Informational Student Documents for the 2009 Fall Semester
• HANDOUT -- Instructions for Webclass Students
• Sowela Web Students REQUIRED to take Online Tutorial

Direct link to Blackboard login page (bypassing www.sowela.edu): http://lctcs.blackboard.com

How it Works

• Am I a successful online learner?
• Am I familiar with and have access to email and Internet?
• Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT)

Sowela is committed to helping the student have a successful learning experience. Use the following tools to help you identify the chances of having a successful E-Learning experience.

If you are NOT registered for a webclass, but would still like to take the Student Online Blackboard Tutorial, please email the eLearning Coordinator at elearning@sowela.edu and ask to be added to the tutorial roster.

Is my computer ready for online classes?

Basic Computer Requirements
(Blackboard 8.0 Enterprise)
Sowela Blackboard user support has made this information available so that you may be more successful with your Internet courses. The Blackboard Learning System is a fully interactive web course delivery system that pulls together many different technologies to best serve the end user in their learning experience.
The following is a checklist to help you determine if your computer has the basic requirements necessary to take online classes.

Sowela’s Blackboard Version 8.0 Recommended Basic Computer Requirements Checklist:

• Is your computer up-to-date with an operating system no more than three years old (i.e., Microsoft Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows VISTA)?
• Is your computer equipped with current word processing and multimedia presentation software (i.e., Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 or 2007)?
• Is your computer reliable, meaning that it does not "lock up" or "freeze" frequently?
• Is your computer running a current virus protection program?
• Do you have technical support if you have a computer problem?
  Reliable hardware and software is imperative for one to participate in an online course. If you answered "no" to any of the preceding questions, you may want to consider registering for a traditional face-to-face course. Unreliable hardware and software can be detrimental to your success in an online course.
  Additionally, relying on access to a computer through public libraries or campus computer labs is a risk. There is no guarantee that a computer will be available to you when you need it. If you do not own a personal, reliable computer, you may want to consider registering for a traditional face-to-face course.
• Computer Software Considerations
  Sowela's Blackboard Version 8.0 Recommended Computer Settings / Software Checklist:
• Computer Operating Systems:
• Windows XP (home edition or professional)
• Windows VISTA
• Internet Web Browser:
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or above
• Firefox 2.0 or above
• Safari 2 or 3
• Java Runtime Environment (Min. required version is 1.5)
• JavaScript - Enabled
• Internet Cookies - Enabled
• Pop-Up Blockers - Disable the Pop-Up blocker software or allow Pop-Ups from http://lctcs.blackboard.com

The following is additional information of the Blackboard version 8.0 recommended computer settings/software. This information includes some procedures, software download sites and helpful web sites.

Computer Operating Systems:
Microsoft Windows XP or Windows VISTA
NOTE: These two Microsoft operating systems are 100% certified by Blackboard. Previous version of Microsoft operation systems (win95,win98,winNT, winME) may not be compatible with certain functions within Blackboard.
How do you determine your operating system?
Select Start > Run.
Type winver.exe in the Open field and press OK. This launches the About Windows dialog, which contains operating system information.

Internet Web Browser:
Internet Explorer 7.0 or 8.0 is the recommended and supported web browser for use with Blackboard at Sowela.

How do you determine what version of Internet Explorer I have?

• In Internet Explorer, go to: Help\About Internet Explorer.

How do I download the newest version of Internet Explorer?

• In Internet Explorer, go to Tools\Window Updates. Run all recommended critical updates. (This may take a significant amount of time to download!)
  Note: There are many Internet browsers available. In order to best serve our students and faculty, both in end user support and training, Sowela only supports Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. If you dial into the Internet using ISP’s such as AOL, connect to the Internet as you would normally do, minimize that window, and open Internet Explorer.
  (See Also: Internet Explorer 7.0 Known Issue)

Java Runtime Environment (Min. required version is1.5)
To determine the version of Java loaded on your computer, go to the JAVA Tester web site at http://javatester.org/version.html. Your version will be listed in the Pink Box.

NOTE: Some security software packages can block the Java function. This includes virus protection and firewall software.
To download Java Runtime Environment (version 5.0), go to: http://www.java.com.

