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Distance Education
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One of the ways in which NEIU accomplishes its mission to provide greater access to higher education for a diverse campus of working commuter students is by offering a variety of ways for our students to complete their classes. NEIU delivers courses through videoconferencing and is expanding its offerings of online and hybrid courses. |
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What are online courses?
Online courses at NEIU are those courses in which all of the classroom instruction is delivered online, usually through the Blackboard Learning Management System. Online classes may require a face-to-face orientation at the beginning of the semester and may require that students travel to a location to take tests.
What are hybrid courses?
Hybrid courses (also called blended courses) combine face-to-face sessions with online sessions. At least 20% of class sessions in hybrid courses will take place online.
What are videoconference courses?
Videoconference courses use live face-to-face classes taught at two or more locations at the same time using two-way video and audio technology. Students and their professor speak with each other as though they were in the same classroom. Click here for current videoconference course schedule.
What hardware and software do I need to take an online or hybrid course?
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System Requirements |
Windows |
Macintosh |
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Minimum |
Recommended |
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system |
Win 98 SE, Win ME, Win NT 6) |
Win 200, Win XP, Win Vista |
MacOS 8.6 |
MacOS 10 or higher |
| Processor |
400 MHz Intel or AMD |
800 MHz or faster Intel or AMD |
300 MHz G3 |
800 MHz or higher G4 |
| RAM |
64 MB |
256 MB |
64 MB |
256 MB |
| Monitor |
800 x 600 |
1024 x 768 |
800 x 600 |
1024 x 768 |
| Internet connection |
56 kbps dial-up modem |
Broadband connection (Cable, DSL or High-speed network) |
56 kbps dial-up modem |
Broadband connection (Cable, DSL or High-speed network) |
| Free hard disk space |
500 MB |
1 GB or greater |
500 MB |
1 GB or greater |
| Browser |
Internet Explorer 5.5 or Firefox 1.0 (Java & cookies enabled) |
IE 6 or Firefox 2.0 (Java & cookies enabled) |
IE 5.2, Firefox 1.0 or Safari 1.1(Java & cookies enabled) |
IE 5.2, Firefox 1.0 or Safari 1.1(Java & cookies enabled) |
| Other software |
NEIU E-mail, MS Office (Word/Excel/PowerPoint), Adobe Acrobat Reader (Free), Anti-virus software |
Where do students go for technology help?
Students who have questions about their online/hybrid course should first contact their course instructor. Students needing other technology assistance should contact Student Computing Services at (773) 442-4390 or http://www.neiu.edu/scs.
Where do faculty go for technology help?
Faculty with questions about Blackboard, developing online or hybrid courses or the use of technologies for teaching and learning should contact the Center for Teaching and Learning at ext. 4467 or by sending an e-mail to faculty-blackboard@neiu.edu. Blackboard resources for faculty are located at http://www.neiu.edu/~ctl/blackboard.html. Other technology issues should be directed to the Help Desk at (773) 442-HELP (4357).
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