Use the Announcements Tool

The Announcements tool enables you to create announcements that help communicate course updates, changes, and new information to your students quickly and efficiently. Since My Home or Course Home is the first page that students see when they log into D2L, the Announcements widget is a good area for displaying important information.

View the AnnouncementsTool

Click the Announcements widget's header on the course home page.

Create an Announcement

1. Click the context menu for the Announcements header, then select New Announcement.
   
2. Enter the subject of your announcement in the Headline field.
3. Enter the body of your announcement in the Content field.
4. If you want to hide your announcement's date and time, clear the box for Always show start date. By default, an announcement's start date and time appear below the headline when displayed in the Announcements widget.
   
5. To make your announcement available starting at a specific date and time, select the date and time under Start Date. Announcements will display on the course homepage immediately when published, unless a start date and time is specified.
   
6. To remove your announcement from student view, select the check box for Remove announcement based on end date and select the date and time you want the announcement to no longer be visible.  You and administrators will still be able to see the announcement after the end date, but students will no longer be able to see it.
   
   
7. Under the Attachments section, you can include files, audio recordings, and video recording as part of your announcement:
   
   • Click Add a File to attach a file to the announcement.
   • To record audio, click Record Audio. Click Flash Settings to make adjustments to your microphone selection and volume. Click Play to listen to your recording. Click Clear to erase your recording.
   • To record a video, click Record Video.
8.  To include additional release conditions, click Attach Existing or Create and Attach. 
   
9. Click Save as Draft to continue editing the announcement (students cannot see draft announcements), or click Publish to release the announcement to users. 

Copy an Announcement

1. Users click Copy, which opens a new edit announcement page in draft mode with the details of the original announcement copied over.
   The following details are copied:
   • Headline, with "Copy of " appended to the front
   • Content
   • Display Author checkbox setting
   • Show Start Date setting
   • Attachments
   • Release conditions

Start dates and/or end dates are not copied over. No notifications are triggered by this action until the edit page is saved.

Edit an Announcement

1. Click on the Announcements header to go to the Announcements tool page.
2. Click on the title of the announcement you want to edit or click the context menu and choose Edit.
   
3. Edit your announcement.
4. You can select the check box for Major edit - send a notification and restore it for those who dismissed it to inform users of significant changes and updates to the announcement, while making the announcement reappear with current information for those who may have dismissed it.
   
5. Click Update.

Reorder Announcements

1. Click on the Announcements header to go to the Announcements tool page.
2. Click the More Actions button, then select Reorder.
   
3. Use the drop-down lists in the Sort Order column to select an announcement's order. Other announcements automatically reposition themselves according to the new order.
4. Click Save.

Dismiss an Announcement

Dismissing an item hides it from your view, not the student view. Dismissing is NOT deleting.

• Click the Dismiss [X] icon for the announcement you want to hide (from yourself only) in the Announcements widget.
• To hide from students, change the start or end date.

Restore a Dismissed Announcement

1. Click on the Announcements header to go to the Announcements tool page.
2. Click Restore from the context menu of the announcement you want to restore.
   
3. To restore an announcement dismissed by students, select Edit from the context menu, select the Major edit checkbox, and click Update.

Delete an Announcement

1. Click on the Announcements header to go to the Announcements tool page.
2. Click on the context menu next to the announcement and choose Delete.
   

Restore a Deleted Announcement

1. Click the More Actions button at the top of the page and choose Restore.
   
2. Check the box next to the announcement you’d like to restore, then click the Restore button.