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To participate in the FIRST YEARS
Certificate, you must satisfy certain technical requirements relating to
the computer system and Internet service you choose. These specifications,
plus needed software downloads, are detailed in this document.
Students participating in the distance-format courses must have access
to:
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Minimum: Pentium 4-level or Macintosh-equivalent computer.
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Broadband connection, i.e. DSL, ISDN, or cable broadband/DSL
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CD ROM and DVD Drives
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Local Internet (World Wide Web) provider. Your service should provide
a browser supported by Blackboard,
the "course management system" used by UNC for distance courses. Blackboard
company states that these operating
system and browser configurations are "fully supported and tested"
for version 8 of its software. From a recent communication from UNC UT
(September 5, 2009):
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For Windows
Vista users, UNC IT recommends your using Mozilla Firefox
as your browser. If you nevertheless decide to use Internet Explorer
with Vista, you will need to do some special
configuration to use the text boxes within Blackboard.
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For Macs, use:
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Mac OS 10.3 - Firefox 3.0
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Mac OS 10.4 - Firefox 3.0 or Safari 2
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Mac OS 10.5 - Safari 3 or Safari 2
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Mozilla Firefox (and its mailing program Thunderbird) are
downloadable from the UNC-Chapel Hill
Shareware site.
Other operating systems and browser combinations have not been tested by
the Blackboard company and are therefore not "fully supported" by them.
In sum, this means that if you are using an operating system and browser
combination other than the supported ones, you may need to make some browser
adjustments.
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Note for AOL users: FIRST YEARS
does not recommend using AOL's proprietary browser with Blackboard. Recommended:
Mozilla
Firefox.
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Note for Netscape users: As
of March, 2008, AOL no longer supports the Netscape browser. Downloadable
versions are available from its archive
page but, again, no official development or support is provided for
these versions. You may, however, find unofficial support at one of the
many Netscape communities. Recommended: Mozilla Firefox.
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Note for Mac users:
Apple and Microsoft
no longer support Internet Explorer for Macs.
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Downloads:
Windows users (Vista,
Windows XP) can upgrade
Internet Explorer from Microsoft's
download site. Mozilla's Firefox, anti-virus programs, and other
software are available free-of-charge from the
UNC-Chapel
Hill Shareware site.
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Anti-Virus Software
These days it is extremely important to protect your computer from
viruses. There are many good antiviral packages, but make sure that whichever
one you purchase is updated frequently and includes free downloads of
the latest virus definitions. As enrolled students, you can obtain
Norton's
Antivirus at the
UNC-Chapel Hill
Shareware site. If you need a good, free, additional one, try AVG
Free
from http://free.grisoft.com/.
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Faxing capabilities
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Internet/e-mail address.
All enrolled students will be communicating
with the instructor via
1) e-mail,
2) "mailto" Weblinks, and
3) "threaded discussion forums."
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E-mail: If you do not have a regular mail service, you can
obtain a free e-mail account from several providers (e.g. http://hotmail.com,
http://gmail.com).
You will use this address to receive mail sent to you within Blackboard
and by instructors/classmates.
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On occasion, your instructor may require you to create a document using
an application program (e.g. Microsoft Word) and attach this document
to your e-mail message. If you do not know how to
attach files, check your e-mail help facility under the keyword:
attachment.
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"Mailto" Weblinks: All course syllabi have instructor e-mail
addresses which, when clicked within the Web document itself, display a
"mail compose" form. To send the message(s) you compose, you must first
configure your browser to tell it who you are and what
your e-mail address is. That is, you must supply the browser with identification
about you, the sender. If when you click a mailto link and are able to
send it, you are configured. Success! If not, contact http://help.unc.edu
to learn more about configuring your browser to handle "mailto links."
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Discussion forum: Most courses will use threaded
discussion groups, which use the Web's hypertext capabilities
to group messages by topic. Blackboard's versions of these are very simple
to use. You can see them in action by taking FIRST YEARS' Blackboard
Tutorial.
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Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). With the introduction
of Vista and Office 2007, you may have to convert these files
to "rich text format"
for folks with Windows XP (many still use this) or earlier versions
of Office.
There are several "plug-ins" needed to handle multimedia and "interactivity"
on the Web -- Javascript,
Quicktime,
Windows
Media player, Flash,
RealPlayer,
Adobe
Acrobat "PDF" Reader. These are all needed for your distance courses.
To test your computer for some basic system requirements, take the Browser
Test below.
 Browser
Test
 Should
you need any downloads, make sure you scroll to look for the free
readers. Sometimes the first download option will be for a product you
must buy. Keep looking! The free reader will be on the page somewhere.
Also, to test whether you can play Quicktime® (.mov) and Windows
Media® (.wmv) files, click on the links below. If you can play
them, success! If not, you will need to download these players from the
RealMedia,
Quicktime
and/or
Windows Media* sites.
* Note for Mac users:
You can download
free Flip4Mac™ software to play Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv)
directly in your QuickTime Player.
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