One of eCampus' most effective (and easiest) tools for keeping students updated and involved in your course is the Announcement tool. When it comes to posting deadlines, syllabus changes, and material corrections/clarifications/additions, let Announcements be your first stop!
The above graphic outlines reasons for using the Announcements tool in eCampus. This includes timely communication, dual delivery, and varied formats. Read on to learn more.
Why use Announcements in eCampus? Let’s break it down.
- Timely Communication: Announcements inform students of important changes or corrections right away. For students, Announcements appear in the Today and Recent sections of the activity stream. In addition, new course Announcements appear as a pop-up window the first time they enter your course.
- Dual Delivery: Announcements can be posted in your eCampus course shell and be sent directly to students’ emails for the most effective reach.
- Varied Formats: With Announcements, you can customize your communication approach by including written text, audio, or video.
How can you use eCampus Announcements effectively?
- Stay Consistent: We recommend that you send at least two Announcements each week to keep students engaged. (Example: Beginning of the week Announcement with a preview of the week; End of the week Announcement wrapping things up, etc.)
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“Humanize” your Announcement: Create brief audio or video Announcements to welcome students every week or to go over important course concepts. A friendly,
personal message can help students feel more connected to the class (especially
in an online course environment). For those who have moved to eCampus Ultra,
there is video capability right in the Announcements tool!
(Additional feature: eCampus provides auto-captioning for audio and video files.) - Save and Repurpose: Create text Announcements in Google Docs or in Word and save them in a specific folder to reuse in future course offerings. You can always change them as needed to suit the class you are teaching and update the information, but it is helpful to have a collection of "base" communications.
- Create an Announcement Template: The same goes for creating a "template" for weekly Announcements (tell the students what you will be covering that week, wrapping up the previous week, etc.) and use the same template throughout the course. If you are creating video Announcements, you can be efficient by following a similar script/format for each video.
- Plan Ahead: Once you have planned out your Announcements (either in or outside of eCampus), you can schedule their release by date before your course begins.
- Check the Box: Another good thing to know is that you can check a box with your Announcement that will send a copy of the Announcement to your student's email.
Need help with Announcements?
Don't let this straightforward but powerful communication tool slip by you! Visit the CAHS Technical Tutorials & Tips: Announcements page for instructions, samples, and tips.