Online Learning System Requirements

Participating in fully-online or hybrid courses requires careful assessment of the home computing environment to ensure success with posting and accessing course materials and completing online coursework activities. Workplace or publicly-available computers should not be relied on for these interactions. Please review the requirements below before beginning your online or hybrid course.

Operating System

This is the base system that all your computer software runs on.

• Mac: OS 10.5 or higher
• Windows: Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 installed) or higher

Internet Browser

Only sanctioned and supported browsers should be used to access SVSU's online learning systems.

• Mac: Firefox, Safari
• *Windows: Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 7.x (and higher)
  *Note - With Microsoft Windows Vista OS, we currently recommend Firefox 3 for browsing SVSU web-based resources.

Internet Connection and Connection Speed

Satisfaction with online courses is closely correlated to connection speed. You'll want to be accessing the course from a reliable, fast Internet connection.

• A reliable, high-speed, or "broadband" Internet connection where you reside/compute is highly-recommended. Cable modem, DSL, high-speed wireless and satellite Internet services are examples of high-speed connections.

Productivity Software Requirements

All SVSU faculty and student computers are equipped with Microsoft's Office 2003 and Corel office productivity suites.

Students and faculty may sign a copy of Corel Office from the SVSU library and install it at home for FREE. Contact the library circulation staff to make arrangements 989-964-4240 or circadm ( at ) library.svsu.edu . Faculty may also sign out a copy of MS Office, if desired.

Students will be expected to access common file types, such as .DOC, .RTF, and .PDF. Students may be required to submit assignments completed in word-processing (or other) software. Students may need to understand the "Save As..." feature of their local software programs in order to produce files for their courses. Students and faculty can produce PDF files with Corel WordPerfect.

Corel Suite Purchase Information .

Students must be able to install software onto the computer being used for online learning. Various freely-available software players and "plugins" are recommended for online learners. Flash Player, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and QuickTime are some examples of software that may assist in the viewing of learning objects. Use SVSU's computer/browser diagnostic to help set up your computer properly for online learning. Links are available to the free software you need from there.

Additionally, students should be knowledgeable about home firewall, pop-up blocking and anti-virus software that may be running on their machine, so that it does not disrupt or interfere with online learning. It is nearly impossible to troubleshoot a home computing problem, unless you are knowledgeable of all aspects of the computer affected by online learning.

Stabilize your Windows PC - Tips to troubleshoot your home (Windows) computer