Computer & Software Requirements

WebCT
Many of the courses offered through the School of Nursing use WebCT. In order for you to gain access to the course, you will need to log into WebCT. To log into WebCT go to http://webct.isu.edu/. Your WebCT ID is your Bengal Card number, and your password is your birth month and year. So, if you were born on February 05, 1968, your password would be 0268.

Software

Word Processing Suite:

The standard for the School of Nursing is Microsoft Office 2000 or newer. All students are asked to use this. The software comes with our state contracted computer purchases for faculty, negating the cost of purchasing additional office applications. Academic pricing is available through the bookstore for students and faculty. You will need your student or faculty ID to get the student discount. Computer labs are available to all students and offer the latest software and are conveniently located throughout the campus.

All faculty and students are required to submit all electronic correspondence and assignments in Microsoft Office format unless stated otherwise by the instructor. Corel WordPerfect is not recommended for usage as it requires additional work by the instructor and has the potential to delay results from work submitted.

Many nursing courses use Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations and Microsoft Word for syllabus and other material. If you do not have Microsoft PowerPoint or Word, you can download the viewer which is a FREE download from Microsoft. They can be downloaded at:
       · Microsoft Power Point Viewer
       · Microsoft Word Viewer

Corel is currently no longer offering a WordPerfect viewer. If you recieve a WordPerfect file and need to view it, you will need to use one of the ISU computer labs.

Other Software:

Courses may require the additional purchase of software such as SPSS for statistical analysis. Other courses may require you to download and install free software applications.

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Students and Faculty are required to have a valid email address that they use for correspondence and course-work. Students are required to have access to the Internet. Students are encouraged to purchase and use the school computer account, which offers dial-up access, technical support, as well has the latest software in computer labs on campus. ISU assigns every student an email address upon payment of fees even if the student didn't purchase a computer account. The standard for the email is the first four of the last name and the first four of the first name (i.e. username@isu.edu). This email is the email address that is given to your instructor. Your instructor will ONLY use this email address to make contact or send material. If you are unfamiliar with how your email works, please contact the ISU Computer Center Help Desk at 282-4585 for assistance. This email is retrievable where ever Internet access is available.

PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants):

Graduate students are encouraged to purchase a PDA for use in their clinical rotations. PDA's can be used for reference information and patient tracking.

Your Computer

You will be required to use a computer during your course work. It is recommended that students purchase a computer for use at home. If you do not wish to purchase a computer, there are a number of computer labs throughout campus available but this may not be available at your location. We recommend that you use Win95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP for your operating system. In order to get the most from your educational experience we recommend that the computer where the course work will be done following the specifications below or if needed that you purchase a computer with the following minimum requirements.

Windows:

• Intel® Pentium® or AMD® 400 MHz MMX or higher processor (Recommend 1.0GHz or higher)
• 256 MB of RAM (Recommend 512 MB)
• 20G hard drive space (Recommend 60G+)
• 56.6 K modem (Recommend DSL or Cable Modem if available but not required.)
• Graphics card supporting 24 bit color or higher
• Sound card w/speakers
• Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP (Note: Windows 2000 and Windows XP installation require administrator privileges.)
• Internet Explorer 6.01 or higher or Netscape 7.1 or higher (Netscape recommended for WebCT courses).
• 48x CD-ROM or its equivalent. (Cd burner reccomended

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Macintosh:

A Macintosh is not recommended, though, it will work just fine as long as material can be submitted in MS Office format and it meets the same or better requirements as the Windows system.

Your Web Browser

For a web browser for use with WebCT, it is recommended that either Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator be used. Other browsers are known to have compatibility issues with WebCT. To ensure the best experience, it is recommended that either of the above browsers be used instead. They can be downloaded by following either of the links below.

For Netscape Communicator, version 7.x is recommended. This newer version has been tested and seems to have little to no problems for users within WebCT. Therefore, Netscape Communication works with WebCT and the latest version can be downloaded by following the link below. Please note, that this download can take awhile dependent on the connection speed of your computer. Netscape currently has difficulty with producing pop-up windows correctly.
       · Netscape Communicator

Internet Explorer seems not to have any problems with WebCT, even though users have reported having difficulty with certain actions. These actions where unable to be reproduced, so it is unknown if it is Internet Explorer or the users machine itself. Therefore, Internet Explorer works with WebCT and the latest version can be downloaded by following the link below. Please note, that this download can take awhile dependent on the connection speed of your computer.
       · Internet Explorer

Plug-ins

A course may require you to use plug-ins for your web browser. Plug-ins are third party programs that run inside your web browser, adding functionality to it. Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator will automatically ask if you wish to download the components you need when you attempt to access new features, with most plug-ins. Test each of these plug-ins and let Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator download the necessary files. If Internet Explorer or Negscape fails to install the needed plug-in, then a download link is provided for you. Use the installation instructions at each site to install the respective plugin.

· Setting up Real Player to view course videos

· RealPlayer	For streaming video and audio. Be sure to download the FREE version. You do not need to purchase the full version. If you have any trouble, contact a nursing personel.	[test] You should hear audio if the player is installed correctly.
· Flash Player	Experience animation on the web.	[test] This will display a small animation.
· Adobe Acrobat	View, navigate, and print PDF files across all major computing platforms (required by department).	[test] This will open a Adobe Acrobat document.
· QuickTime	Play quicktime video clips and sounds	[test] This will Check to see if you have QuickTime.