Rapid Deployment of an existing f2f course
to an online format (D2L)

Creating a welcome News item

Objective: Create a welcome News item

News items are kept on the Course Home page. Although it is technically possible to have many news items, we strongly suggest that they be limited to no more than two or three.

To create a welcome (or other) news item:

1. Click on the Course Home link on the Nav bar to navigate to the course home page
2.  Look for the News section immediately below the Nav bar and click on the Plus symbol
3. Add a Headline, e.g., Welcome to Information Science 201, section 001, Fall 2009
4. The html editor is below the Headline section. It includes both Basic and Advanced tabs; click on the Advanced tab. Click in the open text area in the html editor and enter your text. Do not press Enter unless you mean to start a new paragraph. (Shift+Enter will give a line break)
   
   
5. Format text using the Paragraph (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3) and Bold buttons. Other formats are possible but these are likely all you need. Add lists with the Unordered List (bullets) and Ordered List (numbers) buttons.
6. To add a link to a web address outside D2L (optional):
   1. Click on the Insert Quicklink tool (it looks like a link in a chain and has an orange star on it)
   2. Change the Category to URL
   3. Add the exact URL in the Link Details section. Copy and paste from another browser tab works well for complicated URLs.
   4. Add text to the Link Caption box. This is the underlined text students see and click on.
   5. Under the Open In radio button set, select either Same Frame or New Window. Do not select Whole Window
   6. Click insert
7. Edit your News item as needed
8. Click Save (lower or upper right corners)
9. Click on Course Home to return to the Course Home page and see the News item as a student sees it.

Essential Elements to include in a Welcome News item:

• The name of the class and any other information that identifies the class, e.g., section(s), semester, etc
• Your name
• Whatever message you want to convey
• A "how to get started" message, e.g., "Begin by going to the Content section and reading Getting Started" (this assumes that you have a Getting Started file set up. See the Content page instructions.)

A somewhat simplified example follows:

Welcome to the online component for Course Name and Section for the Fall 2009 Semester. Most of our course communication will take place in Discussions, however anyone with immediate questions or personal/private questions can contact me - Instructor Name - at emailaddress@campus.edu or phone number (hours or voice mail). For information on how to get started in this course, including course expectations, our schedule, a note on activities and our first assignment, go to the Content section and read Read Me First.

What is not covered in this document

• How to format text and layout the page.
• How to add images
• How to attach files.
• How to release News items conditionally.

Links: home page | previous page (basic D2L information) | next page (Discussions)