Announcements Introduction to Announcements... 2 Create an Announcement... 3 Edit an Announcement... 5 Reorder Announcements... 6 Dismiss and Restore Announcements... 7 Subscribe to RSS Feed... 8
Introduction to Announcements Use the Announcements widget to post announcements, course information, and other updates. The widget is located on Course Home. An announcement can have one of the following statuses: Draft: Does not appear in the Announcements widget Scheduled: The item has a future publish date and is not displayed in the Announcements widget until that date. Published: The item is displayed in the Announcements widget and is visible to everyone in the course. Expired: The item is post-dated and is no longer displayed in the Announcements widget. Draft, Scheduled, and Expired announcements are not visible from the Announcements widget and can only be accessed by instructors and administrators in the Announcements tool. Click Go to Announcements Tool in the Announcements widget to manage all news. The announcements appear in the Announcements widget, but users can also receive instant notifications about postings through email, SMS, and RSS feeds. See the Notifications quick guide for more information about email and SMS notifications. 2
Create an Announcement 1. On the course homepage, select New Announcement from the context menu of the Announcements widget. If you are in the Announcements tool, click New Announcement. 2. Enter a Headline. 3. Enter the Content. 4. If you want to hide the start date and time so that students don t see it, uncheck Always Show Start Date. By default, an announcement s start date and time will appear below its headline when displayed in the Announcements widget. 3
5. Announcements are published immediately unless you specify an alternate start date. Enter or select the posting availability date in the Start Date field. 6. You can remove an announcement based on a specific date by checking Remove announcement based on end date. Instructors and administrators can still see the announcement in the Announcements tool after its end date, but it will not appear in the widget. 7. Click Add a File to attach a file or Record Audio to record and attach a short audio clip. 8. Click Save as Draft to continue editing the announcement at a later date (students cannot see draft announcements). Click Publish or Schedule to release the announcement. The button will say Publish if you have an immediate start date and it will say Schedule if you have a start date in the future. 4
Edit an Announcement You can edit published announcements from the Announcements widget. If you need to edit a scheduled item that does not currently appear in the widget, click Go to Announcements Tool. 1. In the Announcements widget, select Edit from the context menu of the item. If you are in the Announcements tool, simply click on the title of the announcement. 2. Make the required changes. 3. If you would like this item to be restored for students who may have dismissed it, check the Major edit box. (See Dismiss Announcements for more information about dismissing items). 4. Click Update. 5
Reorder Announcements 1. On the course homepage, select Reorder from the context menu of the Announcements widget. 2. Use the drop-down lists to select the order. 3. Click Save. 6
Dismiss and Restore Announcements Anyone can dismiss announcements so they no longer appear in their widget. Dismissing an announcements does not permanently delete the item. The dismissed announcement can be viewed and restored from the Announcements tool. Click Dismiss in the context menu of the announcement you want to hide in the Announcements widget. To restore dismissed items, click Go to Announcements Tool and click Restore beside the announcement you want to restore. Instructors have the option of forcing a restore on an announcement for any user who has previously dismissed it when edits are made. When editing an announcement, check the Major Edit box. (See Edit an Announcement for more information). 7
Subscribe to RSS Feed Anyone can subscribe to an Announcements RSS feed and receive daily updates of all announcements in an RSS reader. This allows you to access an aggregate of announcements without logging into D2L. 1. Select RSS from the context menu of the Announcements widget. If you are in the Announcements tool, it will be located under More Actions. 2. Select an RSS reader from the Subscribe to this feed using drop-down list. 3. Click Subscribe Now. 8