Online learning is a new experience for most of our students, and while you do not need to be a computer whizz to do our courses, we recommend you have a good understanding of the computer basics.
We want your learning experience with us to be enjoyable and productive, so we have created this help sheet to give you a solid understanding of what you need to know before you start.
This includes becoming familiar with:
- The hardware and software requirements of online courses.
- The value of a fast Internet connection.
- How to locate and download the free plugins that your course might require.
- The basics of email.
- How to obtain tech support when you need it.
What will I need?
To complete all requirements of your course you must use one of the following devices:
- Desktop
- Laptop
Elements of your course can be viewed on your smartphone or tablet, but you will not be able to complete the assessment portion of your course on these devices.
Students often use computers at their local library to complete their courses. This is a viable alternative option if you have a USB to save your work on or access to cloud storage, and the device you choose to work on is dependable.
In addition to a Desktop computer or Laptop, you will also need to use an up-to-date web browser (with pop-ups unblocked). The following free plug-ins may also be needed to complete your program:
Mac computers:
Important information you need to know:
- We create and grade our assessment documents using Microsoft Word. This means work completed on a Mac computer will need to be converted to a Word or PDF document for grading.
- MYOB accounting and payroll software require Windows to operate and it is therefore not compatible with Mac computers.
Microsoft Office:
We recommend students use Microsoft Office 365 as it is the most effective software to complete assessments with. However, all required actions to complete the course are available in Microsoft Office 2010, 2013, and 2016 and most will work in 2007.
Please do not complete your course on Open Documents or in Pages (Mac), as your tutor will not be able to grade your work.
You can purchase a subscription through this link.
Plug-Ins:
In addition to having a browser to view online content, sometimes your course will require you to install one or more of the following plug-ins so that you can view other media that the browser alone may not be able to handle: such as animations, sound clips, PDFs, or any number of other things.
Some common free plug-ins you may need to install could include:
- Adobe Reader.
- Flash Player.
- Windows Media Player.
- Apple QuickTime.
- Microsoft Silverlight.
Emails:
During your studies at The Career Academy, you will receive a lot of emails from us. This will be to notify you of your assessment feedback, query responses, forum posts, promotions, and policy updates. Please make sure you regularly check the personal email account that you registered with us upon enrolment and check your junk mail every week in case our emails go awry.
Internet:
To be able to complete our courses efficiently you will need regular access to the internet, preferably ADSL2 Broadband or Fibre internet connection.
We recommend accessing your Learning Management System (Totara) via the web browser Google Chrome as it is the most compatible with Totara. You can download Chrome via this link.
Technical Difficulties
During your studies with us, you may encounter an issue with your computer or with the software you are required to use for your course. Most technical issues are solvable, however, if you are really struggling with a technical issue, you can always contact your tutor who will direct you to the best person to help you. We want you to be able to resolve your technical issues quickly so that you can get back to your online studies.
Although technical issues can sometimes feel overwhelming, some problems can be solved without assistance. Below are some troubleshooting suggestions you may find useful:
- Check your computer cables and connections to make sure a cable or connection has not loosened or come unplugged.
- If you are having trouble starting your laptop it may be because your laptop battery needs charging. Try plugging it in and charging it for a few minutes before trying to turn it on again. Some devices have a battery indicator on the outside of the device as well, usually near or on the battery itself.
- If your computer monitor is blank, make sure it is plugged in, connected to the computer and turned on. Next, check the brightness control, generally located on the monitor or keyboard.
- If you have no sound on your computer, check the volume control for your computer to see if it is turned up high enough. Some applications (and some plug-ins) have their own volume controls as well, make sure you check both places to resolve any sound issues. If you're using speakers, make sure they are plugged in, turned on, and properly connected to the audio port.
- If trying one of these suggestions does not solve your issue, save your work and try restarting your computer.
Getting Help
One of the quickest ways to find a solution for a technical issue is to search the internet. Most likely the issue you are facing has been experienced by someone else before and there are many resources available online to address a wide variety of issues.
Please keep track of any error messages your computer displays, and the steps you've taken in your attempt to fix it. This will help you if you need to discuss the issue with an expert.
If you are still unsure on how to resolve the issue, please send through a ticket via our orange Help button. Classify the ticket as Software Technical Issues and the message will be assigned to the appropriate tutor or IT specialist.