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Technology Requirements—School- and Course-Specific Requirements

In the Purdue Global online learning environment, computer software and hardware allows you to communicate clearly and effectively with faculty, staff, and other students. It is the vehicle by which you submit all course assignments. Without the appropriate software and hardware, you will not be able to access course materials, collaborate with faculty, nor complete assignments for submission and grading.

Additional Software and Hardware Requirements

Along with the software and hardware requirements listed on the Purdue Global Technology Requirements page, all students should review and be aware of any additional software and hardware requirements for their classes prior to enrollment.

Please review the information on this page carefully. If you have questions about these requirements or whether your current software or hardware is appropriate for a class in which you would like to enroll, contact your Student Support Specialist at 866-522-7747.

Purchasing Additional Software

If you need to purchase additional software, please see the Recommended Software Vendor section for information about discounted student rates.

School-Specific Requirements

Please check to ensure that your computer meets the minimum requirements needed to run any additional software. All software and hardware requirements are subject to change.

  • Social and Behavioral Sciences

    College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

    All social and behavioral sciences courses require Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer, available as a free download (if you do not have PowerPoint already) from this page.

    In addition, students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Communication program must have access to a computer with a built-in microphone and webcam or an external headset with a microphone and an external webcam.

    Please Note: Purdue Global's Support and Solutions Team is not available to offer guidance or technical support concerning the use of microphones or webcams. Students should understand how to operate the built-in features and/or external equipment prior to using them in the classroom environment.

  • Nursing

    School of Nursing

    Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing: RN to BSN and graduate nursing programs will utilize Shadow Health software throughout the program. The current, one-time fee of $119.99 and $3.99 learner support fee are paid directly to Shadow Health. Instructions to purchase the software is provided to students in this course.

    Students enrolled in the Associate of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing: Students in these programs will be required to use the Oculus Quest Virtual Reality Headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities. The cost of the headset and software is eligible to be covered by financial aid. Use of the headset requires a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once the initial setup is complete, you'll be able to complete virtual activities using your Oculus Quest headset. Please see the tuition and fees page for more information.

    Please note: Purdue Global's Support and Solutions Team is not available to offer guidance or technical support concerning the use of Shadow Health or Oculus. Shadow Health and Oculus provide technical support for students.

Course-Specific Requirements

Undergraduate Courses

Review the hardware/software requirements for undergraduate courses below.

