarised into slides. Objects such as text, pictures, tables and charts can be moved, resized and formatted in the same way in all three programs.

Parts of the Presentation Window

The title bar shows the name of the file. The menu bar or ribbon holds the commands. The slide pane shows a small picture of every slide in the file, and clicking a picture selects that slide. The slide area is where the selected slide is edited. The notes pane holds the notes for the presenter. The status bar shows the number of slides.

The view buttons change how the file is displayed. Normal view is used for editing. Slide sorter view shows all the slides as pictures and is used for rearranging them. Slide show view fills the screen and is used when presenting. Notes view shows the notes page for printing.

Layouts and Placeholders

A layout is the arrangement of placeholders on a slide. The common layouts are title slide, title and content, title and two content, title only, section header, comparison and blank. Choosing the layout before typing places the title and the content boxes in the right positions.

A placeholder is a labelled box that holds the title or the main content. Text typed into a placeholder takes the formatting of the master, which keeps the presentation consistent. Content placeholders can also hold pictures, tables and charts, so the layout should match the type of content.

Sequencing Slides

Slides must be arranged so that the argument makes sense. The usual order is a title slide, then an introduction, then the main points in order, then a summary and a question slide. Slide sorter view is the quickest way to check and change the order.

A presentation on a topic taught over several lessons needs more than one slide per lesson point. Each slide should carry one idea. If a slide holds five unrelated points, the audience has to hold all of them in mind at once and loses the thread.

Practical Work

1. Compose a short professional email and attach a file to it.
2. Create a presentation with a title slide, a section header and a content slide.
3. Switch to slide sorter view and move a slide to a new position.
4. Run the first three slides in slide show view to a classmate.

Scenario-Based Questions

1. A pupil sends a message about an assignment to the wrong address. Explain why it cannot be recalled.
2. Explain the difference between Cc and Bcc and give a reason for using each.
3. Your friend receives a message asking for a bank password. Explain what to do and why.
4. A presentation has ten slides and the conclusion appears as slide 3. Explain the problem and the fix.
5. Explain why the slide sorter view is checked before a presentation is delivered.