MSU looks at two options for ANGEL replacement
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MSU Libraries, Computing and Technology, or LCT, is inviting students and faculty to help participate in its decision between two learning management systems to replace ANGEL.
The department has narrowed down the selection for ANGEL’s replacement to learning management systems Blackboard or Desire2Learn and will hold public demonstrations for the two systems beginning Thursday, said David Gift, vice provost for LCT.
Gift said both learning management systems are similar to ANGEL in the sense that the content and workflow is organized around specific courses, which would hopefully lead to a smooth transition.
He added that it still is too early in the process to determine how much the new system would cost the university.
“We’ve promised faculty at least a two-year transition period to make the switch,” said Gift, adding that the new system would run simultaneously with ANGEL during that transition.
LCT hopes to have a new system implemented by this fall at the latest, Gift said.
ANGEL has been MSU’s course management system since 2003, and the university has a contract with ANGEL through 2014. Officials originally were prepping course management system Moodle as a successor to ANGEL.
But the system was ruled inadequate after users found problems with several of the program’s features through faculty and student field trials, said Brendan Guenther, director of MSU virtual university design and technology in a previous interview.
From 3-4:30 p.m. Thursday in Olds Hall room 111, LCT will be holding the first public demonstration of Blackboard to get direct input from the people who use the system, Gift said.
“A vendor representative (will) be demonstrating the product online and live, often with just test data,” Gift said. “They classically will do a run-through of the most important features.”
The second Blackboard demo will run from 8:30-10 a.m. Friday in Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building room 1415.
The other potential ANGEL alternative, Desire2Learn, will be shown first from 3-4:30 p.m. on Feb. 29 in the Natural Science Building room 116 and again from 8:30-10 a.m. on March 1 in Plant and Soil Sciences Building room 1200.
Amy Blair, head of Library Distance Learning Services at MSU, which oversees MSU’s ANGEL help line, said the biggest complaint against ANGEL from students and faculty is the lack of browser support. Some Internet browsers currently are not compatible with ANGEL, including certain versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari, she said.
“I don’t know that ANGEL specifically has a downfall more than any other learning management system out there,” Blair said. “Every system has its downfalls — there’s no one perfect system.”
Speed and freezing issues are education sophomore Elle Cannon’s biggest complaints about ANGEL, she said.
Cannon said she would like those issues addressed in whatever system MSU chooses, although she is content with ANGEL because of her familiarity with the system.
“I know it doesn’t work a lot, but I am used to it,” Cannon said. “I feel like if (MSU) got something else, it would take a while to get used to.”
