Navigating FirstClass Desktop

From TechHelp - MCLA's Technology Help Center

The MCLA FirstClass Desktop: Overview

When you login to the E-Campus System, your Desktop appears on your screen. It will look similar to this example. All students, faculty, staff, and later alumni and accepted students will have access to and a presence in this system. When you log in, you are in a shared environment designed to foster communication by and among members of these groups. Depending on the group to which you primarily belong, you will see a desktop customized for your role within the MCLA community.

Below is a screenshot of the MCLA FirstClass desktop you will see in FirstClass Version 8.3.

There are 7 sections to the desktop:

1. The background

2. FirstClass Resources - your mailbox, calendar, contacts, documents, trash. (left side)

1. Mailbox: holds messages sent to you and copies of messages you have sent to others.
2. Contacts: your richly featured address book for managing contact information, email addresses for individual outside the E-Campus system, and your personal group mailings.
3. Calendar: allows you to manage your schedules and tasks(note: by choice and special setup by the administrator – the contents of your calendar may be made accessible to other users for coordinated management)
4. Bookmarks: where you can create and store pointers to your favorite websites
5. Documents: a container for uploading documents for easy access from different computers at different locations
6. File Storage: a container for uploading files for easy access from different computers at different locations
7. Trash: All deleted items up to 14 days are stored here. You can recover deleted items from this area.

3. FirstClass Applications - conferences you may choose to add to your desktop, workspaces, instant messaging, web publishing, bookmarks: Note: You may not see all of these - depending on your role at MCLA.

4. MCLA Community Conferences - items that are placed automatically on FirstClass desktops for different types of users: students/employees/alumni.

5. Conferences I\’ve Added to My Desktop - items that you use frequently - such as the For sale box, or the Honors conference. You can go to the Conferences icon along the top row to look for conferences not on your desktop, and use the Add to Desktop icon to put them on your desktop

6. Go to These Website - The major MCLA web page pointers are contained in this area. By dragging and dropping URL\’s from a web browser, you can put your own web pointers on your desktop-]

7. My Courses, My Department - if you are using FirstClass for a course as either a faculty member or student, icons for your courses may be organized here. Also - if your department has its own set of FirstClass resources, this is the place to find it