Brain CandyAnnouncements Portlet
The announcements portlet allows a faculty or staff member to make an announcement to the student body and/or students in their classes. The announcements portlet does not email the students (see Coursemates) but rather displays the announcement in the announcement portlet on their MySLC account.
To reach the announcements portlet click on the Main Page link found in the left hand navigation.
Once on the main page the announcements portlet is displayed at the top of the right hand column of portlets.
To go to the main announcement page or to create a new announcement click on the announcements header at the top of the portlet or the text Go to Main Screen:
The announcements main page will show your inbox containing the announcements you have received:
To create a new announcement, place your cursor over the word “Manage” in the top left hand corner of the portlet to display a menu. Now click the menu item entitled “New Announcementâ€?:
A new page will display that contains the necessary tools to create a new announcement:
First, fill in a title for your announcement as you would a subject line in an email; make it short but descriptive. In the “Send To� area, you can select who you want to send the announcement to by checking the checkboxes next to the groups of people you would like to receive the announcement.
The next field is the “Details� area where the content of the announcement will go; type the announcement into this text field. If you wish, you can use the tools above the text field to style your announcement. These tools, such as font and font size, are similar to those in Microsoft Word.
Below the “Detailsâ€? box are options for when the announcement should be shown in your recipients’ announcement portlets, and when it should disappear from them. If you choose “Display Nowâ€? the announcement will be visible as soon as you click “Saveâ€?. If you choose “Display Later Manuallyâ€? it will appear later (you can return here at any time to send it immediately). The final option allows you to set the life span of the announcement by date. The “End Onâ€? options directly below let you choose “No End Dateâ€? which means the announcement will display until you manually remove it. The other choice is “End Onâ€? which allows you to choose the end date of the announcement.
The final field asks you what to do with the announcement after it has reached its end date. If you select “Archive� the announcement will disappear, but will be saved for use later. If you choose “Delete� the announcement will be deleted entirely. Once you are finished, click the “Save� button to publish the announcement click or the “Cancel� button to abandon this announcement.
