Q: I’m a co-instructor for a course and I have a question about Quercus Announcements. I receive email notifications when other instructors post announcements in the course, but I don’t seem to receive email notifications for my own announcements. Why?
I also checked with other instructors, and the responses are a bit inconsistent. Some say they did not receive email notifications for my announcements, while others did. How could this happen? And how can I make sure students receive notifications for my announcements?
A: Announcement notifications in Quercus are controlled by each user’s personal notification settings, so it’s normal for email notifications to vary between users.
Why you’re not receiving email notifications for your own announcements
In Quercus, under Account > Notifications, you can choose whether to receive email notifications for announcements at both the account level and the course level.
If the Announcement Created by You setting is turned off, you will not receive email notifications for announcements you create, even if the general Announcements notification is enabled. (The Announcements setting only applies to posts created by others.
To receive notifications for your own announcements, enable the Announcement Created by You setting: How do I manage my Quercus notification settings?
Why other instructors may or may not receive your announcements
There may be a few possible reasons that affect whether other instructors receive notifications about your announcement:
- Notification settings: Each instructor controls their own notification preferences. If their email notifications for Announcements are disabled, they will not receive emails when new announcements are posted.
- Course sections: In a cross-listed course, if an announcement is posted to a specific section, instructors in other sections may not receive the notification – especially if their access is restricted by the Limit this user to only see fellow section users setting, even if their announcement notifications are enabled.
How to make sure students are notified about new announcements
Students can receive announcement notifications at their Quercus-associated email address (usually their @mail.utoronto.ca account), as long as:
- the course is published
- and their notification settings are enabled
However, because notification settings are controlled individually, there is no way to guarantee that all students will receive email notifications.
Note: If an announcement is posted while the course is unpublished, it will not trigger email notifications when the course is later published: Will students see a Quercus announcement I post before I publish my course?
Tips to help ensure students see the recent announcements
- Encourage students to check that their announcement notifications are enabled
- Add a Recent Announcements section to the Course Home Page so students can easily view the latest updates
Chat with us!
For further questions or assistance with course announcements or announcement notification settings, please contact the EdTech Office or book a consultation!