SINA Services:

Website and
Home Page

Email

Electronic
Discussion
Group

Chat

File Transfer Protocol

SINA Tools:

Mailbox
Manager

Web
Manager

Access
Manager

Censorman

The following information has been provided as an introductory overview for your school Internet Administrator, as well as for those teachers who are interested in furthering their Internet skills and integration of the Internet into the classroom.

What is the SINA?

The SINA is an acronym for Schoolsnet Internet Network Administrator. The purpose of the SINA is to assist schools in the management of their Internet access in a way which is specific to school requirements. The SINA requires minimal technical expertise and time to learn and utilise effectively. It is a simple point and click tool which operates with a World Wide Web browser (eg Netscape, Internet Explorer).

If you can surf the Net, you can use the SINA!

The SINA consists of a number of tools for:

• web publishing
• email
• Internet budgeting (cost control)
• filtering of websites and email
• listservs and discussion groups
• chat rooms
• educational support services
• educational content

How to access the SINA

Using the SINA is as simple as surfing the Web.

Open up a World Wide Web (WWW) browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. It doesn't matter which browser you use they will both be able to use the SINA software. The SINA does not require any further software or hardware and will operate across a Local Area Network (LAN), or operating system.

When you have opened the browser you will need to type in a unique address for each web page, known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The URL for the SINA is the same as your default home page we have provided, with an extra word 'admin' at the end of the URL. For example:

This will take you to the administration section of the SINA. Before you are able to access the SINA tools, you will be prompted by a dialog box for your username and password. This facility has been created to provide as much security as possible to the school-wide management of your Internet access.

Enter the Username and Password as provided to your school's Internet Administrator. Your school's Internet Administrator should have this information already supplied. If this information has not been supplied to your school's designated Internet Administrator, please ask the Administrator to phone the CathEdNet Helpdesk on 08 9212 9332.

The Username and Password information must be entered correctly to be able to access the SINA. Once accessed you will find in front of you a new home page which operates on your WWW browser.

All of this information is also in your manuals which have been supplied.

These manuals include:

1. Configuration and usage of the Web Browser, Netscape V3.0
2. User manual for the SINA

How do I start to use the SINA?

Once you have accessed the SINA site you can start to use the tools. At the front page which is referred to by the button 'Home' you will see a range of buttons. These buttons represent the top level of the hierarchy of tools. Each of these buttons point to Management areas where you will find a range of individual tools to assist you in managing your Internet connection quickly and easily.

To start simply click on one of these buttons, such as 'Edu Manager' and start exploring. Just navigate as you would through the Web, either click on the browser 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons, or click on the buttons provided by the SINA.

Once you have visited these Management areas you will notice that each section has a help page available. Every tool on the SINA has easy-to-navigate help pages. These pages are also available in your printed SINA User Manual which has been supplied to your school.

How will SINA help me in the classroom?

As the SINA has so many tools, we will approach each management section individually to consider how best you can use the SINA in the classroom. The first hint is that there is a help page for every section, both online and in the manuals which have been supplied. If at any time you encounter difficulty navigating, just click 'Home' and you will return to the beginning. The 'Home' button and the 'Help' buttons are on every page in the SINA site.

To start click on the button entitled 'Edu Manager'.

Edu Manager

'Edu Manager' is the best starting point for schools using the SINA, or if your school is new to the Internet. Here you will find the following resources:

• Discussion of differences in Search Engines.
• Strategies for using the internet Across the Curriculum.
• Advice about joining Internet Projects.
• Information about how to join Electronic Discussions.
• Some extracts from an Acceptable Use Policy.

Just click on any one of these links. This material has been produced by myinternet Limited in conjunction with educators who have provided feedback and input into the development of these ideas. Click on strategies for using the Internet Across the Curriculum, or Advice About Joining Internet Projects. The material in these sections can be printed off and distributed to your colleagues for discussion in the formation of school policy, curriculum initiatives, syllabus inclusions, or even if you are considering starting or joining an Internet-based project.

When you are finished exploring Edu Manager, click on the button 'Home' and return to the front page where you may continue exploring the functionality of the SINA.

Mailbox Manager

Click 'Mailbox Manager' and you will be presented with a page of information with a new set of buttons at the top. A number of tools under this section will be ideal for use in the classroom, as well as on a school-wide basis.

The main function of Mailbox Manager is to create email accounts. You can create, delete and modify as many email accounts as you could possibly need. Think about having a group of email accounts for a particular project, such as an Internet or keypal project for one of your classes.

The button 'Mail List' leads to the section on email discussion groups, also known as listservs. Email discussion groups or listservs are a group of people who join together to discuss something via email. There are different software programs which run the discussion groups. You may have heard of majordomo or listserv. Alternately you may have heard of some of the discussion groups themselves, such as schnet-teachers, or oz-teachers. You can create your own listservs and they may be used internally for staff discussions, or project discussions - or between classes.

Web Manager

Web Manager contains a number of tools to assist you in publishing web pages for the school, or for projects. The Page Uploader tool allows you to quickly upload your html pages to the WWW server. Usually you have to do this through a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program. Page Uploader lets you do this without requiring technical knowledge. Just browse through your files, select the html file you want to put up and click to Submit.

The CGI tools provide a generic coding script to allow you to add extra functionality to your web pages. There are chat rooms, a search engine, clocks, guestbooks, counters and feedback forms in a variety of formats. Just follow the instructions under each section. You will need to change some of the coding to make it relevant to your school, eg add in your school's domain name where requested.

If you're just starting out learning HTML (Hyper Text Mark-Up Language) we have provided you with a basic tutorial to start your web publishing work. This is just a basic tutorial, you will find a large comprehensive range of free HTML and web publishing tutorials if you search the Internet.

Access Manager

This tool has been primarily designed to assist your Internet Adminstrator to manage the school's Internet connection quickly and easily with maximum benefit. There are a range of tools in this section including filtering of websites and email. If you would like to have a certain website filtered, just let your Internet Administrator know the URL of the site and he/she can add the URL to the database. There are 11,000 URLs on the myinternet Limited database, many of which have come from educators themselves over the years, so whilst it's fairly comprehensive, it will not filter everything that is inappropriate on the Net.

Your Administrator can also set email up to be filtered. Based on a set of keywords as parameters for filtering, incoming and outgoing email can be either filtered or the Administrator can be notified of breaches. If you would prefer to have your students' email filtered, please advise your Administrator.

Access Manager also includes the facility to monitor and track your school's usage of the Internet. Statistics can be provided in a tabular, text or graphic format which outline where your colleagues and students are going on the Internet, what they are looking at, at what time of the day and from what computer. You can check to see if your students have been using the sites you have designated for research or homework.

Once you've finished in Access Manager, click on the button 'Home' and return to the main page. There is Admin Manager which may be of interest to your Internet Administrator, but will not be of much use to you in the classroom.

Admin Manager

From the Admin Manager section the school's Internet Administrator will be able to change the password and details for access for the Administrator to the SINA. It is important that this section only be utilised by the school Internet Administrator. From this section, email can be forwarded, if for example, a staff member leaves the school, their email can be forwarded to a new address.

Who developed the SINA?

The SINA was developed by Editure Education Services Limited.

Presently based in Victoria, Editure Education Services Limited is an Australian company which has been providing Internet services to schools since December 1993. Editure Education Services Limited has provided the SINA to schools throughout Australia. If you have any comments or would like to provide feedback on the SINA, we would be happy to hear from you.