Announcements have had some subtle changes in Blackboard 9 that we think are worth pointing out.

Announcements view in the Home Page

Starting with 2010/11 sites, Announcements has been replaced as the first page students see when entering a Blackboard site. Instead, the Module Home Page will be the first page users see.  The My Announcements channel on the home page will show the title of the most recent announcements to students, and the link more… goes to all announcements.  Users can change settings about what is considered ‘recent’ through the icon in the upper right.

Previously announcements appeared in a strange order, with permanent announcements appearing ahead of other announcements.  Now announcements appear in the order in which they were added, but you can also rearrange them using drag-and-drop.

This means that there is no longer a strong need to use the setting for permanent announcements.  Instead we recommend setting an end date for all announcements you create, or leaving the end date empty if you want one to appear permanently.

If you choose to email an announcement to all users on the site, Blackboard 9 does not email the complete text of the announcement out to everyone.  Instead it emails the title of the announcement as a link to the full text of the announcement in the Blackboard site.  This will help encourage students to enter the Blackboard site where they can find other information and learning materials.