One of the most common ways to communicate with students on your module is by using announcements.
Announcements are shown when a student logs in to the module and they will have to interact with it for it to go away. They will also appear on the activity stream, so it is a good way to communicate important messages to all your students collectively. They are collected in the ‘announcements’ section in your module, so you and your students will have an archive of all of the announcements for the module.
Step 1: Go to the Announcements page.
Step 2: Click the Create Announcement button (plus sign icon).
Step 3: Enter the following:
Title
Message
Use the message editor to format text, insert images, embed videos/audio, and attach files.
Note: Announcements can only be sent to all course members. Use the Messages tool to contact specific students or groups.
Step 4: (Optional) To send an email copy to all course members (including yourself), check the box labeled “Send an email copy to recipients.”
Recipients must have a valid email address in the system.
Emails are always sent, regardless of institutional notification settings.
If you edit an already posted announcement and select “Send email copy to recipients” again, no email will be sent. Create a new announcement instead.
Step 5: Choose one of the following:
Click Save draft to save the announcement for later.
Click Post to publish it immediately.
If saved as a draft, go back later and click Post now to publish it.
Email includes:
The announcement title
Message content
Embedded media (shown as clickable links)
Step 1: On the New Announcement page, click Schedule announcement.
Step 2: Set the Show on date and time (this is required).
Step 3: (Optional) Set a Hide on date and time.
Step 4: Use the date picker to set the schedule.
Step 5: To cancel scheduling, click Schedule announcement again. Scheduled announcements will have a Scheduled label in the Status column.
Step 6: (Optional) You may also choose to send an email copy when scheduling the announcement.
Step 1: On the Announcements page, open the More options menu (three dots) next to an announcement.
Step 2: Choose an action:
Edit – Change the title, message, or scheduled time.
Copy – Make a duplicate and update as needed.
Delete – Permanently remove the announcement.
You can view your announcement as your students would by refreshing your window and then going back into your module and entering the Student Preview mode.
Students will see your announcement as a pop-up which they have to dismiss before they can access the course content.