Online study - so what's involved?

Computing and study support links

Students planning to study our online courses will require access to:

• A computer capable of running the following software, accessing the internet and playing audio and video files (i.e. has a sound card with speakers or headphones).
• An Internet connection – while the courses can be accessed via a 56 kbps modem we strongly recommend a broadband connection to take full advantage of video and audio resources provided.
• An email programme (e.g. Outlook or Thunderbird) or online email account (e.g. Gmail or Hotmail)
• An Internet Browser equivalent to recent Google Chrome, recent Mozilla Firefox, Safari 6, Internet Explorer 9 (IE 10 required for drag and drop of files from outside the browser).
• Media player software for playing common audio and video files either as a standalone software (e.g. Windows media player, iTunes, QuickTime, VLC media player) or plug-ins to your internet browser (e,g, Flash).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader for displaying PDF files.
• A word processing programme - either Microsoft Word 2010 (or above), Open Office (free), Office365 Web Apps (free), Google Docs (free) or some other equivalent.
• Some courses may include online audio/video meetings that require a webcam and/or microphone.

Students should also be comfortable with using the computer including, basic file management, email and word processing skills. Access to and familiarity with using a digital camera and uploading pictures would also be an advantage.

The following resources may be useful to guide you through general computing and online study issues.

NMIT Computer support materials

iNeedHelp (http://www.nmit.ac.nz/support/iNeedHelp/) provides resources on a range of computing and internet skills, including

• BBC WebWise - Learn how to use the internet step-by-step
• A more advanced internet skills course from Netskills
• Self-paced training courses for Microsoft Word and other Microsoft Office software

Library, research and study support

NMIT Learning support service (http://www.nmit.ac.nz/support/learning/)

• Study tip sheets

NMIT Library (http://library.nmit.ac.nz/)

• Online research resources
• SearchPath - a tutorial on Library services and research skills
• Services for distance students