Hi,
I am taking a specialization course online as well and here is what I did to start my course. I clicked on the "sign in" tab (second from left) and signed in with my email and the password I was provided. On the left hand side I saw a box that had the exam center as well as an "access" button which let me to the manual.
If you have problems or no access I would call Global Tesol. I had to do it too, because my email with the password went missing and there were super nice.
Good luck!
2009-07-09