News Tool

1. 1. From your Course Homepage, locate the News widget.
   2. Click the drop-down menu next to News.
   3. Click New Announcement.
   4. Add a Headline and Content for your announcement.
   5. Do one of the following:
      • Click Publish to publish the announcement to your course.
      • Click Save as Draft to save your progress and return later to publish your announcement.
      • Click Cancel to remove your draft announcement.

1. 1. From the News widget, click the context menu and select Go to News Tool.
   2. On the News page, click the News item that you want to edit.
   3. From the Edit News page, edit your announcement details. Important: To inform users of major changes and updates to postings that they might have dismissed, ensuring that those headlines reappear with current information, select the Major edit - send a notification and restore it for those who dismissed it check box. You can also make the edited News posting reappear at the top of the News widget by changing the start date to the current date and time.
   4. Click Update.

You can pin an announcement to the top of the page to ensure that it is easily seen by learners.

1. 1. From the News widget, click the context menu and select Go to News Tool.
   2. From the drop-down menu beside the news item you want to pin, click Pin to top.

1. 1. From the News widget, click the context menu and select Go to News Tool.
   2. From the drop-down menu beside the announcement you want to unpin, click Unpin.

Delete News or restore a deleted announcement from the News tool.

To delete a news item

1. 1. From the News widget, click the context menu and select Go to News Tool.
   2. Select any News you want to delete and click Delete.
   3. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

To restore a deleted announcement

1. 1. From the News page, click More Actions and select Restore.
   2. Select the News you want to restore and click Restore.

Use an existing announcement as a starting point by copying it and editing details.

To copy an existing announcement

1. 1. From the News widget, click the context menu and select Go to News Tool.
   2. Click the context menu next to the announcement you want to copy, and select Copy.
   3. In the Edit News page, the following items are copied over from the original Announcement:
      • Headline, with "Copy of " appended to the front
      • Content
      • Show Start Date setting
      • Attachments
      • Release conditions
   4. If you want to hide your headline's date and time, clear the Always show start date check box. By default, an News item start date and time appears below the headline when displayed in the News widget.
   5. In the Start Date and End Date fields, select the posting availability date. News items publish immediately, unless you specify an alternate start date from Start Date.
      
      Note: Post-dated News items do not display in the News widget even if users have permission to see future News items. They can be found within the list of News items on the News page.
   6. You can remove an News item on a specific date by selecting the Remove News item based on end date check box. You and administrators can still see the News item after its end date, but it does not appear in the News widget.
   7. To include additional release conditions, click Attach Existing or Create and Attach.
   8. To continue editing the News item, click Save as Draft. Learners cannot see draft News items
   9. Click Publish.

The copied announcement is published.

If you have the appropriate permission, you can copy News from one course to other courses. You must be enrolled in the course you copy from and the courses you copy to.

A single announcement can be copied to multiple course offerings. You can copy News from the News tool or the News widget from the context menu of an announcement. Once copied, the announcement is in a draft state and users must publish the copied announcement in the destination course to complete the copying process.

The following attributes are copied:

• • Headline
  • Display Author Information
  • Content
    Note: The copied Content attribute includes any associated files such as inserted images.
  • Start and End Date
  • Attachments
  • Pin state

Release conditions are not copied.

To copy an announcement to other courses

1. 1. Click Copy to Other Courses from the announcement drop-down menu.
   2. Select the destination course or courses for the announcement and click Next.
   3. Click Copy to copy the announcement to the destination course.
   4. Click Done when the Copy Complete message appears.

1. 1. Click the News widget.
   2. Do one of the following:
      • On the News page, from the More Actions button, click Reorder.
      • From the News widget menu, click Reorder News Items.
   3. Use the drop-down lists in the Sort Order column to select an item's order. Other items automatically reposition themselves according to the new order.
   4. Click Save.