The announcement function is a key communication tool for making colleagues and students aware of events, deadlines and other important information. Announcements can be sent on courses and communities (organisations). This guide will cover the following steps:
- how to create and post an announcement
- edit or delete an announcement
- visibility of announcements (course / community welcome message and announcements page, activity stream, and email copy)
When staff set up announcements, we recommend staff use email straight away when they wish staff and students to get an email copy for course and community announcements. If staff wish to prepare announcements in advance, they can create an announcement, select email straight away, and delay selecting post now back on the announcements page until they are ready to make it visible. Staff can also use schedule announcement or check no additional options, however it is not guaranteed students will get an email copy / daily digest copy, due to the variable factors outlined in this guide. Also, scheduled announcements will appear in the page listing based upon when they were created, not on the future scheduled time. They may therefore appear further down the page list when they finally go live.
Create and post
- Navigate to the course content page on the relevant course or community.
- Select Announcements from the main course menu.
- The new announcement page will appear.
- Click on the plus sign in the right-hand corner.
- A new window will display and you can create a new announcement.
From the announcements page you can search announcements, and also sort by status or the number of viewers.
- Enter a title and add / edit content using the options in the message editor menu bar.
There are many editing options in the message editor bar. The first section of options allow you to alter text style, font, size, colour, bold, italics and underline. The elipsis (three dots) reveals further options, such as strikethrough.
The second section allows you to add a table, align text, add list formatting (such as numbering and bullet points), ‘undo’ an action and remove formatting.
The list formatting option (underlined in purple in the above image) also reveals an option to modify the spacing in the text (the letter ‘A’ in the below image).
The remaining options allow you to insert a link, add an attachment, and insert an image / video etc. Please see our help page for further guidance; Ultra content editor guidance.- *It is also possible to create links to certain course content, such as a text item. This is possible if the item opens up and has a unique URL in the address bar. Open the item in your course and copy the new link that displays in the address bar. Paste this into your announcement. Advise students that if they are viewing from an email, they will need to first log in to Blackboard Ultra with their HYMS details before attempting to click on the link.
- Below the text box you can then choose to send an email copy to recipients, schedule an announcement, or neither option. Please see the below section on announcement visibility for all scenarios of when an email copy is sent to recipients, and recommended workflows
- If you have not selected to send an email copy, you can choose in the next option to schedule an announcement. Ensure you use the date picker, as manually typing will cause error issues.
You can now select save.- If you selected email a copy / or selected no additional options, you will be redirected back to the announcements page. You will see your announcement listed as draft and will need to select to post now when you are ready to make it live. It will remain hidden until this is selected.
Once you post, the status will change immediately to say posted.- If you selected schedule an announcement, once you select save, you will also be redirected back to the announcements page. The announcement will be listed with a status of scheduled.
It will post automatically at the scheduled time. Refreshing the page will show the new status of posted.
Edit or delete
You can edit and delete announcements from the announcements page. Select the elipsis (three dots) for an announcement and choose from the drop-down list that appears. Select edit to modify the content in an announcement and select delete to permanently remove an announcement.
Users can potentially view announcements in the course / community welcome message and announcements page, activity stream, and via an email copy. It is also possible to view content via the Blackboard app.
There are various factors that impact where and when individual users may potentially see announcement content.
Welcome message and announcements page visibility
New announcements appear each time a student enters a course / community. Students need to close the new announcements window before they can view other content.
On the course content page, in the details & actions panel, users can select view archive to read past, live announcements. They may also select the search announcements icon and type keywords to locate a specific announcement.
- The newest announcements appear at the top of the announcements page by default. This includes announcements where there has been a delay in completing the second step to select ‘post now’ from the announcements page. The announcement will appear at the top at the moment ‘post now’ is selected.
- However, scheduled announcements will appear in the listing based upon when they were created, not on the future scheduled time. They may therefore appear further down the list when they finally go live.
- Individual announcements cannot be reordered manually to alter their placing on the page.
Activity stream visibility
Active announcements also appear in the today and recent sections of the activity stream. Students can click on the announcement to be redirected to the announcement in full. If staff schedule an announcement, it also appears for students in the activity stream at the scheduled time. Students may need to refresh their browser to see new content appear in the activity stream.
Email copy visibility
There are several factors that impact if and when users receive email copies of announcements:
- the role of the user (staff or student)
- the personal preference setting of the user for emails notifications (email me straight away or daily summary email)
- the set up of the announcement (email straight away, schedule, or neither schedule or email selected)
- if the announcement was set up on a course or community
- summary email notifications content may vary in what is included in each summary and some content will still come through as a direct email
When staff set up announcements, we recommend staff use email straight away when they wish staff and students to get an email copy for course and community announcements.
If staff wish to prepare announcements in advance, they can create an announcement, select email straight away, and delay selecting post now back on the announcements page until they are ready to make it visible.
Staff can also use schedule announcement or check no additional options, however it is not guaranteed students will get an email copy / daily digest copy, due to the variable factors outlined in this section. Also, scheduled announcements will appear in the page listing based upon when they were created, not on the future scheduled time. They may therefore appear further down the page list when they finally go live.
Staff and students should select email straight away in their own preferences to get the maximum amount of content emailed directly. For example, if a student has selected email me straight away in their personal settings, they will get a direct email for all announcements on a course, regardless of how the staff member has set up the announcement.
Staff and students can also regularly check the announcements page directly – to ensure they access content as quickly as possible and do not miss any essential information (as some content may still not be sent in a daily digest or directly, regardless of user preferences).
HYMS staff accounts currently do not get daily notifications. This is being investigated.
Please also see the below further explanation of scenarios for when staff and students receive email copies of announcements.
Student direct email announcements
| Scenario | Students have selected email me straight away in their profile settings | Students have selected email me once a day in their profile settings |
| Send an email copy of this announcement selected when announcement created | Direct email generated on a course and a community. | Direct email generated on a course and a community. |
| Send a scheduled announcement selected when announcement created | Direct email generated on a course. | NA |
| Neither send an email copy or scheduled announcement selected when announcement created | Direct email generated on a course. | NA |
*For those students who have selected to receive summary email notifications, such content may vary in what is included in each summary.
Staff direct email announcements
| Scenario | Staff have selected email me straight away in their profile settings | Staff have selected email me once a day in their profile settings |
| Send an email copy of this announcement selected when announcement created | Direct email generated on a course and a community. | Direct email generated on a course and a community. |
| Send a scheduled announcement selected when announcement created | NA | NA |
| Neither send an email copy or scheduled announcement selected when announcement created | NA | NA |
*For staff who have selected to receive summary email notifications, such content may vary in what is included in each summary.
Example email copy of an announcement
A direct email announcement will look similar to the below.
When viewing an announcement via an email, users will need to also be logged into HYMS Blackboard to access any links in the email view. Staff can include this guidance alongside any links.