{"id":8375,"date":"2021-03-22T15:37:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T15:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/?page_id=8375"},"modified":"2021-12-20T12:34:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T12:34:24","slug":"using-the-blackboard-announcements-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/using-the-blackboard-announcements-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Using the Blackboard Announcements page"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Announcement feature is one of several <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/blackboard-communication-channels\/\">Blackboard communication tools<\/a>. This simple tool is designed for posting short text based messages within a Blackboard module or Organisation, enrolled users will be notified in their <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel-support\/2021\/07\/20\/blackboard-notifications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blackboard Activity Stream<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A record of all messages can be found in one place on the Blackboard module or Organisation.<\/li>\n<li>Messages can be kept relevant and up to date remotely by all enrolled instructors.<\/li>\n<li>An active Announcements page helps to develop instructor presence online and demonstrates common or shared goals\/interests; fostering student engagement with asynchronous learning and the Blackboard space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>When to use Announcements<\/h2>\n<p>Announcements should be used for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Time sensitive messages<\/strong> outside of face-to-face contact time (e.g. lecture cancellation or room changes).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Directing students to new\/changed content<\/strong> that students need to look at (e.g. tutorial times or competition details).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Making timely reference to items in <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/curriculum-framework\/module-road-maps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Module Roadmaps and\/or Weekly plans;<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0where possible, mirror the language in your Module Roadmaps and\/or Weekly Plans when writing Announcement messages.<\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Closing activities and introducing new ones.<\/strong> This is not just a simple \u201cX finished, Y starts\u201d message but a contextual Announcement about an activity and participation\/reflection as well as signposting how it fits in with overall course aim. If the next activity builds on knowledge or a skill from the previous activity, highlight this too.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Reminders and highlighting tasks<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Motivational messages and generalised feedback.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Delivering elements of <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/online-teaching-toolkits\/maintaining-contact-engagement\/start-of-term-communications\/\">recommended start of term communications<\/a><\/strong> (e.g. a welcome message to greet a new student cohort).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*Note:\u00a0Announcement messages do not roll over, they are specific to an individual module occurrence.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Practices to avoid<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Emailing Announcements;<\/strong>\u00a0only if highly\u00a0important.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">Students receive a lot of email traffic.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Using the \u2018permanent\u2019 option to pin an Announcement to the top of the Announcements page;<\/strong>\u00a0consider<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0creating a separate course page for essential module details or &#8216;permanently surfaced&#8217; information.<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Time restricting Announcements;\u00a0<\/strong>students may need a historical record of course posts for future reference.<\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Posting lengthy Announcements<\/strong>. Instead, post lengthy information as content items in an appropriate folder (e.g. detailed instructions) and use the \u2018Course Link\u2019 feature when creating an announcement to link directly to it.<\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Over-use of Announcements<\/strong> can become overwhelming and students may start to ignore them or experience difficulty discerning what is important or relevant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"none\">Practical tips<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">Formatting<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Make the titles of Announcements as explanatory as possible, to enable students to identify relevance and importance at a glance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bulleted or numbered lists<\/strong> help to break up text and make it more visual.<\/li>\n<li>Keep sentences and paragraphs <strong>short.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Add alternative text<\/strong> to images and tables.\u00a0If using <strong>Tables<\/strong>, keep them simple and use column headings rather than row headings.<\/li>\n<li>Use <strong>Left <\/strong>alignment rather than Justified text. \u00a0This ensures the spacing between words is even.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"letter-spacing: 0px\">Use <\/span><strong style=\"letter-spacing: 0px\">Bold <\/strong><span style=\"letter-spacing: 0px\">to emphasise items and avoid italics, underlining or colour highlights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"letter-spacing: 0px\">Avoid using capitals for more than one or two words.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Use descriptive words for hyperlinks<\/strong> rather than actually displaying the web address or a generic &#8216;Click here&#8217; or similar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">Announcement settings<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Announcement page\u00a0should be the course entry point<\/strong> (this page is useful for bringing current information to students&#8217; attention).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Display\u00a0a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel-support\/2018\/07\/16\/blackboard-adding-a-banner-image-to-your-course\/\">banner image<\/a><\/strong><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>which includes the title of the\u00a0module<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Blackboard Help video demonstrating how to set Announcements course entry point and add a banner:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"730\" height=\"411\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RtCKI27Uao4?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">Grammar \/ spell checking Announcements<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Write your Announcement in Word or Outlook first.<\/strong> This will give you the opportunity to check both grammar and spelling before posting the Announcement. It\u2019s always good practice to check this before someone else points out a mistake.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt\">Signposting course areas, folders and files via an Announcement<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>Use the \u2018COURSE LINK\u2019 option when you link \/ refer students to course materials (instead of attaching a file). <\/strong>The \u2018course link\u2019 option will help students gain immediate access to course materials wherever they\u00a0are located in\u00a0the course structure.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">This has several benefits, the most notable is that the &#8216;attachment&#8217; or link will remain if the course is recycled, the Announcement will not.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Screenshot below shows the option to insert a course link when writing an Announcement. You can browse all module content and select a course area, specific folder or file.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8482\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2021\/04\/Screenshot-2021-04-14-at-15.50.50.png\" alt=\"screenshot showing view of the add course link option\" width=\"587\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2021\/04\/Screenshot-2021-04-14-at-15.50.50.png 587w, https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2021\/04\/Screenshot-2021-04-14-at-15.50.50-300x109.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>How to create an Announcement<\/h2>\n<p>Guide: <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel-support\/2018\/07\/17\/blackboard-creating-an-announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Creating an Announcement<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Announcement feature is one of several Blackboard communication tools. This simple tool is designed for posting short text based messages within a Blackboard module or Organisation, enrolled users will be notified in their Blackboard Activity Stream. A record of all messages can be found in one place on the Blackboard module or Organisation. Messages [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Using the Blackboard Announcements page - Technology Enhanced Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/tel\/using-the-blackboard-announcements-page\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using the Blackboard Announcements page - Technology Enhanced Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Announcement feature is one of several Blackboard communication tools. 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