Belfast Model School for Girls
Virtual Learning Environment
Pupil Guidebook
Welcome to virtualgms.org – Virtual Learning Environment
This is a new way for you to learn in school, from home – in fact, from
anywhere in the world where you can get Internet access!
You are one of the first school pupils in Northern Ireland to be given
this sort of access to your school work so you should make the most of
it.
This booklet will show you how to start using virtualgms but if you
need any help or are having problems just come to me and we’ll sort it
out.
Enjoy using virtualgms!
Mrs McKeever
Using virtualgms
To use this virtual learning environment you need some details:
 A user name
 A password – You will be asked to change this the first time
you logon. Choose a password that you will remember and that
no one can guess. Only you should know your password
 An email address – This is your school email address and you
can use it to send work and messages to your teachers. They
can do the same to you! This is a safe way for you to send and
receive emails.
Your details are:
Getting started
1. Go to the website www.virtualgms.org/moodle and you will see
a screen like this:
Type in your username
and password. You will be
asked to change your
password. Follow the
instructions and make it
something you will
remember!
2. Your next screen will show a list of the subjects available to you.
More will be added over time.
Left click on the course
you want to visit. Scroll
down if you can’t see the
one you want.
3. Your course will appear and you can select the areas you want to
visit by right clicking on them.
Here you can find other people
doing your subject and you can
get their email address.
These are your
course documents.
They might be
games, quizzes,
tests, worksheets,
information etc.
Each subject will
probably have
something
different.
This is the forum and chat room.
In the forum you can post or leave
messages for your teacher and they
will be able to answer. You can see
all the questions that other people
have left too. You can agree to
meet in the chat room to get instant
answers to your questions. Left click
on the links to use the forum or chat
room.
How to…..Personalise your space
4.
Left click on participants and you can personalise your profile by
adding a picture or photo that you like.
Left click on your
name to change
your profile
You can also see the last
time you used virtualgms.
5. Left click on your name and you will see a new screen showing
your details.
Left click on this to see
your forum posts
Left click on edit
profile to change
your picture. You can
add a picture from
the Internet or one
saved on disk
Left click here to start
and update your blog
How to…..Use the forum
6. When you enter the forum, you can ask questions or make
comments.
Left click on Add new discussion topic to ask
a new question or right click on the discussion
topics to see what other people have said.
7. Adding a new topic is a bit like using email.
Give your message a sensible title
and type it here.
Type your question or message
here and scroll down until you see
the post to forum button. Left
click on the button to add your
question or message.
8. Replying to a post is easy.
Just left click on reply and
type your message.
How to…..Send a message
9. You can send a message to one person instead of using the forum
Left click on participants
and click on the name of
the person you want to
send a message to.
10. You can find an email address (this is school email and is
monitored so it is a safe form of email) or you can send a
message
Left click on the address to
send an email.
Left click here to
send a message.
How to…..Use the chat room
11. You need to agree with your teacher a time when you and others
will be online
Enter the chat room
by left clicking on
General Chat and
following the
instructions.
12. All chat in the chat room is recorded so that your teacher can
keep a record of your discussions and ideas to help you with your
work.
Left click to enter
the chat room.
How to…..Download a file
13. Some of your teachers may ask you to download a file so that you
can type in to it. These will usually be word documents.
Left click on the
document you
want to download.
You will see this
message. Left click on
save and save the
document to your hard
disk (at home),
network folder or pen
drive (in school).
When you have finished your work you can email it to your teacher or
upload it back in to your dropbox.
14. Left click on the dropbox to use it.
Your teacher may ask you
to complete work that is
going to be assessed. You
will have a dropbox for
any work like this. Left
click on the dropbox.
15. To upload to the dropbox, browse for the document you want:
Left click on browse and
look for your document in
the place you saved it.
When you have found it
left click on it and click
open. The name of the
document you want will
appear and you can left
click on upload this file.
How to …..Use your school email
Your school email account is to be used to contact your teachers about
your work. When you send completed tasks to your dropbox your
teachers will be able to pick it up, mark it and email it back to you
using your school email.
16. The first thing you need to do is log on to the website
http://www.belfastgms.org/mail When you get there, you will
see this screen:
Enter your Username here. It
is the same user name for your
email and for virtualgms.
Enter your Password. The first time
you do this your password will be
changeme. You will then be
allowed to change it to something
sensible that you will remember.
Follow the
instructions to change
your password
17.
Your school email account looks like this:
Your Inbox will show new, unread emails
Stars let you mark messages to make them easier to find. To star
a message, click on the light blue star beside any message or
conversation.
Saving a draft allows you to keep a message you aren't ready to
send yet.
Your contacts list is your address book. Use it to find the email
addresses of people you want to contact
18. To send an email click on Compose Mail.
Type in the address of the
person you want to email
Type a subject for your message
You can add an
attachment if you
want. Click
Attach a file,
Browse for the
file you want and
attach
Type your message in here
Don’t
forget to
check
your
spelling!
Send your message when
you are ready and Save it if
you want
David MacDermott (the Webmaster) and your teachers have set
virtualgms up for you so if you have any ideas about what you would
like to see on it, make sure you tell your teachers so that they can
discuss it with David. He has made virtualgms really easy to use, so
use it as much as you can and you’ll learn a lot!
How to …..Use your email
16. The first thing you need to do is log on to the website
www.c2kni.net When you get there, you will see this screen:
Left click on Services for
schools.
The following screen will appear:
Left click on the Email
service.
17. You will need to logon.
Follow the example:
school\jsmith123
but use your name and
number.
Your password will
be password the
first time you logon
The next screen will look like this:
Left click on logon
when you have
entered your details
This is where you will get the emails that have been sent to you and
by using new you can send emails. You can attach documents to your
message too.
18. To attach a document, open a new email and type in the name of
your teacher.
Left click on
Attachments.
A new window will appear:
Left click on browse to find
the document you want to
attach. Left click on the file
and open.
Left click on attach.
When attached properly,
the document you chose
will appear in this window.
Left click on close when
you are ready.
As a final check,
make sure you see
your document here.
This is a lot of information to get used to but the more you use
virtualgms and your email, the easier it will get.
David MacDermott (the Webmaster) and your teachers have set this
all up for you so if you have any ideas about what you would like to
see on virtualgms, make sure you tell your teachers so that they can
discuss it with David. He has made virtualgms really easy to use, so
use it as much as you can and you’ll learn a lot!