  • Criminal Justice (CJ)
    • CJ328: Forensic Fingerprint Analysis: An ink pad and either black fingerprint powder or crushed charcoal is needed to complete assignments.
  • Health Information (HI)
    • HI150: Automation of Health Information: You will be using Tableau Data Visualization Software. The course includes instructions for obtaining and downloading this free software.
  • Health Science (HS)
    • HS305: Research Methods For Health Sciences: You will be using Tableau Data Visualization Software. Your instructor will provide instructions for obtaining this free software during the course.
    • HS312: Epidemiology and Biostatistics II: PSPP Software is required. A free download is available.
  • Information Technology (IN/IT)
    • IN203: Networking With Microsoft Technologies: Wireshark protocol analyzer (free download).
    • IN230: Google UX Course I: Figma; download and installation instructions are in the online classroom.
    • IN231: Google UX Course II: Figma; download and installation instructions are in the online classroom.
    • IN232: Google UX Course 3: Figma; download and installation instructions are in the online classroom.
    • IN241: Game Programming: The following open source web-based resources are required at no cost for students: Unity, GIMP, Blender, Visual Studio Community, Audacity.
    • IN242: Game Art and Animation: The following software is required for this course: Unity 3D 2021.1 or later version; Blender 2.8 or later version; Gimp 2.10 or later version.
    • IN256: Software Design and Development Concepts Using Python: Microsoft Visio (available from the Purdue Global Microsoft Azure Development Tools for Teaching website). Eclipse IDE for Java Developers (https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages). Review "Technology Requirements" in the University Catalog.
    • IN301: Securing Data: Software: SQL Server Express® Current Version, SQL Server Management Studio® Current Version, Adventure Works™ Database Backup, VirtualBox®, Hadoop Sandbox®, R3 Corda®, H2 Database Engine. Instructions for download and installation will be provided in the online class environment.
    • IN302: Reporting and Visualization: Tableau Public, Power BI Desktop.
    • IN303: Data Mining and Data Warehousing: Hardware: 10 GB of hard drive space, 4 GB of memory (RAM). Software: VirtualBox, Cloudera, Quickstart Virtual Machine. Codio will be available to students via a login to the Codio website. No software installation is required. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IN304: Advanced Programming for Data Analysis: Hardware: An SSH application to connect to a remote server. No-cost options include PuTTY (windows) or Terminal (MacOS). Software: VirtualBox, Cloudera, QuickStart Virtual Machine, Python, PyCharm, EDU, Java, Eclipse, Weka, R, RStudio. Codio will be available to students via a login to the Codio website. No software installation is required. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IN351: Advanced Software Development Including Web and Mobility Using C#: Visual Studio and Xamarin. For C#, the development environment is Visual Studio Community Edition configured to include mobile applications (Xamarin). A link is in the online classroom.
    • IN353: Advanced Software Development Including Web and Mobility Using JavaScript and PHP: Review "Technology Requirements" in the University Catalog. The latest versions of PHP, JavaScript uses Node.js, VS Code editor, and Ngrok, for accessing a progressive web application on a mobile device, are used in this course. Note that you need to create an account for Ngrok and can use your student email. All of the software used is free of charge. NOTE: Other JavaScript software or code editors or integrated development environments may be used with instructor permission.
    • IN400: Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Deep Learning and Machine Learning: The following software requirements are required in this course beyond the ones listed in the catalog: Virtual Box, Cloudera QuickStart, Python, R, Spark Products. Codio will be available to students via a login to the Codio website. No software installation is required. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IN401: Data Curation Concepts: Cloudera Quickstart, Python, R, RStudio, MySQL. Codio will be available to students via a login to the Codio website. No software installation is required. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IN402: Modeling and Predictive Analysis: Codio will be available to students via a login to the Codio website. No software installation is required. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT117: Introduction to Website Development: Latest version of the following browsers: Microsoftreg; Internet Explorer®; Firefox®, or Safari (for MAC® users) Web hosting service to display your course work. You will have the option of using the free Web Server.
    • IT163: Database Concepts Using Microsoft Access: Microsoft® Access® is required and is available through Microsoft Office 365. Purdue Global students may activate a free renewable subscription to MS Office 365 ProPlus. Log on to Purdue Global Campus and go to University Info > Student Store and Discounts, and then select OnTheHub to search for Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus 12-month subscription. MAC Users will need to set up a Windows environment and install the Windows version of Office 365 to obtain Access.
    • IT190: Information Technology Concepts: MS Access, LibreOffice, Bluestacks, Oracle VirtualBox, and Lubuntu.
    • IT213: Software Development Concepts—Introductory: Depends on student's choice of language. Eclipse for Java or Web Development, available from http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/. Visual Studio Community for C#.
    • IT214: Foundations of Web Design: A clean editor such as NotePad™ or TextEdit™ is required for this course. Server space will be provided.
    • IT227: Cloud Infrastructure Administration: An SSH application to connect to a remote server. No-cost options include PuTTY (Windows) or Terminal (MacOS).
    • IT232: Software Design and Development Concepts—Intermediate: Depends on student's choice of language. Eclipse for Java or Web Development, available from http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/. Visual Studio Community for C#,
    • IT234: The latest version of Microsoft SQL Server Express and SQL Server Management Studio, available for free download from the Microsoft website. Links will be provided in the course.
    • IT247: Fundamentals of Web Graphics: Students are required to download GIMP™ and Inkscape™. Details and free download information are provided in the course. The ability to take photographs either from a digital camera, tablet, or cell phone is required.