JavaScript - Enabled (including Java applets)
Having Java installed is not enough. The Java scripting must be enabled on your computer. To do this, in Internet Explorer 6 (version 6.0.2 and above):

• Go to "Tools | Internet Options..." from the main menu of Internet Explorer 6
• Change to the "Security" tab
• Select "Custom Level" and under "Security Settings” scroll down to “Scripting”...
• Enable: Active scripting
• Enable: Allow paste operations via script
• Enable: Scripting of Java applets
• Restart the Internet Explorer 6 browser

Internet Cookies - Enabled
Blackboard MUST use Internet cookies to login and remain logged into Blackboard. If Internet cookies are blocked on your computer, you may allow Blackboard ONLY cookies by going to:
Internet Explorer 7: Tools/Internet Options, switch to "Privacy"
Go to “edit” in the “web site” area and in “Address of Web site” type in http://lctcs.blackboard.com and click “allow”. (If "edit" is grayed out, look in the settings window above and set the slide to a lower level.)
This action will allow you to continue blocking Internet cookies but will allow cookies for the operation of Sowela’s Blackboard.

Blackboard’s use of Internet Cookies:
The vulnerabilities described in Microsoft's security bulletin only apply to systems that (1) store sensitive information in cookies, or (2) store permanent cookies on the customer's hard disk.
Blackboard does neither. Blackboard uses cookies as a unique user and session identifier. Furthermore, this cookie does not persist -- it is not stored permanently on a user's hard drive. The Blackboard cookie is destroyed when the browser session is closed. Modification of the cookie on a user's browser will at most destroy their login session, requiring them to re-login.

Pop-Up Blockers
Disable Pop-Up software or allow Pop-Ups from http://lctcs.blackboard.com and www.sowela.edu.
Pop-up Blockers software can disable many functions of Blackboard and make taking a test impossible in Blackboard! If you have installed a third-party Pop-up Blocker, you must allow pop-ups from the above-mentioned sites.
Here are some examples of Pop-Up blocker programs:
Pop-Up Blocker, Pop-Up Sweeper, Pop-Up Agent, Pop-Up Terminator, Pop-Up Destroyer, Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, Alexa Toolbar, Pop-Up Stopper, Stop Zilla

Listed below are the supported operating systems and browsers for use with the Blackboard Academic Suite. The Academic Suite is a Web-based application and other browsers and operating system may work well, however, the listed configurations are the only configurations that are tested and supported by Blackboard.
Notes: 

• All configurations marked as Compatible and have undergone a limited engineering analysis to test areas of the Blackboard Academic Suite that may have browser issues.

Microsoft® Internet Explorer® Web Browsers

Mozilla® Firefox and Netscape® Navigator Web Browsers

Apple® Safari® Web Browsers

FREE BROWSERS, PLUGINS, AND VIEWERS

Browsers:
The Web and the tools used to publish on it are changing every day. If you are using an older version of a browser that cannot handle advanced features of HTML, then some portions of this course may not work for you.

We recommend that you use the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.  These are FREE downloads:

Internet Explorer® 8.0 (LINK:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx)

Mozilla Firefox® browser (LINK:  www.mozilla.com)

Plug-ins, Players and Viewers:
Browsers also use plug-ins and other helper applications to help them display Web documents. If you encounter an element (such as video or animation) that requires one of these helpers, you may see a message that your browser isn't equipped for that content type. Viewers are required to display certain file formats, such as a PowerPoint slide show. These are common plug-ins, players, and viewers that are used on the Web in general, and that may also be used in this course. We recommend that you download all of them.

Adobe Acrobat Reader is free, and freely distributable, software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.  (LINK: http://get.adobe.com/reader/?promoid=DINRS )

Apple QuickTime player is for viewing video in Apple's QuickTime format. Works with over 30 audio, video and image formats.  (LINK: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/)

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2007 is for viewing and printing PowerPoint presentations. Download this if you do not already have PowerPoint installed on your computer.  (LINK: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=048dc840-14e1-467d-8dca-19d2a8fd7485&DisplayLang=en)

Adobe Shockwave and Flash is for viewing interactive content in various Macromedia formats.  (SHOCKWAVE LINK: http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?) (FLASH LINK: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash)