Technical Requirements for On-line Courses

 INTERNET ACCESS :

Students taking an on - line course at CCBC are required to provide their own Internet access. If your Internet access is via a modem, 28.8 Kb is the minimum access that is feasible. Faster connections are preferable. E-mail access is also required.

Note: A large number of our on-line courses utilize WebCT software. If you are taking a WebCT delivered course and are accessing it from your office, you may run into problems with your company's network and firewalls. If you have difficulty logging into your course from work, contact your IT office at work and discuss the issue with them. The college has no control over the way your company network is configured; it's important to deal directly with the IT staff at your office to resolve access problems from work.

If you have difficulty accessing your course from other locations than work, refer to the Online Help Desk for potential solutions.

 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:

  • IBM / Intel machines: Pentium-II with at least 128 Megabytes of memory, a minimum 2 Gigabyte hard drive and monitor. A sound card and speakers may also be required. Please refer to specific course prerequisites.

  • Apple Macintosh: Power - PC based machine with at least 32 Megabytes of memory and a minimum 2 Gigabyte hard - drive.

Important Note: These are the minimal requirements for taking an online course. Please refer to specific course information for any additional course specific hardware requirements.

 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS:
The following software requirements apply to courses that use WebCT. WebCT courses are recognized by the WebCT icon associated with them.

Operating system:

  • IBM/Intel machines: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

  • Apple Macintosh: System 7.5 or better

Browser Requirements:

Supported Browsers:

  • Netscape 4.76, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, and 6.2.3 (PC & Mac)
  • Internet Explorer 5.0 to 6.0, except 5.5 Service Pack 1 (PC)
  • Internet Explorer 5.0 and 5.1 (Mac OS 9.x)
  • Internet Explorer 5.1 (Mac OS 10.1)
  • Internet Explorer 6.0
  • Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1
  • AOL 7.0 (PC & Mac)

Unsupported Browsers:

  • Internet Explorer 5.5 SP1
  • Netscape 4.78 and 4.79
  • Netscape 6.0 and 6.1
  • Netscape 6.2.x may require an updated Java plug-in for use with WebCT 3.7 and higher.
  • Netscape 7

To check to see whether you have a WebCT compliant browser:

  • Open your browser
    From the browser menu bar, open the "Help" menu.
    Select the "About" option. If there are several, choose the one about your browser. A screen will appear that shows your browser name and version.

  • If you do not have a WebCT compliant browser, download a supported version of either Internet Explorer or Netscape from Netscape's or Microsoft's web site.

  • If you do not have the plug ins required BY YOUR SPECIFIC COURSE, you should download only those plug ins required by your instructor.

Note to AOL Users: If you are using America Online for your Internet access, you might have problems with built - in browser for WebCT. AOL's browser is customized for the AOL network and may conflict with some portions of WebCT. If you experience problems with your AOL browser, we recommend that you download and install a stand - alone - browser. Please refer to the information above concerning the Netscape and Internet Explorer stand-alone browsers. For more information on the AOL situation, go to WebCT's Browser Tune Up page.

To use the stand - alone browser instead of AOL's built - in browser:
    1. Download and install the browser.
    2. Connect as usual with AOL.
    3. Open the browser you installed without disconnecting from AOL.
    4. Access the URL of your on - line course.

Browser configuration:

  The following browser configurations apply to courses that use WebCT. WebCT courses are recognized by the WebCT icon associated with them.

Configuring Netscape Navigator:
  1. Select Edit
  2. From the drop-down menu, select Preferences.
  3. Under the Category heading, highlight Advanced.
  4. Ensure that Enable Java and Enable JavaScript are selected. Click the + sign next to Advanced.
  5. Highlight Cache
  6. Under Document in cache is compared to document on network, select Every Time.
Configuring Internet Explorer:
  1. From the Tools menu, click Internet Options
  2. Click the General Tab
  3. Under the Temporary Internet Files,click Settings
  4. Under Check for newer versions of stored pages, select Every Visit to the Page
  5. Click OK
  6. Click on the Advanced Tab
  7. Under the Microsoft VM, ensure that Java console enabled and Java logging enabled are selected.
  8. Click OK
  9. If you selected Java console enabled, restart your computer.

Note: Both WebCT and Non-WebCT courses may have browser requirements unique to them. Please refer to the course syllabus for course-specific browser requirements

 ACCESSING YOUR COURSE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER:

One week before the beginning of the semester, go to CCBC Online Help Desk and refer to the information about:

  • Contacting your instructor
  • Possible orientation sessions for your course
  • Logging in to passworded portions of your course

Updated:October 24, 2006

The Community College of Baltimore County
800 South Rolling Road
Catonsville, Maryland 21228