    • IT273: Networking Concepts: Microsoft Visio® will be required in this class. Version: Any version of Visio is acceptable.
    • IT275: Linux System Administraton: Virtualization software (VMWare, Virtual Box, or Virtual PC).
    • IT278: Network Administration: Microsoft Windows Server® 2016/R2; Windows Server 2016; available by setting up a Microsoft Azure™ account. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT299: Associates Capstone in Information Technology: Microsoft Project®; Microsoft Visio®; available by setting up a Microsoft Azure™ account. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT301: Project Management I: Set up a Microsoft Azure™ account for access to Microsoft Project® software. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT302: Human Computer Interaction: A microphone is required. Audio file creation software (several free tools are suggested in the course) is required; Microsoft Visio is required.
    • IT303: Application Development, Virtualization, and the Cloud: Software: The following software requirements are required in this course beyond the ones listed in the catalog: A program that allows the students to create and run a Virtual Machine on your Windows/macOS, for example, VirtualBox.
    • IT304: Application Development and Scripting in the Cloud: An SSH application to connect to a remote server. No-cost options include PuTTY (Windows) or Terminal (MacOS).
    • IT316: Computer Forensics: FireEye Memoryze software (free download) available from https://www.fireeye.com/services/freeware/memoryze.html. Autopsy Foresnsic Software (free download) available from https://www.autopsy.com/download/.
    • IT350: Advanced Database Concepts: Latest version of SQL Server Express and SQL Server Management Studio. Codio will be available to students via a login to the Codio website. No software installation is required. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT374: Linux System Administration II: You may need VirtualBox™ (free download) or Microsoft® Virtual PC® 2007 (free download) or VMWare® Player or Server (free editions), if you intend to install your Linux software as a virtual operating system. CentOS and UbuntuLinux Software. You can download CD images from www.centos.org and www.ubuntu.org. Your systems must be capable of installing the CentOS and UbuntuLinux operating system as a stand-alone operating system, a dual-boot, or as a virtual operating system using VirtualBox or Virtual PC or VMWare. Recommended operating system is CentOS 6.2 Live DVD and Ubuntu Server 12.1 or current images. The ISO images can be downloaded from the Centos and Ubuntu organization websites.
    • IT391: Advanced Software Development Including Web and Mobility: Depends on student's choice of language. Java, or Web Development: Eclipse and Codename One for Java. C# - Visual Studio and Xamarin. For C#, the development environment is Visual Studio 2017 configured to include mobile applications (Xamarin).
    • IT401: Project Management II: MS Project® 2010. Note that MS Project is available by setting up a Microsoft Azure™ account. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT402: IT Consulting Skills: Microsoft Visio® is required. Mac users will need to set up a Windows environment to use Visio; information is given in the course. Microsoft Project is required. Note that MS Project is available by setting up a Microsoft Azure™ account. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT460: Systems Analysis And Design: Microsoft Visio; Microsoft Project®, Available through Microsoft Azure.
    • IT481: Advanced Software Development: Depends on student's choice of language. Eclipse for Java or Web Development, available from https://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/. Visual Studio Community 2017 for C#.
    • IT488: Software Product Development Using Agile: Depends on student's choice of language. Eclipse for Java or Web Development, available. from https://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/. Visual Studio for C#, available from the Microsoft Azure™ account. A link is in the online classroom.
  • Management (MT)
    • MT217: Finance: Requires extensive use of the Time Value of Money calculator
    • MT434: Logistics and Distribution Management: Requires downloading and installing the most current corporate version of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
    • MT437: Strategic Warehouse Management: Requires downloading and installing the most current corporate version of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
    • MT438: Supply Chain Analytics: Students pay a one-time $15 technology fee providing access to Esri ArcGIS Online used during the course.
  • Mathematics (MM)
    • MM305: Business Statistics and Quantitative Analysis: Microsoft Excel®, with Data Analysis Add-In™
    • MM325: Statistical Data Analysis: Students need to have an R programming environment, such as R Studio, installed in order to write and execute R code.
  • Nursing (NU)
    • NU142CL: Medical-Surgical Nursing I: Clinical Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • NU143: Maternal Infant Nursing: Elsevier Evolve Link [HESI Practice Exams and Case Studies] (https://www.elsevier.com); Lippincott CoursePoint+ (https://thepoint.lww.com/gateway)
    • NU143CL: Maternal Infant Nursing Clinical: Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • NU144: Medical-Surgical Nursing II: Elsevier Evolve Link [HESI Practice Exams and Case Studies] (https://www.elsevier.com); Lippincott CoursePoint+ (https://thepoint.lww.com/gateway)
    • NU144CL: Medical-Surgical Nursing II: Clinical Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • NU225: Pediatric Nursing: Elsevier Evolve Link [HESI Practice Exams and Case Studies] (https://www.elsevier.com); Lippincott CoursePoint+ (https://thepoint.lww.com/gateway)
    • NU245: Mental Health Nursing: Elsevier Evolve Link [HESI Practice Exams and Case Studies] (https://www.elsevier.com); Lippincott CoursePoint+ (https://thepoint.lww.com/gateway)
    • NU245CL: Mental Health Nursing Clinical: Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • NU263: Medical-Surgical Nursing III: Elsevier Evolve Link [HESI Practice Exams and Case Studies] (https://www.elsevier.com); Lippincott CoursePoint+ (https://thepoint.lww.com/gateway)
    • NU298 Capstone: Elsevier Evolve Link [HESI Practice Exams and Case Studies] (https://www.elsevier.com/); Lippincott CoursePoint+ (https://thepoint.lww.com/gateway)
    • NU333: Physical Assessment for the Professional Nurse: Shadow Health™ Digital Clinical Experience™ offers digital, standardized patient assignments in which you can practice and hone your skills including interviewing patients, performing physical assessments, and documenting your findings.

