System-level communication tools on Waterloo LEARN are to be used to announce events or items of significant importance affecting only teaching and learning to the campus community. To ensure that these important announcements are not ignored, dismissed as spam, or lost in an over-abundance of communications, such messaging must meet the criteria outlined below.
If a requested communication does not meet the criteria to be posted or delivered via LEARN, there are likely other appropriate channels that can be used to deliver the message (e.g., the Daily Bulletin, social media, email distribution, department communications, or the UW Portal).
There are two spaces for posting system-wide Announcements on LEARN: the “System Alert” widget and the “Announcements” widget.
System Alert requirements
Only messages or information relating to critical system issues with the LEARN platform are to be posted in the SYSTEM ALERT widget.
For instance, a serious issue affecting functionality of at least one tool in most or all courses or affecting most or all users in LEARN. A planned system downtime of LEARN would also merit a System Alert.
Normally when the “System Alert” is used, a system-wide Announcement is used as well because the “System Alert” is only visible in LEARN and no notification is pushed to users, whereas a notification is sent to users for Announcements (if they have notifications enabled for announcements). In addition, information for System Alerts is also posted on the EdTech Hub website in the News area (https://uwaterloo.ca/educational-technology-hub/news).
System-Wide Announcements requirements
All requests to post announcements on the LEARN System Homepage are subject to approval by the Learning Environment Operations (LEO) committee and/or the Supervisor, Learning Environment or the Director, Instructional Technologies and Media Services, Information Systems & Technology (IST-ITMS), or the Chief Information Officer (CIO), IST. Normally, requests should be submitted to the Chair of LEO or the Supervisor, Learning Environment for consideration a minimum of one week prior to the LEO meeting (meets monthly on the third Thursday of the month). In exceptional circumstances, requests may be expedited for review and approval by either the Supervisor, Learning Environment, or Director of IST-ITMS, or Chief Information Officer (CIO), IST.
Requests for announcements about other teaching and learning related campus-wide tools or systems will be considered if they concern a critical issue with that system (e.g., authentication system, campus email, etc.).
Any posted announcement must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- The announcement applies campus-wide and applies to most or all courses or affects most or all users in LEARN (e.g., announcements that are only pertinent to one faculty or a subset of users would not meet this requirement).
- The announcement relates to the usage of LEARN or relates to the usage of a third-party tool that integrates with LEARN or systems that affect teaching and learning for a significant number of users or courses campus-wide.
- The announcement is related to important teaching and learning issues campus-wide or critical event that may not be campus-wide (e.g., suspension of classes for Covid-19, closure of building where teaching and learning occurs, etc.).
Pin Announcements Feature
LEARN contains a feature that allows announcements to be "pinned," where they are kept visible above all other announcements. Normally, system-wide announcements will NOT use the “pin” feature as it must be enabled/disabled manually, and it may lead users to mistakenly think that there have not been more recent announcements if one announcement remains visible at the top of the list.
Use of the “pin” feature will be considered for exceptional circumstances only and at the discretion and approval of LEO or Supervisor, Learning Environment or the Director IST-ITMS, or the Chief Information Officer, IST. To be considered:
- Requests must meet criteria above for announcements.
- Normally, the maximum duration of “pinned” items will be 24 hours or 1 business day (normally, items will not be “pinned” on a Friday or before holidays).
Approved by Learning Environment Operations (LEO), March 21, 2024.