{"id":17848,"date":"2022-01-04T00:40:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T06:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=17848"},"modified":"2022-01-04T00:40:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T06:40:17","slug":"brightspace-tip-288-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-288-announcements\/","title":{"rendered":"Brightspace Tip #288: Announcements"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Announcements are one of the first things your learners see when they log in to your course. Announcements can provide timely information for your learners about class activities and time-sensitive material. Announcements can be used to remind learners of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events (such as a guest speaker), etc.<\/p>\n<p><div align=\"center\"><a title=\"news\" href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/news-tagesschau-policy-624859\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2015\/02\/05\/11\/07\/news-624859_1280.png?resize=336%2C284&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"news in type\" width=\"336\" height=\"284\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>You can post multiple announcements when setting up your course and select a specific day for the announcement to be displayed by choosing staggered future start dates. For example, you know now that you want to post an announcement about the midterm exam and another about the final. Write both announcements now, but set the midterm announcement to display the week before the midterm and the final exam announcement to display a week before the final. Students will not be able to view either announcement until their assigned start date.<\/p>\n<p>When creating an announcement, you should <strong>set an end date<\/strong> for it so that when the information in the announcement is outdated the system will no longer display the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>You can use <a href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-164-quicklinks\/\">Quicklinks<\/a> within the announcement to direct students to a particular section of your course. You can display (release) announcements based on conditions you choose by using <a href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-237-release-conditions\/\">Release Conditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the Faculty Focus article, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facultyfocus.com\/articles\/online-education\/building-community-creating-relevance-online-classroom\/\">Building Community and Creating Relevance in the Online Classroom<\/a>, Amy Erickson and Catz Neset suggested creating video announcements as a way to build community in your online courses. Their formula for successful announcements are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide an introduction each week and share your availability<\/li>\n<li>Give feedback and answer questions from the previous week<\/li>\n<li>Showcase exceptional student work from the previous week<\/li>\n<li>Highlight the objectives of the coming week and any special preparation or required resources<\/li>\n<li>Connect your coursework to relevant current events<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Consider using <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-273-video-notes\/\">Video Notes<\/a> (built-in media recording tool in Brightspace) or your favorite video sharing service to create video announcements for your learners. <\/p>\n<p>Here is a video announcement that Dr. Mark Gstohl created for his students. In the video announcement, Mark gives his students a tip that will help them with an upcoming assignment. He also uses humor in his announcement which goes a long way to building a rapport with his students.<\/p>\n<p><div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vS41mzmsfsk\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/vS41mzmsfsk\">Silent G's Tip of the Day - video announcement [0:43]<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>In another Faculty Focus article, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facultyfocus.com\/articles\/online-education\/using-announcements-to-give-narrative-shape-to-your-online-course\/\">Using Announcements to Give Narrative Shape to your Online Course<\/a>, Dr. Nathan Pritts suggests using announcements to create a narrative that increases student engagement. He starts the semester by letting his students know that he will post around three announcements per week\u2014on the first day of the week (to kick things off), then about three days later (positioned to help motivate and encourage forward progress), and finally, at the end of the week (to provide some closure and open a channel for any last questions). He labels the subject lines of his announcements so students can process and sort them at a glance. For example, some labels that he uses in the subject line are <em>Course Policy<\/em>, <em>Instructional Content<\/em>, and <em>Dig Deeper<\/em>. He uses the announcements as a roadmap to help his learners navigate the course.<\/p>\n<h3>Follow these steps to do it.<\/h3>\n<p>Watch this short video for instructions on creating announcements:<\/p>\n<p><div align=\"center\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-JlI6OdzwL0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-JlI6OdzwL0\">Announcements - Create an Announcement - Instructor [2:27]<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Want more information?<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/documentation.brightspace.com\/EN\/le\/announcements\/learner\/announcements_intro_1.htm\">Post Course Announcements<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Announcements-Tool-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf\">Announcements Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/documentation.brightspace.com\/EN\/le\/announcements\/instructor\/create_announcements_item.htm\">Create an Announcement<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-JlI6OdzwL0\">Announcements - Create an Announcement - Instructor (video)<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gEKjx5M6WAA\">Teaching Tips - Make Regular Announcements - Instructor (video)<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-164-quicklinks\/\">Brightspace Tip #164: Quicklinks<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-237-release-conditions\/\">Brightspace Tip #237: Release Conditions<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-273-video-notes\/\">Brightspace Tip #273: Video Notes<\/a><\/p>\n<p>View all the <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?s=Brightspace+%2Brecap\">Brightspace training recaps<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/catwiki.xula.edu\/Brightspace:_Instructors_Quick_Start_Tutorial\">Instructors Quick Start Tutorial<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/community.brightspace.com\/s\/article\/All-Release-Notes\">Continuous Delivery release notes<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/catwiki.xula.edu\/index.php\/Brightspace_Known_Issues\">Brightspace Known Issues<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-2-sandbox-courses\/\">Request a sandbox course<\/a><br \/>\nSign-up for <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/events\/\">Brightspace training sessions<\/a><br \/>\nYou can find <a href=\"https:\/\/documentation.brightspace.com\/EN\/-\/-\/-\/welcome_page.htm\">Brightspace help<\/a> at D2L's website.<br \/>\nJoin the <a href=\"https:\/\/community.brightspace.com\/\">Brightspace Community<\/a>.<br \/>\nTry these <a title=\"Brightspace How-to\" href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-documents\/\">Brightspace How-To documents<\/a>.