Instructor: Announcements

Communicate with your students by posting Announcements on the course homepage.

1. Select the context menu to the right of Announcements (inverted triangle) and select New Announcement.
2. Enter a Headline.
3. Enter your message in the Content field. You can use the HTML Editor to add links, images, video, sound recordings, etc.

    

4. Show Start Date: Select whether or not the start date and time of the Announcement will be visible to participants.
5. Enter Start Date and End Date (optional). These dates control when the Announcement is visible to students.  If you don't set these dates, the announcement is always visible to students.

    

6. Add Attachments (optional). You can add file attachments, video attachments, and audio attachments.
   • Add a File: Allows file types such as PDF, PowerPoint, Word, etc. to be added to the Announcement as a downloadable file.
   • Record Audio: Allows you to record an audio clip up to 10 minutes long. This option requires you to have a functioning microphone and Adobe Flash installed on your computer.
   • Record Video: Allows you to record a video to accompany the Announcement. There is a 10-minute maximum for video length. 

      

7. Save your Announcement.
   • Save as Draft: saves the Announcement for future editing. It is not visible to students.
   • Publish: publishes the Announcement to the Announcement widget on your course homepage and is visible to students.

      

You can copy an announcement from one course site to another course site.

• Select Course Admin from the Navbar.
• Select the Announcements tool.
• Locate the announcement you want to copy to another course site(s), then select the Actions Menu icon. 
• Choose Copy to Other Courses.
• Use the Search Field to search for the destination course site(s); or if already listed, select the checkbox to the left of the course site name(s). You can select up to ten (10) destination course sites.
• Select Next.
• Select Copy. If you wish to immediately publish the announcement in the destination course site(s), select the checkbox option labeled Publish Announcement on Copy.
• Select Done.

Update or edit an existing Announcement.

1. Select the context menu to the right of Announcements (inverted triangle) and select Go to Announcements Tool. By doing this you will have access to all Announcements in the course, not just the ones currently visible on the homepage.

    

2. Select the context menu to the right of the Announcement you would like to edit (inverted triangle) and choose Edit.

    

3. Make the desired changes.
4. Save your changes:
   • Update: Select the Update button to save changes made to an already-published Announcement.
   • Publish/Save as Draft: Select the Publish button to publish a draft-status Announcement, making it immediately available to course participants. Select the Save as Draft button to save changes and keep the Announcement in draft status for later review or continued editing.

      

Reorder the announcements in the Announcement widget.

When creating new Announcements, the newest Announcement appears at the top of the list of Announcements despite any availability dates you may have set. If you would like to change the order of the Announcements:

1. In the Announcements tool, select the context menu to the right of Announcements (inverted triangle) and choose Reorder Announcements..
2. Use the Sort Order dropdown menu to select the order in which you would like each Announcement to appear.
3. Select the Save button to save your changes.

There are two ways to delete an Announcement from your course.

Option 1

To delete an Announcement from the Announcement widget on the course homepage:

1. Select the context menu to the right of the Announcement (inverted triangle) you would like to delete, and choose Delete.

    

2. Confirm you want to delete the Announcement.

Option 2

To delete an Announcement from the Announcements tool:

1. Select the context menu to the right of Announcements (inverted triangle) and choose Go to Announcements Tool.
2. Select the context menu to the right of the Announcement (inverted triangle) you would like to delete, and choose Delete.

Pin an announcement to the top of the Announcement Feed on the Course Homepage.

1. From the Course Homepage, select the Actions Menu icon to the right of the announcement you want to pin.
2. Select Pin to top. The announcement will display at the top of the list. All other announcements will follow in order of their publish date (most recent to least recent). 

If you have inadvertently deleted an Announcement, you can restore it to the Announcement tool.

1. Select the context menu to the right of Announcements (inverted triangle) and choose Go to Announcements Tool.

    

2. Select the More Actions button and choose Restore.
3. Check the box to the left of the Announcement you would like to restore.
4. Select the Restore button located at the top of the list of deleted Announcements.