How to use the online forum for OMTA!

To participate in the online forum, you need a Google (gmail) account. That means you have a new email address that you will use for this forum/group. This does not mean you have to change all of your email over to gmail! The gmail account simply allows you to use the features Google offers.

So, if your email address is NOT @gmail.com, here are the steps to get a Google account:

1. go to www.google.com

2. In the top left corner you will see a bunch of words: Web, Images, Videos, Maps, News, Shopping, Gmail, More

3. Click on Gmail

4. In the bottom right corner you will see a link that says “Create an account”. Click on this

5. Fill out all the fields and click I accept

Once you have your gmail account in place, then you can you can participate in the group forum!

Here are the first steps to join the Olympia Music Teachers’ Google group! (set up by Ryan-thanks!):

go to http://groups.google.com/group/omta
Click on the link “Sign in and apply for membership”
On the right hand side, you will see a box that says “Sign in with your Google Account”. Put your email address (i.e. jwalshbowman@gmail.com) and the password that you used when creating your gmail account in the appropriate boxes.
You may be redirected to a page that says Edit My Membership on which you choose a few different things:
1. Choice 1: How do you want to read this group? This has to do with how many emails you want to receive. For example, I do not want to receive emails any time anyone responds on the web, so I clicked No Email for my preference. If you want to monitor on a daily basis you may choose one of the other options
2. Choice 2: Nickname: This just refers to what name you want to show up on whatever you post. For our purposes it would probably best just to have your full name!
3. Additional information, probably not necessary.

After you have joined the group, then you can sign in this way:

Go to http://groups.google.com/group/omta
Click on the link “Sign in to Google Groups”
On the right hand side, you will see a box that says “Sign in with your Google Account”. Put your email address (i.e. jwalshbowman@gmail.com) and the password that you used when creating your gmail account in the appropriate boxes.
You will be redirected to the group page.

Once you are on the group site, click on whichever topic you want to discuss in the “Discussions” section. You can add to the discussion by reading through the posts and clicking reply at the bottom of the post.

If you want to start a new discussion, on the r.h. side, click on Discussions, then +new post. This will start a new topic.

For a Microsoft Word printable copy of these instructions click here.