Technical requirements and recommendations for online courses

Our recommended hardware and software guidelines are listed below. If your system does not match these guidelines exactly, you are still welcome to consider taking an online course. If you are pretty far off from these guidelines, however, you will want to upgrade the necessary components to avoid possible problems and frustration. A note for Mac users: Online course technology is optimized for PC's with Windows operating systems. You are welcome to take an online course with a Mac, but you are more likely to have complications. If you are using a Mac, you must have the Windows Office Suite applications, especially Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Most courses will use these applications often. Hardware Requirements 1 GHz processor or better 256 MB or more of RAM 20 GB free on the hard disk 56 Kbps or better modem, cable, or LAN connection to the Internet 16-bit or better sound card and speakers 65,000-color or better video display card 15-inch color monitor or larger CD-ROM or DVD drive Windows XP or Windows 2000 (with the Microsoft Office suite) Software Requirements Microsoft Office Suite. It is essential to have Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint products. Most professors will be using all these applications. Students will need to both be able to open the associated file types and complete the assignments using these applications. Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher and/or Netscape Navigator 6.x or higher and/or Mozilla/Firefox Flash version 6 or higher Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher E-mail that sends messages over the Internet and can include file attachments. Internet Service Provider's Internet Service Providers, or ISP's, allow you to access the internet from your home computer, through a modem or cable connection. We have noticed over the years that some ISP's work better with online courses than others. One important factor is whether an ISP uses a standard Netscape or Internet Explorer browser, or whether it uses a modified version of one of these, or its own proprietary browser. ISP's that use the latter (AOL is a good example), are not likely to work as well with online courses. Another important factor in choosing an ISP is the reliability and speed of the connection it offers. Computer Recommendations Ink-jet printer (Laser printers are sometimes desirable unless you want color) 4x speed CD-ROM drive (Faster is better) Option: A removable drive for backing up valuable data. Skills Test This skills test will test to see if you have the basic system requirements, plug-ins, and skills to take an online course at the UNC School of Public Health. Don't worry, you can go through the test as many times as you like, and we will offer a good deal of help along the way, through both text help links and flash demonstrations. Plug-ins Test This part of the skills test will check to see if you have the appropriate plug-ins. Plug-in's are programs that work in connection with your web browser, to display information, such as sound, video, or animation that the web browser cannot handle directly. There are three plug-ins used by most online courses that it is necessary to have: the Adobe Reader plug-in, the RealPlayer plug-in, and the Flash plug-in. Each of these are available free from the internet. The next three pages will test to make sure you have the three appropriate plug-ins. For each plug-in test you will receive a congratulations message if you have the plug-in. If you do not receive a congratulations message on each page, please download the appropriate plug-in(s). Please Note: If at any point you need to download new applications, or updates, we will provide links for those downloads so you can install them immediately. Because most installations require you to restart your computer, bookmark this page before you install any of the plug -ins. A Note On Buying A New Computer: If you are considering buying a new computer, just about any current model offered from a well-known brand should meet our minimum system guidelines. We recommend checking out Dell or IBM first. Even the least expensive models should work fine for an online course, but remember you might have to buy additional equipment and services, like software, a printer, or internet access. For students who are enrolled at least half-time in a for-credit degree program, UNC has a special arrangement with a major manufacturer to purchase desktop and laptop computers called the Carolina Computing Initiative.   While they may cost more than comparable models, they come with a raft of pre-loaded software and a very good warranty.

Last updated February 14, 2007