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NEWS

MSU chooses Desire2Learn to replace ANGEL in 2013

Isabella Shaya
August 2, 2012

After many technical difficulties, lost homework assignments, complaints and deliberation, MSU announced Tuesday the selection of Desire2Learn, or D2L, as the university’s new online learning management system, or LMS. Blackboard’s purchase of the company that built ANGEL in 2009 was the push for MSU to officially start looking for a new LMS, Brendan Guenther, director of teaching and learning support teams in MSU Information Technology, said. MSU considered proposals from two systems to potentially replace ANGEL: Blackboard and D2L. The LMS Futures Committee, consisting of spokespeople from each college and Libraries and IT Services, along with faculty and student input, considered both systems before making the final decision this summer. “These are two really good options,” Guenther said.

NEWS

Izzo named best coach in nation

Athlon Sports recently ranked the nation’s top 30 college basketball coaches, with MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo first on the list.

MICHIGAN

Cities don’t have right to overrule marijuana rules

Rachel Jackson
August 2, 2012

In a court verdict handed down Wednesday, cities and townships are legally prohibited from banning the growth and use of medical marijuana. The Michigan Court of Appeals decided the state medical marijuana law pre-empts a local ordinance in Wyoming, Mich., and local ordinances do not have more authority than state law, the Detroit Free Press reported. The verdict stems from a case in which a patient using medical marijuana challenged a city zoning ordinance that prohibited the use or growth of marijuana.

MSU

Video game helps cancer patients

Isabella Shaya
August 1, 2012

Patients recovering from lung cancer surgery and participating in a recent study conducted by a researcher in the MSU College of Nursing are being given video games to help with the recovery.

MICHIGAN

Face Time: Susan Schmidt

Rachel Jackson
August 1, 2012

On Tuesday, Susan Schmidt — an East Lansing educator and former chief of staff to Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing — will challenge fellow Democrat Sam Singh in Tuesday’s primary to become the state representative for the 69th district. The State News talked with Schmidt about her biggest concerns for the state.

MICHIGAN

Living City: The Junior Olympics

Adam Toolin
August 1, 2012

In 2008, Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics for the world to see. The children at the Lil’ Olympians Sports Camp are too young to remember the games, but fast forward four years, and the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road, is teaching children the Olympic basics.

COMMENTARY

MSU hosts exclusionary Group

Campus and East Lansing often play host to a barrage of summer camps and conferences during the summer. Sports camps, leadership summits and youth groups from all over the state and the nation come to MSU’s world-class facilities to utilize the mostly vacant student housing during the hottest parts of the year.

COMMENTARY

Thoughts from abroad

Craig Pearson
August 1, 2012

The Office of Study Abroad reports that close to 3,000 students travel overseas each year on university-sponsored programs. This does not surprise me. Everyone and his or her brother, it seems, has been across the ocean at least once this summer, and they all have the Facebook photos to prove it. My friends have been checking in from all corners of the globe — so many places that I can’t even keep track.

NEWS

MSU will start to replace ANGEL at end of 2012

Isabella Shaya
August 1, 2012

After reviewing different programs to replace MSU’s current online learning management system, or LMS, MSU announced Tuesday it will be switching to the Desire2Learn, or D2L, system beginning at the end of the fall 2012 semester. D2L was chosen by the LMS Futures Committee, consisting of delegates from Libraries and IT Services, academic colleges along with professors and students on campus. Libraries and IT Services and the LMS Futures Committee looked at Blackboard as another option to replace ANGEL, but chose D2L and is now discussing a multi-year license agreement. Training and use of the D2L system will start in the late fall, but ANGEL will be available until spring 2015. Keep checking The State News for more updates.

NEWS

Alleged robbers waive preliminary examination rights

Kellie Rowe
July 31, 2012

Two women allegedly involved in the robbery of a high-traffic East Lansing gas station waived their rights to preliminary examinations today during separate pretrials at 54B District Court, 101 Linden St. Chrystal Atkins and Chelsi Howard are facing armed robbery charges for the June robbery of Admiral Gas Station, 1120 E.

MSU

MSU professor steps down from CATA board

Darcie Moran
July 31, 2012

Less than a year after his appointment by the Meridian Charter Township board of trustees, Thomas Maleck is resigning from his position on the Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA, board of directors and dealing with the controversy surrounding why.