      This is third-party software that requires certain specifications to run. Review the specifications at https://support.shadowhealth.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004558353-DCE-Minimum-System-Specifications. Access and registration instructions are within the course.

      Google Chrome is the recommended browser; however, Shadow Health is also supported by various browsers. A list can be located at the link above.

      Shadow Health’s Digital Clinical Experiences require the use of a computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse or touchpad. However, if you are currently unable to use the DCE due to a visual or motor impairment, please contact the Shadow Health Learner Support team at Support@ShadowHealth.com.

      Computer speakers or PC headphones are required to listen to the narration and/or normal and abnormal sounds within the concept labs.

      Tina Jones™ presents auditory and visual information representative of a human patient. To address auditory accessibility, Tina's speech is presented as both audio and text displayed at the bottom of the screen, except in instances where the textual representation would distinguish physical findings (e.g., textual descriptions of breathing sounds). If you require transcription of these instances due to an auditory impairment, please contact the Shadow Health Learner Support team at Support@ShadowHealth.com.

      The use of virtualization technologies (i.e., VMware, Bootcamp, Parallels) is currently unsupported when using the Digital Clinical Experience.

  • Paralegal Studies (PA)
    • PA335: Trial And Courtroom Presentation: SmartDraw® Legal 2014 ASIN: 1935341049

Graduate Courses

Review the hardware/software requirements for undergraduate courses below.

