Individuals participating in the Mentors as Coaches Academy should have access to a computer that is connected to the Internet (broadband is highly recommended) to access course Web sites, perform research, communicate with instructors, and participate in online discussion boards.

It is recommended that the participant have the following:

1. Computer with the following minimal system configuration:
   

   Windows	Macintosh
   XP SP2 or Windows 2000 SP4 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 or greater processor 1 GB of RAM or higher Speakers iTunes 6 or greater Internet Explorer 6 or higher; FireFox BroadBand Connection (if possible)	Mac OS X 10.3 or higher G4 1GHz or higher processor 1 GB of RAM or higher Speakers iTunes 6 or greater Safari 1.2 or higher; FireFox BroadBand Connection (if possible)

   
   
2. Participants will be using Ball State University's Blackboard course management system.  For more information on how to login and use Blackboard please visit the following site: http://www.bsu.edu/techclips/Bb7.htm
   
   
3. In order to view supporting videos participants will need to have Apple's iTunes application already installed.  If not already installed iTunes can be downloaded for free at the following URL: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
   
   
4. Participants will need to have Microsoft Word in order to read and turn in work.  If participants do not have access to Microsoft Word there are a couple of open source alternatives that will open and create .doc files.  Downloads can be found at the following URLs:
   

   Neo Office (For Macintosh) http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

   Open Office (Windows & Macintosh) http://www.openoffice.org/

   Google Documents (Requires creating free account; Platform independent) https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3Dwo&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3Dwo&ltmpl=homepage&rm=false

   
   
5. Participants will need to have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view PDF files.  Acrobat Reader is a free application and can be downloaded from the following URL: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html