How to Use this Site
 

HealthySchools.com is designed to assist people in finding good information about how to keep schools healthy, and to connect people who have a common interest in fostering healthy schools, so that they can help each other with practical problems. Different users will have different needs, and there are many ways to take advantage of this site. The following help subjects can be viewed as needed. Click on each to go directly to a more detailed explanation below. If you have questions that are not answered below, please e-mail them to email@healthyschools.com.

Help Subjects

Signing in as a Schoolboard Subscriber
Using the Site Indexes
Using the Navigation Bar
Types of Information Pages Available
Searching with Keywords
Reading the Search Tally
Viewing an Information Page

 

Signing in as a Schoolboard Subscriber

If you are a designated representative of a subscribing schoolboard, you will have been assigned a password. With this password you may gain access to draft information and workgroups being discussed among school board officials, in addition to other information that is available to the public. (If you do not have a password and are not sure whether your school board is a subscriber, check the list of
participating schoolboards.)

If you have been assigned a password, go directly to the schoolboard sign-in page by clicking on the yellow button on the right hand side of the arrival or home page, as shown at right. (You may click on this one to see the subscriber sign-in page. Once you are there, you may click on the "BACK" button on the top left of your browser if you wish to return to this page.)


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Using the Site Indexes

All the information pages available on the site are indexed in the
Site Indexes, which are divided into six sections as follows. Clicking on the section titles on the indexes page takes you to the full list of information pages available under each category. (You may click on the titles below to view the indexes.)

Introduction Pages
Topic Pages
Case Studies
References
Contacts
Discussion Groups

Under each section title you will see a list of information pages. Clicking on them will take you directly to them. (You may click on the examples below to view some information pages. When you finish looking at each, click on the "BACK" button on the top left of your browser if you wish to return to this page.)


Topic Pages

Controlling Dust in Schools: General precautions regarding dust control methods.
Formaldehyde Sensitivity: A summary of key characteristics of formaldehyde sensitivity.
Sources of Indoor Pollution in Schools: Summary description of key pollutants in schools.
Why IAQ Is Important: Brief listing of reasons for dealing with indoor air quality.


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Using the Navigation Bar

At the top and bottom of each topic page and case study, and at the bottom of all other information pages, you will see a navigation bar similar to this one:

Each section of the navigation bar is clickable, to take you to key functions on the site. Clicking on the "Home" section returns you to the arrival page, where many options are available to you. Clicking on "Help" returns you to the top of this page, in order to answer your questions about using this site. Clicking on "Searching the Site" takes you directly to the search page. (Searches are discussed below under the help topic
"Searching with Keywords".) Clicking on "Indexes" returns you to the top of the index page.

(You may try clicking on the navbar above to see where it takes you. To return to this page afterward, click on the "BACK" button on the top left of your browser.)

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Types of Information Pages Available

The six different types of information pages available are:

Introduction Pages
Topic Pages
Case Studies
References
Contacts
Discussion Groups

You may click on the titles above to see an index list for each type of information page. (See "Using the Site Indexes" above for further instructions on displaying the information pages.)

The Introduction pages are generally oriented towards describing the site and helping you learn how to use it.

Topic pages are short summaries of "best practices" for achieving healthy indoor environments in schools. Each topic page references where the information came from, and offers you the opportunity to inspect other references, topic pages and case studies that may also be relevant to the topic in question.

Case Studies are summaries of experiences by individual school boards in investigating indoor pollution problems or achieving healthy indoor environments. They also include references to other relevant information.

References are information sources in various media, including books, articles, reports, handbooks, web pages, presentations, pictures, audio tapes, video tapes and CD-ROMs. Where possible publisher information and Internet references are given so that you can obtain copies yourself if you want to.

Contacts are people who are involved in the field of healthy school environments, and who are willing to list their addresses and phone numbers so that others may be in touch on questions of concern. Where possible photographs are included.

Discussion Groups are internet "e-groups" and other types of networks drawn together by mutual interest in healthy school environments. These pages give Internet references and other contact information which allow readers to access and join technical networks, ongoing e-mail discussions and live chat groups. Users of HealthySchools.com may organize such discussion groups themselves and list them in this category. (See also the introduction page "Starting a Discussion Group".

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Searching With Keywords

All the information pages in the HealthySchools.com database can be located through keyword searching. To search with keywords, either click on the "Searching the Site" button on the home or arrival page, as shown at right, or click on the "Searching the Site" section on the navigation bar. (See "
Using the Navigation Bar" above).

The "Searching the Site" buttons take you to the search page. (You may click on the button at the right to see what the search page looks like.)

On the search page, you are asked to insert into the horizontal window one or more search terms, separated by commas or spaces. Choose words that are fairly specific (e.g. "mould" or "headache" can often be more useful than "air quality" or "illness" as keywords). Then you are asked to choose search options and submit your keywords either by pressing the ENTER button on your computer, or clicking on the SEARCH button on the search page, below the search options.

If you ignore the search options, or select "Look for any of the terms", the search engine will look for information pages that have any of the keywords that you list. (This is a logical "OR" function.) If you select "Require all the terms", the search engine will locate only those information pages which have all your keywords in their database record. (This is a logical "AND" function.)

Once you have chosen your keywords and your search option, click on the SEARCH button below it, or hit your computer's ENTER button. The site will then take you to a "search tally" page, described below.

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Reading the Search Tally

After searching, the site returns a search tally page that lists the number of "hits" in each category, that is, the number of each different type of information page, that fit your search criteria. A sample tally is given below:


Public Records

Search for terms : IAQ, produced :

topic records found = 1
case study records found = 0
reference records found = 8
contact records found = 1
discussion records found = 0



You can now display a list of the qualifying pages for each type of information page, by clicking on the number at the right of each category that you wish to check. After you have investigated the pages in one category, you can return to the search tally list by using the "BACK" button on the top left corner of your Internet browser.

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Viewing an Information Page

After the search tally page, the site delivers a search listing page for the information category that you have chosen to display. A typical display looks like this:


Public Records

Search for terms : IAQ, produced :
IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit,    May 1995
IAQ Coordinator's Guide,    May 1995
Material Odour Emission Test Methods,    July, 1997
Achieving Healthy Indoor Environments,    2000
Healthy Schools - Healthy Children,    May 2000
Environmental Hazards: Protecting Children,    May 1997



You can now view individual information pages of this category by clicking on the title of each page listed. Next to the title is a short explanation that will help you decide which pages are worth looking at right now. (You may click on the examples above to view some information pages.)

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Pollution Probe and Technology and Health Foundation and their funding partners assume no liability or responsibility whatsoever arising from the use of any information found in or accessible from the HealthySchools.com site. All use of this site is subject to our disclaimer. If you have questions about the site please contact us at: email@healthyschools.com.




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