[Announcements] Start and End Dates

[theresajackson7]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

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I would like to be able to put an end date on my announcements at the time I create the announcement.  Then, for example, the announcement I make about textbooks at the start of the semester could be hidden within two weeks.  I do not want to have to remember to go back and hide the announcements.

[rsaunders]

Absolutely.  Comments respond to the moment and need to live that way.  Having an end-date function is an obvious improvement and should be a simple fix in code (says the non-coder). 

[TiffanyWood]

Yes! Make announcements visible to students from a start date to an end date, then it can move into the Announcements Tab. I need it to stay on the course page visible to kids for the entire week. My kids are Pre-K and adding any extra steps is difficult for them. 

[PMH]

Faculty have asked that Instructure add the option to hide or to set an end date for announcements starting in 2017. The Announcement area will get cluttered very quickly. I am surprised that this relatively simple  request remains undone.

PLEASE give instructors some way of reducing the amount of announcement clutter. Either let us hide outdated announcements, set an end date, or perhaps let us Archive them in a separate area. Deleting them is not the answer as I would like to retain these messages for sue in future semesters/courses.

Many have also asked that instructors be able to reorder announcements. This request also remains an open issue.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

[oinge]

Adding my vote for this feature! Our old LMS allowed us to do this, and it was glorious.

[BenJam1n]

I would love this feature!

It would also be great if "when" you scheduled the End Date, there was an option to delete it.

Here is my suggestion (Example):

[EricMagidson]

I a really perplexed as to why after what looks like 5-plus years the ability to add an end date, to go with the publish date has not been added.  I have enabled to announcement/discussion redesign and do not find this basic feature yet completed.

When I post an announcement and then have to go unpublish it, it is a serious time waste. 

[jfountain]

Problem statement:

We currently have a way to schedule a delayed start date for course announcements, but we need a way to automatically hide course announcement on a specified date/time. This feature is available when posting system announcements, but not course announcements.

Proposed solution:

Please add the same functionality to course announcements as what currently exists for system announcements, offering a start and end date/time.

User role(s):

admin,instructor,ta,designer

[bouzoukiman]

When we were on Blackboard, I could not only delay the posting/emailing of an announcement, but I could also enter a close or hide date. I have several announcements that only need to be visible for a week, sometimes 2, but I don't delete them because the next time the same class is offered, I'll make a quick update/edit & then repost the same announcements, sometimes a year later. If I could enter an "end" date, I wouldn't have to remember to go back in 1 or 2 weeks & manually put in a "Delay Posting" date that is far into the future. Right now I have to do that just to hide an announcement from my current students when it is no longer relevant to them because relevant announcements can get lost in the shuffle. I'm sure it's not a good sign that anything will be done since the original post is 5 years old, but here's giving it the old college try anyway. 

[rsaunders]

Yea verily, amen, and hallelejah!  This should be a high priority.  Being able to specify an end date  for announcements would substantially improve communication with my students.  Part of the problem with announcements is that they just accumulate into a critical mass that students eventually ignore.  An end date would help keep the shell visibly fresh and foster viability.

[bouzoukiman]

Thanks for your support, rsaunders! I love your introductory sentence! Yes, old announcements tend to clutter the screen & encourage students to ignore them for sure, and I can't blame them. I try to be diligent about hiding them when they're no longer relevant, but it's difficult when I work with so many courses (my duties are a long story, but I hire instructors to teach for me, and I teach also).

I do have to relate a somewhat humorous story about that: I've gotten really good working with Canvas, including troubleshooting problems, but also doing course copies for my instructors & making sure the course is set up properly. There was some technical issue with a course a while back that I couldn't fix (a course someone is teaching for me). When I contacted our internal tech folks about it, one of them emailed back & said "By the way, I see some announcements that are delayed until Jan. 1, 2050, and I'm not sure what that's about." lol. I forgot to let her know why I do that.