Prospective Faculty
Requirements for Teaching Online Courses
Those interested in teaching online courses must complete the Baker College Online Faculty Training Seminar. The training seminar is held online in an asynchronous format. Seminars are held four times a year.
The training seminar requires daily participation, activities, and assignments. Also, trainees are required to attend the virtual classroom at least five out of seven days each seminar week (including weekends). The seminar will include technical training using our course management system (Blackboard), training on how to facilitate learning in the online environment, the Baker College online learning model, and Baker's policies and procedures for adjunct faculty.
There is no fee to attend the seminar. Trainees must complete and pass this seminar in order to teach online for Baker College.
The following is additional information and requirements for teaching for Baker College Online:
Adjunct faculty members MUST have the following hardware and software (additional equipment and software may be required for some courses):
PC Requirements
- Intel Core-2 compatible processor or higher
- Windows XP or higher required (Specific operating systems may be required in some courses. See Course Equipment and Software Requirements for details.)
- 2 Gb of RAM required
- CD ROM drive; DVD ROM drive recommended
- 80 GB hard drive or greater
- Internet service provider (ISP); broadband connection recommended
- Microsoft Office 2007 (Professional recommended and may be required in some courses. See Course Equipment and Software Requirements for details.)
- Please view the table below for browser compatibility. Other browsers may allow Blackboard access but not all functions will operate correctly and are not supported.
- Virus Protection Software
- Java 1.5 or later
- Webcam recommended and may be required in some courses (See Course Equipment and Software Requirements for details.)
Mac Requirements
- Intel, Mac OS X-compatible processor or higher
- Mac OS X Version 10.4.X or later (Specific operating systems may be required in some courses. See Course Equipment and Software Requirements for details.)
- 2 Gb of RAM required
- CD ROM drive required; DVD ROM recommended
- 80 GB hard drive or greater
- Internet service provider (ISP); broadband connection recommended
- Microsoft Office: Mac 2008
- Please view the table below for browser compatibility. Other browsers may allow Blackboard access but not all functions will operate correctly and are not supported.
- Virus Protection Software
- Mac supplied Java
- Webcam recommended and may be required in some courses (See Course Equipment and Software Requirements for details.)
Browser Compatibility
Blackboard™ Learn Release 9.1 SP6 (9.1.60230.0) are tested with a variety of technologies.
Certified: fully tested and supported.
Compatible: partially tested but should function properly.
Provisional: future technologies considered supported by Blackboard
Support.
Unsupported: either impossible or not tested.
Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
| Internet Explorer® 9 * | Internet Explorer 8 * | Firefox (Final Release Channel) ** | Firefox 3.6 | Chrome (Stable Channel) ** | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows® XP (32-bit) | Unsupported | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible |
| Windows Vista® (32-bit) | Certified | Compatible | Certified | Compatible | Compatible |
| Windows Vista (64-bit) | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible |
| Windows 7 (32-bit) | Certified | Compatible | Certified | Compatible | Certified |
| Windows 7 (64-bit) | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible |
Apple® Mac OS® Operating System
| Safari® 5.0 | Safari 4.0 | Firefox (Final Release Channel) ** | Firefox 3.6 | Chrome (Stable Channel) ** | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac OSX 10.5 "Leopard" | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible | Compatible |
| Mac OSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard" | Certified | Compatible | Certified | Compatible | Certified |
Notes
Blackboard strives to make all its products as accessible as possible. JAWS for Windows 11 and 12 were used during accessibility testing. Blackboard Learn requires the latest version of Sun JRE 6. The JRE can be downloaded from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.
The following technologies are not supported:
- Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7
- Firefox 1.x, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5
- Safari 2.0, 3.x (or any version on Windows)
- Mac OSX 10.4 "Tiger"
- Java 5
* Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9
These browsers are tested in Standards Mode. Some known issues can be
resolved by using Compatibility Mode (emulates IE7 behavior). A known
security issue prevents copy and paste from working in the Discussion
Board. The current workaround is to use the quote button when quoting in a
reply or to use plain text mode. Another known bug causes a password dialog
box to appear when opening certain course documents. The workaround for
this is to either cancel the dialog box or to use a different web browser.
** Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have moved to a rapid release cycle. At the time of testing, Chrome 10.0 and Firefox 4.0 were the latest available versions. Since then, new stable versions have been released and widely adopted. Blackboard is supporting all newer stable versions of Chrome and Firefox.
Adjunct faculty members MUST be proficient in:
- Sending and receiving e-mail
- Sending and receiving file attachments
- Microsoft Office XP or higher
- Using the Internet