Student Handbook - Information Technology Resources

MSU email is the official communication channel from faculty and staff to students, and students are responsible for checking it daily and maintaining their MSU email accounts so that messages can be received.

Forwarding MSU email to another email account or failure to check email are not valid excuses for missing a deadline or other requirements of the D.O. program.

Further, students must use secure email when working in a hospital, clinic, or other health care setting if discussion of patient information is involved. MSU email accounts are secure; many web-based email systems including Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo are not.

The Student Information System (SIS) is the official record system at MSU. Students are able to view enrollment, tuition charges and account summary; update their addresses; view holds; and review their academic progress. To access the Student Information System, you will need to use Multi-Factor Authentication. Visit the Multi-Factor Authentication website to set up an account.

Web accessibility is the practice of removing barriers that inhibit persons with disabilities from accessing information found on the Internet. In 2008, MSU released its Digital Accessibility Policy. In brief, the policy requires all university web pages used to conduct core business to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0, a set of guidelines adopted by federal agencies and courts as the standard for accessibility.

This practice requires that all multimedia posted for students is closed captioned, and all digital documents properly formatted for screen reader use. While not all lectures or other academic events are intended to be broadcast or recorded, such sessions may be viewable as a livestream as they occur. Lectures will be posted after they are captioned, with a preliminary version typically available on the same day.

Desire2Learn (D2L) is a MSU-supported online learning management system. All required courses in the curriculum utilize D2L for posting electronic course packs, course schedules, and other materials. Access to course content is available only to enrolled students and only for the duration of the course.

The ability to view lectures, either by streaming live or previously recorded lectures on-demand, is made available on a course-by-course basis, determined by the course coordinator. The ability to view lectures on MediaSpace is not guaranteed. On-demand recordings will be made available after accessibility requirements for the recordings have been met.

MSU IT’s Digital Classroom Services unit works to provide a consistent viewing experience in the MediaSpace service. However, due to bandwidth and server capacity limitations, lecture playback may exhibit inconsistent behavior.

Content that has been requested to be recorded by MSUCOM will be posted to MediaSpace once accessibility requirements are met. If there are technical difficulties with the recording of a presentation, MSUCOM Academic Programs (AP) will be notified by MSU IT, and AP will send an email out notifying students when the lecture will be available.

The academic calendar for each class has traditionally been posted to the MSUCOM website under the Current Students tab. The calendar is a composition of course schedules, allowing students the ability to conveniently see dates and times of learning events. The calendar does not denote when events are mandatory; this information is available in course syllabi.

The academic calendar for the Class of 2027 and subsequent classes will be based in the Medtrics system, which students will access using their MSU credentials through a single sign-on feature.

iClicker is free to use for MSU students. Dedicated iClicker devices are no longer used; students may download the iClicker Student app on a personal smart device (e.g., smartphone or tablet) or run iClicker in a browser on a Mac or Windows laptop. Students should create an iClicker Student account and bring a device with the iClicker Student app installed to every class. iClicker polling may be used by faculty at any time, and learning events will proceed as planned whether or not a student has forgotten their device.

iClicker may be used to provide practice with concepts and principles, to stimulate discussion, to take attendance and/or administer assessments. Questions may be posed at any time during the class session. No makeup experience will be provided should a student forget their device.

If iClicker is used to take attendance for an on-campus event, students will be expected to arrive at the physical location on time and to stay for the duration of the assigned activity. If iClicker is used to take attendance for an online event, students will be expected to start the session at the scheduled time and participate for the duration of the assigned activity.

As a matter of professionalism, please note that under no circumstances should a student provide access to their iClicker account to another student by sharing their device and/or account login, nor should a student accept another student’s device or login credentials to access iClicker on their behalf. Answering questions or checking in for attendance on behalf of another student by using one’s own device or account is considered academic dishonesty and may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from the college.

For more information on iClicker, iClicker Student, and how to set up an account and log in on your device, look under the “For Students” section on this tech.msu.edu page.

All MSUCOM students have access to MSU Libraries, including online textbooks; healthcare databases, such as PubMed; and point-of-care references, including DynaMed. Print materials can also be requested for sign-out from any MSUCOM campus.