  • Graduate Business (GB)
    • GB513: Business Analytics: Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus, which is available as a free, renewable subscription to active, enrolled students at Purdue Global.
    • GB590: Ethics in Business and Society: EthicsGame Simulation
  • Graduate Management (GM)
    • GM502: Leadership Theory and Practice 1: Master of Business Administration students will pay a one-time fee of $45 as part of GB 500 (Marketplace Business Fundamentals Simulation).
    • GM592: Project Planning and the Project Plan: One of the following is required to be downloaded in this course. Project Online Professional (30-day trial period, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/project/project-plan-1) or Libre Office (free open source software, https://www.projectlibre.com). If you have an account with the School of Business and Information Technology, you can download Project for free as a student.
  • Health Information (HI)
    • HI520: Database Design and SQL: SQL Server Express®; SQL Server Management Studio®; Microsoft Reports®; Microsoft Visio®; download and installation instructions are in the online classroom.
    • HI560: Healthcare Data Analytics: You will be using Tableau Data Visualization Software. Your instructor will provide instructions for obtaining and installing this free software during the course.
  • Instructional Design (IX)
    • IX542: Multimedia Development and Implementation: Media production software. Additional information is given in the course.
  • Information Technology (IN/IT)
    • IN504:  Advanced Applications of Python: Students will run free open source software including Tensorflow with Jupyter, and will need to create an environment within Anaconda. It means they will install IPython, Jupyter, and TensorFlow in an appropriate folder inside our machine. On top of this, students will add one essential library for data science: "Pandas." The Pandas library helps to manipulate a data frame.
    • IN506: Data Visualization and Knowledge Representation: Some open source tools and Microsoft tools will be used in this course. Tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel are used to prepare data analysis to make thoughtful decisions.
    • IT503: A clean editor such as NotePad™ or TextEdit™ is required for this course, as well as a microphone or other method to create an audio file.
    • IT510: Microsoft Visio required. Available from the Microsoft Azure™ account. A link is in the online classroom.
    • IT523: MS SQL Server Enterprise or Developer Version with MS SQL Server Management Studio, MS Visual Studio and MS SQL SQL Server Data Tools.
      MS SQL Server Data Tools includes Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and Integration Services.
    • IT527: Foundations in Data Analytics: Students will need to download and install two free software applications, in order:
      R base system: https://cloud.r-project.org/
      R Studio: https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/#download
    • IT528: Students will need to download and install two free software applications, in order:
      R base system: https://cloud.r-project.org/
      R Studio: https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/#download
    • IT543: Cryptography Concepts and Techniques: If using a Windows® PC, install cryptool 1; if using a MAC PC, install jcryptool. A link is in the course.
    • IT599: Master's Capstone in Information Technology: MS Project® 2010. Students will access MS Project through Azure. Instructions are available in the course.
  • Management (MT)
    • MT434: Logistics and Distribution Management: Requires downloading and installing the most current corporate version of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
    • MT437: Strategic Warehouse Management: Requires downloading and installing the most current corporate version of SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
  • Nursing (MN)
    • MN566: NP I - Introduction to Primary Care for the Nurse Practitioner: Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • MN568: FNP I—PRIMARY CARE ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN: Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • MN573: AGNP I Clinical—Adolescent And Adult Focus: Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • MN576: NP II - Primary Care of Women's Health: i-Human https://ih2.i-human.com/
    • MN580: FNP II - Primary Care of Children and Adolescents Health: i-Human https://ih2.i-human.com/
    • MN585: AGNP II Clinical—Frail Elderly Focus: i-Human https://ih2.i-human.com/
    • MN651: AGACNP Introduction to Acute Care Management: Clinical Students will be required to use an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset to participate in the virtual assignments and learning activities in this course. The cost of the headset and software will be covered with a fee using your financial aid. Use of the headset has the following: you'll need a smartphone with the Oculus companion application. The minimum OS requirements for phones to run the Oculus companion app are Apple iOS 10+ or Android 5.0+. Once you finish the initial setup, you'll be able to do everything in your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
    • MN652: AGACNP Acute Care Diagnosis and Management I: i-Human https://ih2.i-human.com/
    • MN654: AGACNP Acute Care Diagnosis and Management II: i-Human https://ih2.i-human.com/
    • MN656: AGACNP Critical Care Management: i-Human https://ih2.i-human.com/
  • Public Health (PU)
    • PU650: Infectious Disease Epidemiology: Purchase and installation of IBM® SPSS® Statistics GradPack 27.

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