Using Microsoft Sway for Digital Newsletters

Chris_Hofer
Community Coach
Community Coach
6
2848

Well, I don't live near a beach...but those trees sure are swaying!  Queue the segue...  Smiley Wink

For almost two years, I've been sending out newsletters to our faculty via e-mail.  I've utilized both Outlook (creating tables to hold content completely from scratch) and then Publisher.  I even posted this blog, Creating an E-mail Newsletter, attempting to get ideas from the Community on better ways to communicate information.

I recently got some help from awilliams‌ and also reviewed a presentation by snufer‌ about

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(view in My Videos)
‌.  So, I logged into my O365 account I have through our Technical College, and I started creating my first Sway.  In searching through the templates, I found one for Newsletters, and it was just what I was looking for.  I could add articles, photos, quotes, etc.  I also liked the fact that it had some built-in interactivity (like cycling through a group of photos).  Once I got comfortable with the interface, it was relatively easy to add content wherever I needed it.  And best of all, I could grab the embed code to paste into a Canvas page.  We'll now be directing our instructors (via Global Announcements) to our "Newsletter Archive" (part of a public Canvas course we have set up for them to access) to view the newsletter.

Here's a sampling of my first Sway:

6 Comments
ssimpso4
Community Contributor

I developed a little Sway 101 course in Canvas for our district's paraprofessionals last Fall. It's a publicly-visible course, so feel free to check it out: Sway for Paraprofessionals 

DrNufer
Community Coach
Community Coach

For some reason I get an error message when I try to pull that up.  

"Page Error
Well, it looks like something broke unexpectedly. Sorry you had to see that. If you have a second, please let us know what you were doing when the error happened."

Odd.  But I would love to see the course.  

Were you at khaki today?  I think I saw you around at that front table.  (leading the charge for k12)

ssimpso4
Community Contributor

Yup, that was me. Sorry for the bother with course. This is something I've had an ongoing discussion with Canvas Support about . . . I'll follow up with them tomorrow as you're the 2nd person just today that's contacted me about it (2 different courses, no less!). Safe travels home, Sean!

ssimpso4
Community Contributor

snufer‌, give it a try now please: Sway for Paraprofessionals 

Any luck?

DrNufer
Community Coach
Community Coach

I'm in! It looks good. Smiley Happy

ssimpso4
Community Contributor

Glad you were able to access the course!

I've found it necessary to 're-save' course settings numerous times in order to allow external users to access publicly-visible courses. It's pretty frustrating, as I randomly hear from people who can't access resources in public courses that previously caused no issues.