News tool (Announcements)

What is Possible with ICON’s News Tool?

• Post announcements about course-related events (project due dates, virtual office hours, quizzes, PBS programs, readings, guest speakers, chats)
• Post interesting pictures, quotes, news stories
• Post changes in class time or location
• Include images and links to content files, other areas of your ICON course, and external websites.
• Restrict display of news based on group membership or fulfillment of certain course requirements
• Set display of news items for certain dates (including future dates)

By default, News appears as a widget (box) on the course homepage.

NOTE: If users collapse the News widget on the course homepage, it doesn't expand at their next login and they might miss information posted there.

Users who want to make News available but can't, or don't wish to, display the widget on their homepage can post a News link on the NavBar instead.

13 October 2009

Posting a News Item

1. From your course homepage, click the New News Item icon in the top-left News box. (If you don't have the News widget, you can add it. See the ICON Help section Changing the Homepage Widgets. Alternatively, you could add the News tool, which works the same way except that students access it by clicking the News link on the NavBar. See the ICON Help section Changing the Navigation Bar (NavBar))
2. Type in a headline.
3. Type your news in the Content textbox.

   Note: ICON's built-in HTML editor offers various formatting options. It also allows you to insert images and add links to content files, to other areas of your ICON course, and to external websites. (Windows users may need to click the on the Advanced Tab.) In the HTML editor, place the cursor where you want the image or link to appear in the text and click the Insert an Image icon or the Insert QuickLink icon.

4. Select the availability dates and times from the dropdown lists.  Notice that you can specify future dates and a removal date. (Note: Students will not be able to see a news item after the removal date, but instructors will.)
5. If you wish to add an attachment, click Add a File, locate the file on your desktop, and click Upload. You can also attach a Course File or a file from your Locker.
6. Click Save. The announcement will appear in the News box on your course homepage.

13 October 2009

Adding Special Release Conditions

You can restrict access to a News item to individuals who are in a certain group or who have fulfilled a certain online requirement.

If you plan to restrict access to a group and have not yet created the group, do it now. (See Creating Groups.)

1. Create and save a News posting.  (The posting must be saved before you can enter release conditions.)

   Important: Be sure you click Save, not Save and New.

2. Under Additional Release Conditions (bottom), click Create and Attach.
3. Select a Condition Type and specific item or group from the dropdown lists and click Save.

Note: If you enter more than one selective release condition for a news item, students will need to satisfy all of the conditions (not just one) in order to access that news item.

23 April 2008

Editing / Deleting News Items

To edit a News item:

1. On your course homepage, click theEdit icon to the right of the News item.
2. Enter your changes and click Save.

To delete a News item:

On your course homepage, click the Delete News Item icon next to the item you wish to delete and click Delete.

13 October 2009