General Information
Each course is unique and the technology requirements may slightly vary.
You must have a functional email account, and you must check it regularly for updates and announcements.
Virus Protection
Virus protection software is recommended.
Additional Software
Depending on the course, students may also need one of the following software packages:
- Word-processing software such as Apple Pages, Google Docs, Microsoft Office, or OpenOffice
- Spreadsheet software such as Apple Numbers, Microsoft Excel, or the free software provided by Google Docs or OpenOffice
- Presentation software such as Apple Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, or the free software provided by Google Docs or OpenOffice
- Multimedia player such as iTunes, VLC Media Player, or Windows Media Player
Computer Skills
In order to succeed in an online course, students should feel confident doing at minimum the following:
- Using a keyboard and mouse (or a notebook touchpad)
- Using a browser to navigate webpages, recognize links, bookmark pages, use the “Back” and “Reload” (or “Refresh”) buttons, and so forth
- Using a search engine (such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo!) to retrieve information
- Sending and receiving e-mail
- Using word processing software
- Saving files to a hard drive, portable storage device, or cloud service and retrieving them for editing or submission
- Uploading and downloading documents and files
- Installing and updating software
- Creating audio files
In addition, students should recognize that technology will sometimes fail. It is strongly recommended that students not yet proficient in troubleshooting technical problems such as an Internet outage, hard drive crash, or virus have someone they can consult should the need arise.