What is Announcements?

Announcements is a great way to communicate and engage with students outside of class time; however, it is important to remember that students will only see an announcement if they access your course site or if they have opted to receive notifications via email or text. With that in mind, it is best not to rely on the Announcements tool for any communication that all students should receive in a timely fashion. For such communications, it would be best to email the entire class via the Classlist tool. 

Be careful not to overuse the Announcements tool. Student accounts in CourseLink are set to receive email notifications for new announcements from all their course sites by default. If you are posting multiple announcements several times a day, students may become frustrated by the volume of emails and block your course site from their notifications.

Here's a list of suggested ways to use the Announcements tool:

• Introductory Message - Consider creating a video note announcement to introduce yourself and your course to your students. You may also wish to craft an announcement to introduce the content and expectations for each week of the class.
• Reminders - It can be beneficial to post announcements concerning important dates, such as assignment due dates, the live lecture schedule, virtual office hours, etc. Announcements can also be paired with Release Conditions to send targeted reminders to students (i.e., reminding students to complete a quiz).
• Encouragement - An announcement can be a great way to let the class know when you are impressed by their work; similarly, if you notice that the majority of the class is struggling with a specific concept or theory (after grading an assessment), an announcement can be a great way to direct students to supplemental materials to reinforce those concepts.
• Making Connections to Current Events - In some disciplines, current events can often intersect nicely with course materials and provide students with a real-world example of how the material they are studying can be applied in real-world situations. Creating an announcement to provide some context as well as a link to a news article or video can be a great way to engage students and encourage critical thinking.