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Technical Requirements

Prerequisite Technology Skills

GRCC's online courses are designed with several prerequisite skills. As a student in an online course, you should have:

  • Familiarity with the basic operation and troubleshooting of a computer.
  • Familiarity with the basic operation of connecting to the Internet.
  • Familiarity with the installation of programs.
  • Familiarity with a Web browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.
  • The ability to send and receive e-mail with attachments.
  • Familiarity with Microsoft Word or other word processing program.

Computer Requirements

In addition to the prerequisite technology skills, your computer must meet some basic hardware and software requirements. Take a few moments to double check to ensure that your computer meets these requirements.

Display - Online courses will display best at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and a color depth of Hi Color (16 bit) or greater. The minimum display resolution is800 x 600 with a color depth of 256 colors.

Speed - The speed of your computer, and the amount of system and video memory are important. A Pentium (or AMD equivalent) speed PC or Mac with at least 256Mb of RAM will significantly improve your interactive learning experience.

Audio - A sound card, with speakers or headphones, and a microphone may also be required.

Internet Connection

A fast, reliable Internet connection are basic requirements for taking online courses. A 56K connection speed or faster is recommended.

Browser Requirements

The recommended browser for online courses is Internet Explorer. At a minimum, you will need Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, or Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher. The following preferences will need to be configured in your browser: (These settings are usually the browser defaults, therefore, you may not need to modify them.)

  1. JavaScript must be enabled.
  2. Cookies must be enabled.
  3. Java must be enabled.
  4. Turn off or set to 0, the cache size on the browser.

Plug-in Requirements

Your professor may be using several different file formats to deliver course materials. Therefore, you may need to download and install several plug-ins before you are able to view your course materials. Plug-ins such as Adobe Acrobat, RealPlayer, Adobe Flash, and Microsoft Word and Powerpoint Viewer are the most common.


Updated on 27-APR-07
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