<br \/>\nVisit our <a title=\"Brightspace FAQs\" href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-faq\/\">Brightspace FAQs<\/a> for additional Brightspace information<br \/>\nor <a title=\"Schedule 1-on-1\" href=\"http:\/\/jflorent.youcanbook.me\/\">schedule a one-on-one session<\/a>, <a title=\"Send email\" href=\"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/mail\/?to=31\">email<\/a>, or <br \/>call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-189-educator-share-showcase\/\">The Orange Room<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><small>Image credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/news-tagesschau-policy-624859\/\">image<\/a> by stux from <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license\/\">Pixabay<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Announcements are one of the first things your learners see when they log in to your course. Announcements can provide timely information for your learners about class activities and time-sensitive material. Announcements can be used to remind learners of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events (such as a guest <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-288-announcements\/\" class=\"more-link\">...continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \"Brightspace Tip #288: Announcements\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[403],"tags":[24,402],"class_list":{"0":"post-17848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-brightspace","7":"tag-announcement","8":"tag-brightspace","9":"h-entry","10":"hentry","11":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82MQk-4DS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19646,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-402-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":0},"title":"Brightspace Tip #402: Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"August 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcements are one of the first things your learners see when they enter your course. Announcements can provide timely information for your learners about class activities and time-sensitive material. Announcements can be used to remind learners of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events (such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"loudspeakers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loudspeakers-112413_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loudspeakers-112413_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loudspeakers-112413_1280.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loudspeakers-112413_1280.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21835,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-561-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":1},"title":"Brightspace Tip #561: Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"January 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcements are one of the first things your learners see when they enter your course. Announcements can provide timely information for your learners about class activities and time-sensitive material. Announcements can be used to remind learners of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events (such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"megaphone","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2018\/04\/05\/11\/25\/megaphone-3292549_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2018\/04\/05\/11\/25\/megaphone-3292549_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2018\/04\/05\/11\/25\/megaphone-3292549_1280.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2018\/04\/05\/11\/25\/megaphone-3292549_1280.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15507,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-166-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":2},"title":"Brightspace Tip #166: Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"June 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcements are one of the first things students see when they log in to your course. Announcements can provide timely information for your students about class activities and time-sensitive material. Announcements can be used to remind students of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"news in type","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2015\/02\/05\/11\/07\/news-624859_1280.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22072,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-569-pin-reorder-and-copy-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":3},"title":"Brightspace Tip #569: Pin, Reorder, and Copy Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"January 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I am writing this blog post as a follow up to my recent announcements blog post. ICYMI, you can find the blog post here: Brightspace Tip #561: Announcements. Announcements can help boost learner engagement by providing regular and timely communications to all learners enrolled in a course. This blog post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot of a Brightspace announcement section with options to pin announcements to the top.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/announcements-pin-to-top.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/announcements-pin-to-top.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/announcements-pin-to-top.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/announcements-pin-to-top.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":456,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/bb-tip-17-broadcast-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":4},"title":"Bb Tip #17: Broadcast Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"January 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcements provide timely information for your students about class activities. Announcements are the ideal way to post time-sensitive material. The announcement area can be used to remind students of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events (such as a guest speaker), etc. You may direct\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blackboard Bits, Bytes, and Nibbles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blackboard Bits, Bytes, and Nibbles","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/blackboard\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9994,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/bb-tip-162-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":5},"title":"Bb Tip #162: Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"August 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcements provide timely information for your students about class activities. Announcements are the ideal way to post time-sensitive material. The announcement area can be used to remind students of assignment and\/or test dates, post changes to the course, announce upcoming events (such as a guest speaker), etc. You may direct\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blackboard Bits, Bytes, and Nibbles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blackboard Bits, Bytes, and Nibbles","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/blackboard\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"town crier making announcement","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clipartsign.com\/upload\/2016\/05\/30\/announcement-clip-art-clipart-3.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17848"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17884,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17848\/revisions\/17884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}