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Technical Requirement

For distance students to take online courses, you will need to have an Internet connection, and computer hardware and software requirements. For the students of Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS), there are some additional requirements below:

Computer Requirements
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® 2000 or higher
Computer Processor Personal computer (PC) with a Pentium II-class processor, 450 megahertz (MHz), or faster
Computer Memory  256 MB of RAM or more
Hard Disk Space  1 gigabytes (GB) free space
Drive CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
Display Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor with 256 colors or higher
Mouse Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
Internet Connection  56kbps dial-up minimum - Broadband connection recommended 
 
Web Browser (Download the latest versions for free)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6: http://www.microsoft.com/
Mozilla Firefox 1.5: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
Netscape Navigator 7: http://www.netscape.com/
 
How to Enable Java
Some online course sites include Java and JavaScript. You need to configure your browser to enable Java and JavaScript support.

In Internet Explorer, click Tools >> Internet Options >> Advanced.
Check Enable Java console and Java logging 

 

In Mozilla Firefox, click Tools >> Options >> Content. Check Enable Java and Enable JavaScript

 

Cookie 
A packet of information sent by an HTTP server to a World-Wide Web browser This information is stored in a small text file and is sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Internet Explorer is set up to allow the creation of cookies. 
Click Tools on Internet Explorer >> Internet Options >> Security Setting >> Click Custom Level >> Cookies.

 

You can specify that you be prompted before a site puts a cookie on your hard disk, so you can choose to allow or disallow the cookie; or you can prevent Internet Explorer from accepting any cookies. 

 

Plug-In Configuration 
Plug-ins are software modules that add a specific feature to your web browser, allowing it to display different types of audio, video or animation. Some plug-ins are needed for online courses. Please click each logo below and follow the download and installation directions provided by the plug-in companies.


Media Player

Microsoft® Windows Media™ Player 7 offers an all-in-one player for playback of high-quality audio and video, including the popular MP3 format. 


Real Player

With RealPlayer 8, you can experience the broadest range of audio and video content on the Web in the form of RealPresenter, RealAudio, and RealVideo files.

Apple Computer publishes the QuickTime plug-in for handling video, sound, animation, graphics, text, music, and even 360-degree virtual reality (VR) scenes.


Shockwave for Director and Flash

Macromedia publishes multimedia plug-ins that integrate text, graphics, animation, sound, and scripted interactions


Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe publishes the Acrobat Reader plug-in that lets you view and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

For the students of Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS), there are some additional requirements.

  • Access to a computer running Windows 2000 Pro or above 
  • Internet connection with a minimum 56k modem (we recommend a high speed Internet connection). 
  • Current Web browser 
  • Minimum 10 GB free storage 

Extended Programs has recently moved away from Real Video and started using Windows Media Services to stream our classes and events.

  • Requirements for viewing streaming video:
    • Internet connection that can sustain a constant connection at one of the 3 listed bitrates.
      • 340kb - Approximately 42.5KB/s
      • 48kb - Approximately 6KB/s
      • 28kb - Approximately 3KB/s

Media player that has the Windows Media 9 video/audio codec installed. This includes Windows Media Player 9 and Windows Media Player 10.

**Note** - Newer versions of Windows Media Player are available through Windows Update.

Last Updated: March 25, 2008