How do I add an Announcement?
The Announcements tool is used to inform site participants about current items of interest. Announcements can have multiple attachments, such as documents or URLs.
Most faculty like to use Announcements to post reminders about upcoming events or due dates in the class. You can schedule announcements ahead of time, and have them release for viewing throughout the term.
Go to the Announcements tool.
First, select the Announcements tool in the Tool Menu of your course.
Click Add.
Click the Add button to add a new announcement.
Enter your announcement content.
Give your announcement a title, and then enter the content of the announcement into the rich text editor. You may use the formatting options in the editor to modify the font size or color, add images or links, or embed other content.
Access settings.
By default, your announcement will only be available to members of your course or project site.
Availability settings.
You have three options for announcement availability: Show, Hide, and Specify Dates.
- Show is selected by default. If you leave this option selected, your announcement will be posted immediately and visible to all enrolled users in the site.
- Hide allows you to save an announcement as a draft, so that it is visible to you as the instructor for editing, but is not visible to students in the course.
- Specify Dates lets you schedule visibility windows ahead of time. You can use this option to set up announcements to be displayed periodically throughout the semester when deadlines or due dates approach.
Indicating display dates.
When you select the Specify Dates option, the settings will expand so that you can enter start and end dates using the drop-down menus provided. By default, the current date and time will be displayed as the beginning date, and the end date will be set for one week in the future.
Adding attachments.
Optionally, you may attach a file to your announcement.
Click the Add Attachments button to browse for and attach your file.
Note: If you choose to attach a file, make sure that it is a file which site participants have permission to access. You don't want to attach a file that is located in a different site or private folder unless the file permissions are set to public. Otherwise, site participants in this course or project won't be able to view the attachment.
Email notification.
Optionally, you may also choose to notify site participants of the announcement by email.
- High priority will send an email to all participants with the content of the announcement.
- Low priority will only send the email announcement to participants which have not opted out in their personal notification settings.
- None is the default setting, and this option posts the announcement in the course or project site only. No email is sent to participants.
Save your announcement.
Be sure to save your announcement by clicking the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen.
