Mandatory requirements
Access to the internet.
The following specifications for equipment and resources are recommended:
- preferred access to at least an i5 Class computer or AMD equivalent, with a clock speed of at least 2 Ghz, with minimum 2 Gigabyte of memory
- Intel Pentium processor or 100% compatible, with a clock speed of at least 2 Ghz
- CD/DVD drive
- printer
- broadband internet service for online access (minimum 1Mbps)
- USB flash drive
- external hard drive to back up work
- Windows 8 or higher (not Windows RT8 or RT8.1)
- Adobe Reader
- Java
- Microsoft Word 2003 or higher
- Microsoft Excel 2003 or higher
- Microsoft Powerpoint 2003 or higher
- Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Safari
Note:
It is possible to download from the internet a product – Open Office - that has the ability to save documents in the Microsoft Office format
Vision-impaired students may be required to access additional software. It is recommended that JAWS 3.7U, 4.02 or better is used. Vision-impaired students may require screen magnification software, eg. Zoom Text. Text to Speech system may be an advantage.
Mac computers
It is possible to use a Mac computer for most things. Files must be sent to the school in the formats mentioned below headed “Digital Documents” (please keep files small for email transfer). For some courses a windows platform is needed to run the specified programs. Ensure in these cases you can dual boot to Windows. The courses that need Windows O/S are: Graphics Year 8 to Year 12, Digital Design and Technology Year 9. Check with your teacher to confirm this.
Tablets
Will need to run all the above programmes, especially Java. Screen size will be very difficult to read for online lessons. At this stage Education Queensland's version of Blackboard Collaborate does not support use through an Android or IOS app.