News

All university technology classrooms and computer labs using PCs will be updated to Windows 7 and Office 2013 over the summer for the fall 2013 semester.

This update will not substantially change the user experience in the labs, but older software will be affected. IT Services encourages instructors to test their software in advance. Read Full Article →

Five outstanding online and blended courses and technology enhancements in a course from Michigan State University were selected as recipients of this year’s AT&T Faculty-Staff Awards in Instructional Technology.

In the coming academic year, these winners will present their innovations to the public in venues such as the Instructional Technology Brown Bag Seminar Series and the Breakfast Series: Conversations in Online and Blended Pedagogy, hosted by MSU IT Services. Read Full Article →

Join the MSU Computer Store–Help and Repair for a Computer Expo from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in room 110 of the Computer Center.

See the new 27-inch iMac along with Windows touchscreen technology. Additionally, demo the latest educational software. Vendors will be available to answer your questions.

The first 500 students will receive free Skullcandy earbuds. Read Full Article →

On May 9, MSU IT Services will upgrade Desire2Learn (D2L) from version 10.0 of to version 10.1, making new features available to instructors.

In addition to the new version, D2L will incorporate integrations with ePortfolio and a Learning Object Repository (LOR).

The D2L system at https://d2l.msu.edu will be down during the upgrade on May 9 beginning at 8:00 am. Read Full Article →

Converting your course from ANGEL to D2L?  This checklist is an excellent resource that will help you check the quality of your course materials after you have attended a D2L Conversion Lab.

• Review News items (Announcements)
• Adjust release dates for the new semester – *Tip: The D2L Manage Dates feature lets you update all the release dates for course items in one action.

Congratulations to Claire Layman, the grand prize winner in the Go Mad for an iPad Mini bracket drawing held by the MSU Computer Store April 8 to celebrate March Madness.

She says, “I am so excited to win! I’ve been planning to save for one. I’ll be contributing to two Institute websites, and will use the iPad to take photos and edit video to put on those sites.” Read Full Article →

This document offers a brief overview of the updates and changes that you can expect to see in Version 10.1 of the Desire2Learn learning management system at Michigan State University. Click the link below to download a printable version.

Click to download PDF

According to the company, that learning environment has been updated with these features:

• Video Note allows the user to use a webcam and then drop a video into the course content;
• Universal Drag and Drop File Upload simplifies the addition of files into course content from external sources (such as the user's desktop);
• The ability to create new material, such as assignments, quizzes, and discussions inside content without having to do it from within a popup or navigating to another function;
• Inline document conversion and rendering for Microsoft Office and PDF files;
• A beefed up HTML editor that allows for insertion of audio and video in place;
• Quicker access to restrictions and date management;
• A new class progress dashboard to provide student progress at a glance for instructors; and
• A revamped User Progress function that improves on visualizations and streamlined navigation among users, courses, and tools.

IT Services will offer two days of no-cost workshops on research and instructional technology on May 7 and 8, 2013. These seminars are also open to graduate assistants.

The workshops are designed to support faculty, academic staff, and graduate assistants in their teaching and research roles by providing seminars led by experts in online learning, and instruction in the use of a variety of software tools. Read Full Article →

Hosted at Wills House

Join us April 3 and 4 for the ELI Online Spring Focus Session 2013, "Learning and the Massive Open Online Course," where we will engage the teaching and learning community in exploring this new online course model. Tour institutional examples of MOOCs, various instructional designs and delivery models, processes, methodologies for setting up and evaluating the model, and implications for teaching and learning.   Read Full Article →

This page will prepare you for the D2L Conversion Lab.

• Basic course conversion: 1 minute
• Waiting time for conversion to complete: up to 24 hours

Each ANGEL course or group can only be converted to the Desire2Learn (D2L) system once using the D2L conversion tool. Read Full Article →