There will be a number of D2L training sessions offered by MSU IT Services during Summer 2013. D2L is the new learning management system (LMS) that will be replacing ANGEL over time. The IT Services Brochure with the schedule and how to enroll can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of the page. Just below it can be viewed.

MSU now offers faculty, staff, and graduate students access to iThenticate. Significantly major granting agencies such as NSF and NIH use iThenticate to check submission originality.  iThenticate has a huge database of more than 26M research articles from more than 80 scientific, technical, and medical publishers, and more than 1M abstracts from PubMed. A researcher uses iThenticate by allowing the tool so search its large store of previous research and compare against the researcher's manuscript.

See this link for more details and information about how to apply for becoming an MSU user of iThenticate.  

D2L TOWN HALL:

Friday, November 30, from 1:30-3:00 p.m., in B122 Wells Hall.

Michigan State University launched the D2L Learning Management System on October 30. With that Phase 1 launch, MSU instructors can start building new courses within the D2L system (https://d2l.msu.edu) if they want to be part of the early adopters for the Spring Semester 2013. The Phase 2 launch, targeted for April 2013, will expand D2L functionality related to D2L's ePortfolio and include more integrations with MSU systems and tools.

 

Faculty and instructors can convert their ANGEL course content into D2L through May 2015. The Distance Learning Services (DLS) Help Desk and Learning Design and Technology consultants from IT Services are available to help instructors evaluate what is the best approach for their content conversion. Post-conversion consultations are also available to assess the results of course conversions. Call the DLS Help Desk at (800) 500-1554 or (517) 355-2345 to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions.

 

Additional information is available at http://tech.msu.edu/d2l and http://help.d2l.msu.edu/content/faculty.

 

Desire2Learn Implementation Team

Michigan State University

Libraries and IT Services

Unfortunately MSU is not renewing the arrangement with Lynda.com that allows free access for faculty and staff.  

The reasons sited were (a) not enough use to justify continuation and (b) budgetary tightness being currently experienced.   

Turnitin is an optional resource toolset that faculty and instructors can use within ANGEL to assist students in the continued development of their writing skills in the online environment. As well, it raises awareness of the rules of attribution by assisting faculty and students in detecting plagiarized material. 

A MATLAB resource is being ported from an existing MSU course, Comp Science and Engineering 131, to the CEER website for wider distribution. Its located at MATLAB Resource on these pages. The resource initially will include only introductory topics in MATLAB. If you have recommendations for areas of MATLAB to expand the resource, please let us know via the CEER Contact Form linked from the navigation area on the left. 

Google sites just got easier to use. Up to this point, a Google site designer could give permission for access to a Google site in an all or nothing fashion: The designer could enable a person to enter the or to edit the entire site - or not at all. This made design of functional Google sites difficult in many ways. 

The situation is fixed now - you can specific for a given page on a Google site who can see it, and who can edit it. See 

https://sites.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=1387383&topic=1387643

If you install Office 2011 on your Macintosh, you may experience difficulty with fonts. There is a solution to the issues at:

http://www.officeformachelp.com/office/font-management/