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Online Course Tech Requirements

What are the technical requirements that are needed to take an online class?

For your personal computer you will need the following minimum attributes:

Operating System

Windows: Windows 10

macOS: One of the two most recent versions of macOS. When a new major version of macOS is released, the macOS and the previous version.

For the best experience, use the most current build of any operating system specified above. Product functionality and feature availability may vary on older systems (Search Microsoft Lifecycle Policy).

Processor Windows OS: 2 (GHz) or faster, 2-core

macOS: Intel processor or Apple Silicon processor
Memory Windows OS: 4 GB RAM

macOS: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive Space Windows OS: 15% of total hard drive space free

macOS: 10 GB of available disk space

Updates may require additional storage over time.
Other Peripherals Computer headset with earphones and microphone
Internet Browser Please refer to the Supported Browsers and Operating Systems document
Office / Documents

There are several options for document editing:

  • Office 365 is the best choice. It available to matriculated students with a URMC email address. Register and download Office 365. Office 365 is also available through a subscription plan.
  • Web-based Office suites, such as Google Documents (https://docs.google.com/).
  • Apple iWork (Mac and iOS/iPadOS-only): offers tools that are similar to Word ("Pages"), PowerPoint ("Keynote"), and Excel ("Numbers").

If you are submitting an assignment that was prepared using Google Docs or Apple's tools, be sure to export the file to a Microsoft version (for instance, ".docx" for Word).