Minimum Personal Technology Guidance
Students need a reliable laptop or desktop computer and high-speed internet connection; tablets, chromebooks and smart phones are not sufficient. A high speed internet connection is a broadband connection from an internet provider, or at a minimum, a 4G connection from a cellular provider.
For more details please refer to Connecticut State College (CSC) Personal Technology Guidelines for Students, Faculty, and Staff
Per L. Salary, Director of IT by email 11/20/2021
Connecticut State College (CSC) Personal Technology Guidelines for Students, Faculty, and Staff
Personal technology plays an important role in the current higher education environment. It is strongly recommended that all students, faculty, and staff have a personal computing device and access to broadband internet. This recommendation becomes a requirement when online courses are involved.
The recommended device is a laptop or desktop computer. Netbooks, Chromebooks and tablet computing devices do not have the computing power of a normal laptop or desktop computer. For this reason, they are not recommended for use as a primary computing device. Additionally, all CSC students, faculty, and staff have access to the full Office 365 Professional suite of applications which requires one of the following operating systems for installation:
Windows 10 (Professional, Education, Enterprise, or Home)
MacOS 10.14 (Mojave) or higher
These operating systems can only be run on a full laptop or desktop computer.
Table 1. - Hardware recommendations for laptop or desktop
|
|
Recommended |
Preferred (or higher) |
|
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Core i5 / AMD A8, A10, manufactured 2015 or later |
Intel Core i7 / AMD Ryzen, manufactured 2015 or later |
|
Memory (RAM) |
8 GB |
16 GB |
|
Hard Drive |
256 GB SSD |
512GB SSD |
|
Display |
1920 x 1080 (1080p) |
1920 x 1080 (1080p) |
|
Webcam |
720p |
1080p |
|
Audio |
Headset or Speakers and Microphone |
Headset or Speakers and Microphone |
Note: Your program of study may use specific software with requirements higher than what is suggested here. Please speak with your faculty adviser for further information.
Web Browsers
The current version of any major browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari (macOS)) is recommended for use. In addition to their default browser, everyone should have a secondary browser loaded for troubleshooting issues when they occur.
Some websites may have specific version requirements or plugins which are needed to function correctly. Some of the plug-ins currently required by websites used within our environment are:
Adobe Reader - https://get.adobe.com/reader/
Java JRE - https://www.java.com/en/download/
Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash Player are both at end of life by the manufacturer and should not be used.
Office 365
As mentioned above, all CSC account holders have access to the Office 365 Professional Suite of applications which can be loaded on up to 5 devices. Office 365 also provides account holders with the following benefits:
For more information about the use of Office 365 in the CSC system, please visit the following support center page - https://supportcenter.ct.edu/service/office365.asp
Internet Access
High speed (broadband) internet access is also a requirement for the use of personal technology. Although some internet service providers (ISPs) label all their offerings as high speed, some of these services fail to meet the throughput requirements necessary for the online activities required for your courses. At this time, connection speeds of 6 – 10 Mbps (or higher) are suggested for typical educational activities like video streaming, teleconferencing, and file downloading (https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/broadband-speed-guide?contrast=). Additionally, if using cellular wireless for data connectivity you should consider a plan with higher data caps (6 GB to unlimited monthly).