U of I Ext. Master Gardener Program

Adult Education Classes

University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener Program

2012 Computer System Requirements for the Master Gardener Online Course

The Master Gardener online training course uses an online teaching program called Illinois Compass. Trainees can access the Illinois Compass platform through a web browser. Some of the files in the course are very large. If you have slow dial-up internet access, you may find viewing the files time consuming, frustrating, and costly if done all online. YOU MUST HAVE a MINIMUM of 256k bandwidth; and a DSL or better internet connection in order to view many of the lessons in this course.

The Illinois Compass software you will use resides on a server (a central host computer) on the University of Illinois campus. You will want to be sure that your computer’s settings are optimized for running an online course. Illinois Compass uses Java technology extensively. In order for Compass to work properly, the appropriate Java plug-in must be installed on your computer. To get the most recent version of the Java plug-in for your windows computer, visit www.java.com, click on the Free Java download button, and follow the directions. Macintosh users receive Java updates automatically via their software update control panel.

You will also need Acrobat Reader (which can be downloaded free from adobe.com) to view the CD-ROM version of the Master Gardener manual. The Master Gardener online course has a messaging system within the course, so e-mail access is not absolutely necessary, but for direct communication with the instructor it is recommended that course participants also have an e-mail account.

Recommended Browsers

Not all web browsers perform properly with Illinois Compass. Please refer to the table below for the browsers that have been tested and are supported by Illinois Compass.

Windows XP, Vista 8.0, Windows 7

Macintosh

Internet Explorer:

IE 6 — compatible for XP
IE 7 — compatible for XP, Vista
(not tested for Windows 7)
IE 8 — compatible for XP, Vista, Windows 7

Apple Safari:

2.0 — compatible for Mac OS 10.3, 10.4
3.0 — compatible for Mac OS 10.4, 10.5
3.1 — compatible for Mac OS 10.4, 10.5
3.2 — compatible for Mac OS 10.4, 10.5
4.0 — compatible for Mac OS 10.4, 10.5, 10.6

Mozilla Firefox:

2.0 — compatible for XP, Vista
(not tested for Windows 7)
3.0 — compatible for XP, Vista
(not tested for Windows 7)
3.5 — compatible for XP, Vista, Windows 7
3.6 — compatible for XP, Vista, Windows 7

Mozilla Firefox:

2.0 — compatible for Mac OS 10.3, 10.4, 10.5
3.0 — not tested
3.5 — compatible for Mac OS 10.4, 10.5, 10.6
3.6 — compatible for Mac OS 10.5, 10.6

Browsers for Windows 2000 are not tested and the 2000 operating system is not preferred. Netscape is not suggested. Internet Explorer has not been tested on Macintosh OS. Safari has not been tested on Windows (all versions). Some clients have experienced difficulties with the latest version of Java RunTime Environment v1.6. It is recommended that an older iteration of Java RunTime be used if problems occur.