Creating News Items

The News widget gives you the ability to create and a News item to your D2L site immediately or create a news item for a future date. 

To create a new News item: 

1. Do one of the following:
• Click the New News Item icon (green plus)  at the top of the News widget. 
• Click New Item in the News tool.  
2. Enter the news headline in the Headline field. 
3. Enter the news content in the Content field.  
4. (Optional) If you want to hide your headline's date and time clear Always Show Start Date. By default, a news item's start date and time appears below its headline when displayed in the News widget.
5. (Optional) News items are published immediately unless you specify an alternate start date from the Start Date drop-down list.  Select the posting availability date in the Start Date and End Date drop-down lists or by clicking their Select Date icons (calendar). 
6. (Optional) You can make News remove an item on a specific date by selecting the check box Remove news item based on end date. You and administrators can still see the news item after its end date, but it will not appear in the News widget.
7. (Optional) You can also include attachments and audio recordings as part of your news item:
• To add an attachment, click Add a File in the Attachments section.
• To record audio, click the Record Audio in the Attachments section. Click Flash Settings to make adjustments to your microphone selection and volume. Click Clear to erase your recording.
8. (Optional) Click Attach Existing or Create and Attach to include additional release conditions. 
9. Click Save as Draft to continue editing the news item (students cannot see draft news items), or click Publish to release news item to users. Click Schedule to publish a news item with a future release date.

Note:  News items with a future publish date are listed on the News page with a Scheduled status.

Creating a news item for a future date:

If you set a news item's start date as a future, the posting is not visible to users until that date.

Example:  If you want a news item to appear on Monday morning, specify a start date of Monday at 9:00am.

Note  Post-dated news items are not displayed 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.

Edit, dismiss, and restore news item

It is now possible for instructors and students to dismiss a news items in the News widget and restore a dismissed news item.  


In order to dismiss an item in the News widget, simply click on the Dismiss icon (grey "x") 

In order to restore a dismissed news item, go to the News page and select the News icon .  

There are three possible actions here (edit, delete, and restore).  Click on the Restore icon (the blue 

circle with a white arrow in the middle) beside the news item you want to restore.  

In order to edit a News item, select the Edit icon  (the pencil) for the news item you want to edit. 

1. Edit your news posting. 
2. Select the "This is a major edit. Restore this item for any users who have dismissed it" check box to inform users of major changes and updates to postings they might have dismissed, ensuring those headlines reappear with current information.
3. (Optional) You can also make the edited news posting reappear at the top of the News widget by changing its Start Date to the current date and time. 
4. You should not select the major edit check box for changes to news item end dates, release conditions, and post formatting.
5. Click Update.

Subscribe to News (Email, SMS, RSS)

There are three ways to receive notifications about changes to course news:

1. Email (a system defined email address or another email address)


2. SMS (text message)


3. RSS (news feed)

By selecting one or more of these news options, you will be notified whenever a news item is available, or when an instructor makes a major update to a news item.

Email notifications can go to any email address you choose. These messages include the headline, full body of the new item, links to access the News tool for the course, and any attachments.

SMS notifications enable you to receive news items on your mobile device. These notifications include a course identifier, and as much of the headline and news body text as allowed in a short message.

If you would like to aggregate your news from all your current courses or from individual ones, you can subscribe to an RSS feed for News.

Once you click on the RSS feed icon, you will be able to subscribe via the news aggregator of your choice.

RSS works best with Firefox and Safari. Chrome has issues with the RSS feature. If you use Chrome, you can get a plug-in as a workaround. However, the plug-in lacks functionality.

Audio Capture

The Audio Capture tool allows both students and instructors to record and post audio files within D2L.


Audio Capture is available in the News, Discussions, and Dropbox areas of D2L.  

PLEASE NOTE: 

• Maximum length of recording using the Audio Capture tool is one minute.
• The recorded audio is posted in D2L as file attachments in .wav format.
• The recorded audio file is not saved to the Manage Files area of the D2L course site.
• Audio Capture works best with Firefox and Safari browsers; other browsers are problematic.
• Please see the posting for Document Viewer in Dropbox for more information on providing audio feedback in Dropbox.

1a. To record audio for a News item, from "Course Home," click on the green plus sign to open a screen for you to create a new "News" post. 

1b. To record audio for a Discussions post, click on [Discussions] in the Navigation Bar, then select forum and topic, then compose a new message.

2. Under "Attachments," click on [Record Audio] 

3. A screen will pop up displaying the D2L capture audio feature. The first time you open the capture audio feature, you will notice a second smaller pop up window for "Adobe Flash Player Settings."

4. To use the audio capture feature, click "Allow."  (The default choice is "Deny.") You can also choose to check the box that says "Remember" under "Allow" if you do not want to be prompted with the Adobe Flash pop-up window each time you go to use this feature.

5. After you have allowed the Adobe Flash Player Settings, you will be able to use the capture audio feature. The red record button allows you to record up to 1 minute of audio. When you are finished recording, click [Add].

D2L 9.4.1 – January 2012

Save draft vs. post

When creating new items in D2L, you can save your messages as a draft instead of posting right away or you can simply post.


This feature is available in both the News and Discussions tools.

The save draft button allows you to come back to the message later to edit it before posting.  In order to find a saved draft, look for the draft in the area it was created (news or discussions). 

In Discussions, select the topic where the draft was created and select Drafts from the View drop-down list in the top right corner of the page.

News: From the course home page, select the News tool.  A list of posts will appear with the "status."  Select the desired draft.  

Note: Once you have posted a news item, it cannot be reverted to a draft form.  

Reorder News Items

To reorder news items:

1. On the main news page, select the Reorder icon (two green arrows, one pointing up, the other down). 
2. 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. 
3. Click Save. 

Delete a news item

To delete a news item, do one of the following: 

- Select the Delete icon (garbage can) for the news item you want to delete.

OR 

- Delete multiple postings by selecting the check box next to each news item you want to delete and select 
the Delete icon (garbage can) at the top or bottom of the list. 

News - General Overview

Previously referred to as the Announcements page, the News tool is located on the Course Home page. It is now possible to read instructor messages, course information, and other news updates by using the News widget.  It is also possible to dismiss a news item and restore a dismissed news items.    

News items appear in the News widget, but you can also receive instant notifications about postings through email, SMS, and RSS feeds. See Notifications to learn about creating instant notifications for news items.

The News tool enables you to create news items that help communicate course updates, changes, and new information to your users quickly and effectively. Since My Home or Course Home is the first page that users often see when they log in or access their courses, the News widget is a good area for displaying important information.

Reload news item

Reload news items:

1. Click Reload to refresh the News widget, reload news items (except dismissed postings), and check for new postings. 

Resizing the D2L HTML editor window

It is possible to change the size of the window where I type in D2L!


1.  Click on the lower right-hand corner of the HTML editor window, then 
2.  drag it to make the window larger or smaller, as you wish. 


Here's a quick (silent) video that illustrates how to do it: http://screencast.com/t/CyFAublxZALC

Getting Started with a New D2L Course Site

When an instructor first opens a new D2L site, it will be blank except for the D2L News.

To begin working in your D2L course site:

1. Check to confirm you are in your own course by confirming the title matches what you're expecting.

2. We suggest that you create a "Welcome" message in the News area to greet your students and let them know who you are an where to find the information you want them to use. For example, you may wish to direct them to your syllabus by telling them to click on [Content].

3. When you are ready for the students to see your D2L site, you will need to make it "Active." To do this, click on [Edit Course]. On the next page, click [Course Offering Information], mark the checkbox beside "IsActive," then click [Save].

D2L 9.4.1 - January 2012