Announcements

The Announcements tool allows you to communicate updates, changes and new information to your users quickly and effectively. Announcements appear in the Announcements widget on course and system home pages.

Table Of Contents:

Creating an Announcement

If you have not yet created any Announcements, click on the Create an Announcement link in the Announcements widget on your course homepage.

Open

If you have previously created an Announcement in your course, click on Announcements in the widget title to access the Announcements tool and click the New Item button.

Open

1. In the New Announcement window, populate the Headline field with the subject of the Announcement and add your message to the Content field.

    

2. You can add attachments to your announcements, such as pictures or other files. You can also record audio or video directly within the Announcement page to attach to your announcement.

   1. To add an attachment, click the Add a File button in the Attachments section. Browse to locate your file and click Open to select the file and click Add to complete the file attachment. To add more attachments, click the Add button and repeat the steps.

   2. To record audio, click the Record Audio button in the Attachments section. Ensure your microphone is set up correctly and click New Recording. Click Add and enter a Title and Description for this recording. Click Add and to add your recording to the announcement. Click Cancel to erase your recording.

   3. To record a video, click the Record Video button in the Attachments section. Ensure that your webcam and microphone are set up correctly and click New Recording. Click Add to enter a Title and a Description. Click Add to add your video to the announcement. Click Cancel to erase your recording.

3. The Always Show Start Date check box is selected by default and can be unselected by un-checking the corresponding checkbox.

4. If you are not applying any dates or restrictions you can either Publish your Announcement or Save as Draft to publish at later date.

    

5. Your Announcement appears on your Course Home on the date that you selected. If you selected Always Show Start Date, the date of the posting appears beside the headline.

Applying a Start and/or End Date to an Announcement

1. Select the Start Date and End Date calendar boxes to choose the dates that apply to the particular new item.

2. The Always Show Start Date check box is selected by default and can be unselected by un-checking the corresponding checkbox.

3. If you want to specify a removal date for your Announcement, select the Remove Announcement based on End Date check box and specify an end date. You will still see the Announcement after the End Date but the students will not.

Adding an Announcement for a Future Date

If you set an announcement's Start Date to a date in the future, the announcement will not be visible to users until that date. When the specified date (and time) arrive, users can then see the Announcement.

Other users with permission to see post-dated announcements will also see your Announcement. Post-dated announcements are indicated by the word "Scheduled" under the announcement's status.

Managing Announcements

Editing an Announcement

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement Title and select Edit.

2. Make your desired changes.

3. If the changes are significant, you can check the Major edit box. This will send a new notification to users and restore the notification for those who dismissed it.

4. Click Update to save the changes.

Reordering Announcements

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement widget on the course home page and select Reorder Announcements.

2. Select the new positions for news items using the drop-down lists under Sort Order. The positions of other folders or categories will adjust accordingly.

3. Click Save.

Dismissing an Announcement

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcements in the widget on the course home page and select Go to Announcements Tool.

2. On the Announcements page, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement Title and select Dismiss from Widget.

OR

1. From the course homepage, you can also dismiss an announcement by clicking the x to the right of the Announcement title.

Viewing and Restoring Dismissed Announcements

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcements in the widget on the course home page and select Go to Announcements Tool.

2. Any Announcements that have been dismissed will say (dismissed) to the right of the Announcement Title.

3. To restore the dismissed announcement click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement Title and select Restore.

Pinning Announcements to the top

1. Click on the down arrow beside the Announcement you would like to pin.

2. Select “Pin to Top”

Deleting an Announcement

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement Title and select Delete.

2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Deleting an Attachment from an Announcement

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement Title and select Edit.

2. Click the x to the right of the attachment to delete it.

3. Click Update.

Copying an Announcement to another Course

1. From the course homepage, click the down arrow to the right of the Announcement Title and select Copy to Other Courses.

2. Use the search bar to search for the course you wish to copy to.

3. Choose up to 10 courses that you wish to copy the Announcement to that are visible from the current search by clicking the checkbox beside each.

4. If you wish to Publish the Announcement right away, select Publish Announcement on Copy. Leaving the option blank will copy the announcement and set the status as Draft.

5. Click Next and then Copy once you have confirmed all of the details.