The home page or entry point, is the page that the course opens to. In the standard template the course is set to open to Stay on Track. This allows an overview of course announcements, due dates and what’s new. When you create announcements, set up due dates in the grade centre and post new content the Stay on Track information is automatically updated for students.
To create announcements in the course, you select the “more announcements” area.
Step 1. Select create announcements.
Step 2. Type in the Subject (this will become the title of the announcement that the students see).
Step 3. Type in the Message and format the text using the content editor functions.
Step 4. In the Web Announcement Options section, select Not Date Restricted—visible until manually removed, or Date Restricted—visible only within selected dates and times.
NOTE: If Date Restricted, select the Display After and Display Until check boxes and type the dates and times. Optionally, use the pop-up Date Selection Calendar and Time Selection Menu to select dates and times.
Step 5. Select Send a copy of this announcement immediately check box if you want to send students an email containing the announcement. The email is sent to all students even if they chose not to receive announcement notifications through email. Reminder – this option is not available if the announcement is date restricted.
Optionally, in the Course Link section, click Browse to create a link from the announcement to a course item. Select the course item from the pop-up course map. (NOTE: this feature is useful if you have posted new content to a specific folder or implemented a new course tool that you want to point students directly to.)
Step 6. Click Submit