Computers, Internet Connections & Browsers
Please carefully read the following information:
1) Access to Internet | Internet Connections
If you are taking online courses, you must have access to a computer. However, simply having a computer is not enough; your computer must meet certain requirements to support an online course at our College. Computer labs are available on campus, but it is difficult to take a distance education course without a computer and high-speed internet connection at home or on campus.
It’s all about speed! For the most part, bigger and faster is better. Computer speed is measured by the size of the CPU (Central Processing Unit) in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz) such as 1.8 GHz or 3.0 GHz. Requirements change quickly as the internet changes. For the most part, if you have a computer that is less than three years old, it should be fast enough to manage our online course system and its content.
Another measure of a computer’s ability to perform quickly when browsing the internet is the amount of memory or RAM (measured in Megabytes or MB). Your computer will perform much better with the online course applications if you have at least 256MB of RAM; 512MB, 1 GB or more is even better. (Computer geeks will tell you: You can never have too much RAM).
The third measure of speed would be your internet speed along with the type of internet connection.
- We do not recommend that you try to take an online course through a dial-up connection.
- Satellite connections, such as Wild Blue, may not fulfill the minimum technical requirements like connectivity and speed for using the Canvas LMS system.
- In some communities, DSL or ADSL is now available. This provides fast connection speeds with only one phone line for both voice and Internet connection at the same time.
- Wireless and cellular connections to the internet are generally fast enough and available in many communities though they may not always result in a reliable internet connection.
- Your local community library may be a good place to start if you don’t have a computer and need access to the internet.
2) Browsers for Blackboard become Browser for Canvas
The recommended browsers for the Iowa Valley Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) are the current versions of Firefox and Chrome. Safari and Edge can also be used but are not quite as reliable for Canvas as Firefox and Chrome.
Pop-up blockers should be disabled when using Canvas.
You can also find up-to-date Canvas browser requirements here.
Mobile Access to Canvas
You can access the Iowa Valley Canvas LMS system from a browser on a tablet or phone, though you may not be able to do all class tasks like submitting assignments, joining discussions, and taking tests. Canvas also has a mobile app for both IOS and Android devices that you can download from the app store for access to Canvas which will probably give you a better Canvas experience on a mobile device.
