How to post Announcements on Blackboard
From Academic Computing
Contents |
[edit] Posting Announcements
The purpose of this exercise is to show how to use a basic communication tool to post an announcement on the main page of your course. Announcements are created by going to the Announcement link under the Course Tools section of the control panel.
Clicking on the Announcements link will take you to the following screen.
To add a new announcement, click the Add Announcement button 
in the upper left corner of the screen. The next screen will allow you to create your announcement and set the times when you want to release the announcement. Special note: When you create an announcement the order will appear from newest to oldest.
[edit] The Add Announcement Screen
The Add Announcement screen is divided into 4 sections.
- Announcement Information
- Options
- Course Link
- Submit
Announcement Information lets you create your announcement message. Options allows you to set the date the announcement will appear. Course link lets you create a link to an area inside your course. Submit allows you to cancel or submit your announcement.
[edit] Announcement Information
The first section of the Add Announcement screen is the Announcement Information. This section lets you name the item, and enter text information in the form of Smart Text, Plain Text, or HTML. By Default the text field is set to accept Smart Text.
Smart text is a useful format for converting web addresses into active links. For example if you type http://www.usf.edu into the text box, it will convert it to a clickable link.
If you do not want web address to be converted to links, use the Plain Text option.
Use the HTML option if you prefer to use HTML markup.
You can copy and paste information from a text editor or word processor in the text box. However, you will lose the formatting of the original document. If want to copy a webpage, we recommend you set the text option to HTML, and copy and paste the HTML source into the text box.
To insert a mathematical equation, use the 
button—a web-based math editor will appear. To reuse an equation click the 
button. To activate the spellchecker click the 
button. To use these features you will need to have Java installed http://www.sun.com
[edit] Set Viewing & Date Restriction Options
The second section contains options for restricting viewing dates of the announcement. The option labeled Always show this announcement on the course’s main page will set the announcement to always be displayed before all other announcements (a permanent announcement).
[edit] Submit Announcment
The last section submits the announcement to the first page of the course. After submitting you will see a screen similar to the one below.
[edit] Viewing the Announcement
You can navigate back to the student view to see a preview of your post by clicking on the Bread Crumbs at the top of the screen.
For example, the instructor of this course would click on ACT TESTCOURSE: TEST COURSE 2 from the bread crumb list to quickly navigate to the student view.
[edit] See Also
Categories: Blackboard | MyUSF | Savant | Course Tools
