Patel and some other students face similar problems with some regularity while using ANGEL, including browser compatibility and file uploading issues. As ANGEL has become outdated, MSU currently is deciding between” two potential replacement systems”:http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2012/02/msu_looks_at_two_options_for_angel_replacement, Blackboard and Desire2Learn.

After holding public demonstrations of each system on campus, the university is one step closer to making a decision, said Brendan Guenther, director of MSU Virtual University Design and Technology.

Currently, various committees are reviewing and testing aspects of each system, such as MSU’s ability to host the system on its network, structural design features and options for students with visual disabilities, Guenther said. Each committee will submit a report to a larger committee of about 25 faculty members with representatives from every college to make the final decision.

“If you think about this as reviewing a car or a house, certain family members are going to want things more than others,” Guenther said.

After the demonstrations, the companies gave MSU sandbox versions of the programs, which Guenther likened to a car fresh off of the assembly line without any customization, he said. About 200 faculty members have access to the versions of Blackboard and Desire2Learn for their own testing and use.

Whichever LMS the university chooses to succeed ANGEL, media arts and technology junior Brian Coon said the layout has to be simpler and load faster. He said one of his teachers ditched ANGEL and made her own website for her class because of recurring errors.

“My assignments haven’t uploaded (in the past), my grades aren’t fully up to date on there and (there are) just a lot of problems,” Coon said.

English junior Meagan Osgood said she doesn’t have a problem with ANGEL, mostly because her teachers rarely use it.

“If it’s a problem for the majority of students, then replace it as long as (the new system is) better,” Osgood said.

Guenther said MSU will be updating ANGEL to its latest 8.0 version in May, which includes browser support for Safari and Google Chrome.

At this point, the goal of selecting a new system by the end of the spring semester, implementing it in the fall semester and having it fully operational by January 2013 still is on track, Guenther said.

However, Blackboard recently acquired two supporting companies of Moodle, an open-source LMS that MSU ruled out as an potential replacement earlier this year.

It is unclear at this time whether those acquisitions will push back MSU’s decision timeline as company changes might occur for Blackboard, Guenther said.

“We’d still like to make a decision this semester, if possible, and begin the process of phasing ANGEL out,” he said.