{"id":19646,"date":"2023-08-26T16:52:49","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T21:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=19646"},"modified":"2023-08-26T16:52:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T21:52:49","slug":"brightspace-tip-402-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-402-announcements\/","title":{"rendered":"Brightspace Tip #402: Announcements"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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 as a guest speaker), etc.<\/p>\n<p><div align=\"center\"><a title=\"loudspeakers\" href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/loudspeakers-speaker-sound-loud-112413\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loudspeakers-112413_1280.jpg?resize=625%2C469\" alt=\"loudspeakers\" width=\"625\" height=\"469\" \/><\/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 its 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 for it so that when the information in the announcement is outdated the system will retire the announcement. <strong>Setting an end-of-semester date for announcements is good practice if you are planning to copy your course into another course in an upcoming semester.<\/strong> This will force you to update the announcement start and end dates in the course you are copying to. Thus reducing the possibility the system will display an announcement before you want it to.<\/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>Consider using <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-299-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>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>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<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/about\/staff\/mgstohl\">Dr. Mark Gstohl<\/a> uses video announcements in his courses. In the video announcement, he 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><strong>If you make your videos generic (i.e., don't reference the semester, time of year, seasons, day of the week, etc.), you can re-use the announcements from semester-to-semester<\/strong>. That way you don't have to worry about recording when you are having a bad hair day. &#128512;<\/p>\n<h2>Follow these steps to do it.<\/h2>\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<h2>Want more information?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/community.d2l.com\/brightspace\/kb\/articles\/3299-about-announcements\">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:\/\/youtu.be\/IPg--c_gJng?si=y7bfCS36hFh-o97z\">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-299-video-notes\/\">Brightspace Tip #299: Video Notes<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-320-video-notes-closed-captions\/\">Brightspace Tip #320: Video Notes \u2013 Closed Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>View current, past, and preview upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/community.d2l.com\/brightspace\/categories\/release-notes-en\">Continuous Delivery release notes<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/catwiki.xula.edu\/Brightspace:_Instructors_Quick_Start_Tutorial\">Instructors Quick Start Tutorial<\/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:\/\/community.d2l.com\/brightspace\/categories\/higher-ed-postsecondary\">Brightspace help<\/a> at D2L's website.<br \/>\nJoin the <a href=\"https:\/\/community.d2l.com\/brightspace\/categories\/higher-ed-postsecondary\">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 \/>\ncall 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\/photos\/loudspeakers-speaker-sound-loud-112413\/\">image<\/a> by Dale86 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 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 as a guest speaker), etc. <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-402-announcements\/\" class=\"more-link\">...continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \"Brightspace Tip #402: 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-19646","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-56S","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17848,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-288-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":19646,"position":0},"title":"Brightspace Tip #288: Announcements","author":"Janice Florent","date":"January 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":21835,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-561-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":19646,"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":19646,"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":19646,"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":19646,"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":19646,"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\/19646","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=19646"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19677,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19646\/revisions\/19677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}