hi,
never used one of these before, so very basic question:
once the program's been sent to the board, does it need to stay connected to the computer to run?
thanks..
No, once the sketch/program has been uploaded to the arduino it does not need to be always connected to a computer. Depending on what arduino you have you can power it in many different ways (USB, Battery(DC jack, JST connector), DC jack from mains power).
perfect, thank-you