[ARCHIVED] How do I get announcments, using the announcement function, to show up on my class's homepage?

[jfortier1]

I have posted an announcement on my class canvas website. The announcement isn't showing.  Next the the announcement icon at the left side of the homepage, there is an icon of an eye with a diagonal line across it. Above this, a message comes up that says "No content.  Not visible to students"  How do I fix this so that the announcement show?

[Bobby2 · Accepted solution]

Hi  @jfortier1  Welcome to the Canvas Community.

Thanks for all of the detail you included. That will help to address a few things. 

Announcements are a great tool. First of all you will need to remind your students to make notifications for announcements available as they might have turned them off. Here's a guide to use to send them to remind them to make sure announcement notifications reach them - How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as a student? 

If you want the announcements to appear on your Home Page here is a guide - How do I show recent announcements in the Course Home Page? 

If you want the Announcements button to be visible to students in the course navigation menu here's a guide - https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12933-415257079 

Sing out if you need a hand. 

[jfortier1]

Thank you!  The instructions for "How do I show recent announcements in my course home page" in answer to my question was easy to follow and did the trick.  Appreciate this help. 

[Bobby2]

Excellent  @jfortier1 . A happy ending. Thanks for letting us know. 

[nsweeten]

Good advice above, @Bobby2 .

I recommend a "set-up assignment" at the beginning of any course, with linked Canvas Guides in the directions.  I usually include:

1. Message the instructor using the Canvas Inbox feature--with any Syllabus questions or comments, in order to confirm you can successfully message before there is a time deadline
2. Customize your Account Notification and enable Announcements, Grading Feedback and Invitations
3. Confirm account messages are forwarded to an email you check frequently (along with your college assigned email forwarding)
4. Add an image to the account--the tiny circle that helps your instructor recognize you 

[holmant]

Hi

An update to my question

According to my Canvas help desk folks, the Announcements link will not post on Student View until the course is published.   The faculty member adamant about it NOT being published until August 23, 4PM.  This thought crossed my mind many times over the past 3 days, and I guess my gut was telling me this is WHY it would not show.  So, hopefully, August 23, 4PM when the course publishes, the Announcement link will show to the students.

Thank you all for your assistance!!!!

T

[holmant]

Having same issue.  I have gone under Settings, and pulled Announcements up to the top of menu bar (as with Modules,etc) so students can view.  I STILL have the little eyeball that is marked out and is not visible in student view.

Can someone please help me?  Our recruitment class starts August 23....I'm not understanding why it's not showing up...it showed up last semester.  i communicate with the kids on job postings through announcements.

thanks

T

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello @holmant ...

Apologies for asking a pretty basic question, but I assume that even with your "Announcements" course navigation button enabled in your course, you also have at least one announcement posted?  Could you maybe share a screen shot or two of what you are seeing so that we can continue to help troubleshoot this issue with you?  Thanks!

[holmant]

Thank you for your quick response.  

Yesterday, i changed SETTINGS and moved the Announcements up to the top of the list, then saved the settings.  I went to student view, still no luck.  Next, i created a test message, thinking maybe that was why, there were no announcements.  Still no luck.

This course is a supplemental, informational recruitment course to the main course.  It has yet to be published, as I have strict instruction not to publish until 4PM, Monday, August 23.

I have uploaded student view, course view, and settings view.

Thank you to all for your assistance!!!

TStudent viewCourse viewSettings View

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @holmant ...

Thank you for the extra information.  I wonder if you might be able to try something on your computer.  I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but ECU should have two additonal Canvas environments that are almost identical to your main Canvas environment that you log into every day.  The main Canvas environment is called "Production", while the other two environments are called "Test" and "Beta".

• What is the Canvas test environment?
• What is the Canvas beta environment?
• How do I access the Canvas test environment as an instructor?
• How do I access the Canvas beta environment as an instructor?
• What is the Canvas release schedule for beta, production, and test environments?

I would recommend that you try logging in to ECU's "Test" environment.  Then, set up your announcements just like you have done in your "Production" environment.  You won't have to worry about messing anything up in "Production" when you are logged in to "Test"...as these are two completely separate environments...so you can "test" things out.  Try publishing your course in "Test" to see what happens with those announcements.  If you get different results, then you know that publishing was the issue.  If things aren't any different after your testing, I think the next thing to do would be to reach out to the Canvas Help Desk folks.  How do I get help with Canvas as an instructor?  Also, just a quick note that once you are done testing things out in "Test", be sure that you have fully logged out of "Test" before returning to your "Production" environment.  How do I log out of Canvas as an instructor?

In either case (trying things out in "Test" or contacting the Help Desk), please come back to this thread to provide an update for us...thanks, and good luck!

[gnoack]

Hi @holmant 

Another thought, after you pull the announcement up to the top of menu bar so students can view, are you remembering to save that configuration? The save button is at the bottom of the page and not always visible unless you scroll to see it.  It's one of the few places in Canvas that you have to click save to implement the change.  I forget to do this all the time, and I've been using Canvas 5+ years.