Course Learning

Talking to other people and sending messages is an important part of everyday life.

The internet gives us lots of new ways to talk to each other.

With just one click, we can send a message to someone almost anywhere in the world.

Phones, computers, and tablets help us stay in touch. This is called digital communication.

It’s important to stay safe by only talking to people you know and trust, like your friends and family.

Email is like sending a letter, but on a computer or tablet.

Instead of going in the post, emails arrive almost straight away.

You can send messages to anyone who has an email address.

You can also add things like pictures, documents, videos, or links to websites.

Email is really useful for sending homework or projects to your teacher or friends.

Instant messaging is a way to send a short text, photo or image-based message to other people.

They can reply in real-time. Many people use instant messaging on their smartphones. Some messaging systems delete messages as soon as they have been read.

This is a good way of communicating quickly with your friends and family.

Video calling allows us to talk to someone and see and hear their reactions in real-time.

Video calls can be one-to-one or a video conference with lots of people.

You can also share your screen or a document you are working on.

This is a good form of communication if you want to see and hear people in different locations.

Online forms and surveys can be used to communicate information easily, by collecting responses in a digital format.

This can make it easier to analyse lots of data.

This is a good form of communication if you want to collect information accurately and clearly.

If you read or play something online, you might be able to add comments or give feedback.

If it is an article or report you might even be able to ask questions to get more information.

It's important to be respectful in the comments you post, so you don't upset someone.

This is a good form of communication if you want to express an opinion about something online.

Many people shop online and don't always get to see something before they buy it.

Instead, people rely on reading reviews and feedback, written by other people who have already bought it.

It's important to be honest in an online review, as people might use your opinion to help them decide whether to buy something.

This is a good form of communication to let people know if you thought a product was good or bad.

Have you ever used any of these forms of communication?

When you send an email, you type in the email address of the person you are sending it to.

Email addresses are always made up of two parts:

• the username
• the domain name

The username tells the email provider which inbox to put the email into. It might be a person's name, nickname or memorable word.

The domain name is the bit after the @ symbol. This is the address where the email address can be found.

Businesses and schools often have their own special domain name - @bbc.co.uk, for example.

Just like in real life it's important to be polite and respectful when you are sending an email.

Always remember to be kind when you are talking to people online.

The people you chat with on the internet are real people with real feelings. Even if you mean something as a joke, it might hurt someone.

Try to include others and be friendly to everyone. Always ask before you share a photo or video of someone.

If someone sends you something that makes you feel upset or worried, tell a trusted adult and show them what happened.

Also, remember that anything you send on the internet can still be found later, so only send things you’re happy for others to see.