The Announcements feature in the General section is a one-way forum for instructors to post class announcements. By default, all class participants are subscribed to this forum, which means that they will receive a copy of each announcement via email—even if the course has not yet been made available to students. This works well after all students have been enrolled in the course, but if you want to prepare a welcome announcement before class starts that students will see regardless of when they enroll, your best option may be to post it as a label (for a shorter announcement) or as a web page (for a longer announcement). Instructions for creating messages as labels and web pages are found below.

To post an announcement:

A common error with this feature is to begin by clicking on the update icon. Don't do it! You need to open the link in order to create an announcement.

1. Click on Announcements to open the link.
2. Click on the Add a new discussion link.
3. Enter a subject line and message, add a file if you wish, then click on Post to forum. (To format your announcement, start by clicking on Use advanced editor in the lower right corner to bring up the editing toolbar.)

Your message will be sent to all students currently enrolled in the site as an email message and will remain posted in the Announcements link throughout the term. Note that there is a 15-minute delay on sending out these posts, so you won't see a copy of an announcement in your in-box for a little while.

Important Notes

• Although Moodle considers this feature a forum, it is not a true discussion forum—only the instructor can post messages to it and students may not reply in it.
• Do not attempt to use the Announcements feature as a discussion forum, as students will not be able to post replies in it.
• By default, all course users are subscribed to this forum; students may not "opt out" of being subscribed to it unless you change the subscription mode.
• The Announcements link can't be simply deleted. If you do not plan to use this feature, you can click on the eyeball icon next to it to hide it. To remove the link entirely, click on Edit settings in the Course administration block and open the Appearance options. In the News items to show field, select zero. Save changes. Now you can delete the Announcements link and it will stay deleted!

Inserting a Label as a Welcome Announcement

If you have a short welcome message and you'd like your students to see it whenever they access the course, you can enter your message as a label.

1. With editing turned on, click on Add an activity or resource in the Course Summary area.
2. Scroll down to RESOURCES and select Label.
3. Enter your message in the text box.
4. If desired, use the toolbar to apply formatting to your text.
5. You can safely ignore the Restrict access settings. If your course is set up to allow Completion tracking, you may allow students to check off this resource when they have reviewed it.
6. Click on Save and return to course.

Posting a Welcome Announcement in a Web Page

Longer announcements can be posted in a web page with a title such as "Welcome Message." See this article for instructions on creating a web page.