Updating the News Widget in D2L

The News tool in D2L allows instructors to communicate updates, changes, and new information to students. News items appear in the News widget on the Course Homepage, the first page that students see when they enter the course. Students can subscribe to News updates through email notifications, text message notifications, or an RSS feed.

Note: The News widget displays the first 200-250 characters of a News item, so keep this in mind when prioritizing where information is placed within the News item.

Create a News Item

Manage news items through the News widget on the Course Homepage.

From the Course Homepage, go to the News widget.
Select Create Announcement.
Enter a title in the "Headline" field.
Enter the text of the news item in the "Content" field.
Set a date and time for the news item to display in the "Availability" section:

Set the start date and time in the "Start Date" section.
Uncheck the Always show start date checkbox if students should not see the start date.
Select Remove news item based on end date and enter an end date to hide the news item from the student view after a certain date.

To attach a file to the news item, select Add a File under "Attachments" heading.
Select Publish when complete.

Change the Default Image

By default, the News widget will show a stock image with the preview of a news item, but this can be changed.

Navigate to the News widget.
If the item has already been posted, select the news item.
Note: If the item has not been posted, follow the directions above to add a new news item, then skip to step 5.
Select the dropdown arrow next to the news item title.
Select Edit.
Scroll to the bottom of the news item and use the cursor to select the spot to add the image.
Note: It is recommended to add the image at the bottom of the news item so students will see the body of the item first.
Select the camera icon to add an image [A].
Select My Computer to upload an image from the device or URL if the image has a link.
Upload the image.
Select Add.
If the image is not decorative, add a brief description of the image in the "Alt Text" field. If the image is decorative, select the check box.
The image will appear within the news item. Select Update or Publish to finalize.

Edit a News Item

Select the headline of the news item.
Select the dropdown arrow next to the headline.
Select Edit.
Make any necessary changes.
Select Update. The revised news item will then appear on the Course Homepage in the News widget.

Delete a News Item

Note: Selecting the X next to a news item will not delete it. This will only dismiss the news item, so it will still be available to users until the process below has been followed.

Select the headline of a news item.
Select the dropdown arrow next to the headline.
Select Delete.
Select Yes.

Use the Old Style News Widget

To use a News widget that shows every news item in full, without the preview, the active Course Homepage will need to be changed.

Select Edit Course in the course navigation bar.
Select Course Administration from the dropdown menu.
Select Homepages under the "Site Setup" heading.
Select the dropdown arrow under "Active Homepage".
Select Course Homepage w/ Old Style NEWS.
Select Apply.

NEXT STEPS

For information on viewing and managing the content for the Calendar, see Viewing the Calendar and Adding Calendar Events. To modify the display settings or visual appearance of the News widget, see Managing Widgets.