Using Microsoft Sway for Digital Newsletters

[Chris_Hofer]

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

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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‌.  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:

[ssimpso4]

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]

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]

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]

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

Any luck?

[DrNufer]

I'm in! It looks good.

[ssimpso4]

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.