Pre-College Program Tech Requirements
Help Desk
General technical support for Canvas and other learning technologies is available through the support site. The site includes helpful resources, guides, and information on many of the learning technologies used to support your courses.
Computer
The minimum operating systems for Canvas are:
- Mac – OSX 10.8 or higher
- PC – Windows 7 or higher
The recommended operating systems for Canvas are:
- Mac – OS 10.12
- PC – Windows 10
Internet Connectivity
You will be expected to logon to Canvas frequently (daily), so a reliable, high-speed internet connection is essential.
- Minimum Connectivity:
Broadband (high-speed) Internet connection with a consistent minimum speed of 1.5 Mbps. - Recommend Connectivity:
Broadband (high-speed) Internet connection with a speed of 4 Mbps or higher
Web Browsers
Any current browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Edge) should work with Canvas. If you have difficulties with operating Canvas, try changing browsers before seeking technical support.
Your internet browser should be configured to:
Software
Expectations for additional software or plugins will be communicated within the details of each course:
- Adobe Reader – other PDF viewers are not supported.
- Microsoft Word or other compatible software, such as Google Docs.
- Respondus Lockdown Browser – custom browser that locks down the testing environment within a learning management system.
- PDF Viewer- You will need a PDF viewer to view PDF files in your course. To download free Adobe PDF viewer software go to adobe.com.
- Zoom – Instructors may designate real-time virtual office hours via Zoom. For more information on Zoom, please see the Zoom Quick-Start Guide.
- Microsoft Teams is an online collaboration platform made available through JHU’s Office 365 license. It allows users to chat, hold discussions, share links, images, and documents for collaborative editing.
- Voice Thread allows students to create and share interactive multimedia slideshows.
The above list includes the most common required software used to support our online pre-college courses. Please note: Courses may or may not use all the software listed.