Writing Workshop

Computer Tools

This Writing Workshop class uses computers and networks as much as possible. Except for special or handwritten assignments, you will type your work and submit it online, using Google Drive.

In order to do any of this, you must use your LCJ Mail account. If you cannot find the username and password, you must ask Mr. Poza right away!

Using LCJ Mail

At Lakeland College Japan, you are required to check your LCJ Mail at least once a day; more often is better! This is true for the Writing Workshop class as well: if I send you an email, you are required to see it as soon as possible. I do not accept the excuse, "I didn't check my email."

LCJ Mail is really the same as Gmail, except there is more privacy, fewer ads, and unlimited storage! It should be easy and simple to add your LCJ Mail account to any device, including your phone or other mobile device.

You may wish to change the settings for your mail. For example, the list of emails has
wide spacing. To make the spacing tighter, follow these steps:

1. On your mail LCJ Mail page, look for the "Settings" button near the top right. It looks like a circular gear.
2. Click the "Settings" button.
3. In the menu, your mail should be set to "Comfortable." Click on "Compact."
4. Your list of emails should now have a more compact spacing.

For some people, a much more important setting is Forwarding. This allows any email in your LCJ Mail inbox to be sent to another address. Many people who have an existing account different from LCJ Mail prefer to do this instead of checking more than one email account.

Keep in mind, however, that if this setting does not work for some reason, you are still responsible for seeing all of your email in good time! Use this as a convenience in addition to using LCJ Mail; do not use it as a way to never log in!!

To forward your email:

1. On your mail LCJ Mail page, look for the "Settings" button near the top right. It looks like a circular gear.
2. Click the "Settings" button.
3. In the menu, Click on "Settings."
4. You will see the Settings page.
   Along the top is a line of subject tabs ("General," "Labels," "Inbox," etc.).
5. In the subject tabs, click on the one titled Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
6. Click on "Add a forwarding address."
7. Enter the email address you want to send to in the dialog box that appears.
8. Click "Next."
9. If you get a dialog to confirm the address, click "Proceed."
10. You should see a dialog telling you that a confirmation email has been sent to the account.
11. Check your other email account. You should see an email from your LCJ Mail account.
12. In the email, there is a long link under the text, "please click the link below to confirm the request:"
13. Click on the long link. A browser should open, and you should a confirmation page.
14. On the web page, click the "Confirm" button. You should see a success message.
15. Go back to your LCJ Mail settings page.
16. Under "Forwarding," click on the radio button for, "Forward a copy of incoming mail..." and change the settings to your preference.
17. Important: at the bottom of the Settings page, click the button named "Save changes."
18. Now any mail going to your LCJ Mail inbox should also arrive at your other email account. However, remember that spam will not be forwarded, so you have to check the spam box from time to time in case "real" messages got in there!

Using Google Drive, Part I

With your LCJ Mail account, you receive a free, unlimited Google Drive account. This is cloud storage, which means that you can save as many files in Google Drive as you wish. These files will be available from any computer connected to the Internet. This is much more convenient and reliable than using a USB drive!

Even better, LCJ Mail's Drive storage can be easily shared with anyone at LCJ. This is how you will hand in most of your assignments in Writing Workshop: you will share them from Google Drive.

Required Assignment #2:

1. In the top right corner, there is a button that is a grid of 9 squares. Click on that.
2. A menu will appear. One of the buttons is for Drive; click on that.

3. In the new window, you may see a tutorial. Dismiss it by clicking the "X" at its top right.
4. Notice that on the left, there is a big button called NEW, and then a list.
5. The first item in that list is called My Drive; this is your cloud storage, and is where you will put everything.
6. In the main window, there will be a PDF file with a guide to Google Drive.
7. Your drive will begin in icon ("Grid View") mode; I suggest the list view; click on the icon with three horizontal lines by dots; this is in the top right of the window.
8. Begin by creating a folder. Click on the "New" button.

9. From the menu that comes down, click on "+ Folder."
10. In the dialog box, give the folder a name; in this case, call it YourFirstName - GEN100 (for example, "John - GEN100"). Make sure to put your first name only, then a space, a hyphen, another space, and then GEN100.
11. Click Create.
12. A new shape will appear in the main window with that name. If you double-click on it, it will "open," and you will see an open space.

13. In the menu on the left, look at the My Drive selection. There is a small arrow next to it. Click on the small arrow.
14. You will see a new sub-list appear, with your folder's name in it. Clicking on the names for your folders and the main drive folder will "select" them.

Congratulations! You have started using Google Drive.

There is one more step I need you to take: I need you to share the folder you just made. Here are the steps:

1. Right-click on the folder you made ("Yourname - GEN100")
2. In the menu that appears, click on Share...
3. A dialog box will appear. Where it says "People," Enter my name: Poza
4. You should see my email address appear! When you do, click on the address, or hit the "Enter" key.
5. Make sure the button next to my name says "Can Organize, Add, and Edit."
6. Add a note; tell me who you are, and that this is your shared folder.
7. Click Send.

That's it for now! You have just created a shared folder. Here's the important point: anything you put in that folder will automatically be shared with me! This will be how you hand in assignments.

Using Google Docs

For this class, I require students to submit assignments using Google Docs.

If you want to use Microsoft Word or another word processing app, you may. However, in the end, it must be converted to a Google Docs file.

Google Docs is Google's free version of a word-processing app. It is a web app, so you don't need to download anything. Just use your web browser. Here are the steps.

Required Assignment #3:

1. Open you LCJ Mail account.
2. As described previously, click on the Google Apps button, and select Drive.
3. On the left, click on the NEW button.
4. Select Google Docs
5. A new tab or window will open. It will look similar to MS Word. You can type in the "page" area.
6. Whatever you type is saved every few seconds. It is not necessary to save using the File menu.
7. In the document, type the words, "My name is [type your name], and I can use Google Docs!"
8. In the top left, next to the blue square, you can see the words Untitled Document. Click on that. You will be able to set the filename of your document. Make the filename, "[yourname] Test #1"
9. Close the browser tab, and go back to your main Google Drive window.
10. In "My Drive," click and drag on the "Test #1" document, and drop it into the "YourFirstName - GEN100" folder.

That's it! If you did everything correctly, the file you made should automatically be shared with me!

That's all you need to do for right now. Later, I will add more information about how to use Google Docs and Google Drive.

Video Tutorial #1

All of the required assignment steps are shown in this video.

Video Tutorial #2

These two videos show how to set up formatting on your Google Docs, and how to create the basic document information for any assignment.

Setting Up Defaults

Creating Main Document Information