Hybrid and Online courses – Technical Requirements

ACCESS AND SKILLS REQUIREMENTS FOR HYBRID AND ONLINE COURSES

Hybrid courses will be delivered through New Brunswick Theological Seminary’s Learning Management System (LMS), Sakai. This means either a portion of the class will meet face-to-face on specified dates during the semester with another portion of your participation conducted online on other dates; or the entire course will be online with no face-to-face meetings.

Students in hybrid and online courses will need to be able to access Sakai through a computer, tablet, or cell phone. All NBTS students have access to Office365 and will be expected to use it for papers and assignments. It gives students access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Students must also be able to access video and pdf content for the course (see equipment requirements below). Many courses will require contact with the professor and other students using a webcam and microphone.  Specific application requirements will be listed in the syllabus of each hybrid and online course.

 Minimum Computer Requirements for Hybrid and Online Courses

Hybrid and online courses require both equipment and computer skills to navigate and participate.  Students should be aware of these basic requirements before enrolling in these types of courses.  Some specific courses my have requirements in addition to these.

Operating Systems

• Windows 7 and newer (preferably Windows 10)
• MacOS 10.10 and newer (Preferably macOS 10.13)
• Linux
• ChromeOS

Computer Speed and Processor

• Use a computer 5 years old or newer when possible
• at least 1GB of RAM
• 2GHz processor or faster

Internet Access Speed

• Minimum of 512kbps (preferably greater than 1Mbps)
• Wireless broadband connection is available on campus or at public libraries

Screen Readers

• Macintosh: VoiceOver (latest version for Safari)
• PC: JAWS (latest version for Internet Explorer)
• PC: NVDA (latest version for Firefox)

Web Browsers – minimum versions required

• Internet Explorer 11
• Edge 40
• Chrome 65
• Safari 10
• Firefox 59 (Extended Releases are not supported)

Camera/Microphone:

• Webcam Required (Internal or External)
• Microphone Required (Internal or External)

Applications/Plug-ins:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader or Apple Preview (To read PDF files)
• Adobe Flash (for recording or viewing audio/video and uploading files)
• Additional media players and plugins may be required. Some videos or content may also require the Microsoft Silverlight plugin, which is available as a free download.