Creating a News Item

Below are the steps to create a News Item:

• Access the News Tool
• Create a News Item
• Adding More Content
• Setting Post Availability
• Attach Files or Audio
• Add Release Conditions

Step One: Access the News Tool

1. On the homepage of the unit space, click on the Communication toolbar. From the list of options select News.

2. This will open up the News tool. Click on New Item. 

Step Two: Create a News Item

1. Type your title into the Headline field, and type or paste your text into the Content field.

Step Three: Adding More Content

You can add photos, links and other multimedia items in the Content area.

1. In the middle of the content editor, there are three buttons to insert media: Insert Stuff, Insert Quicklink, and Insert Image. Click on the appropriate button to explore its options. For example, the Insert Stuff button will let you embed an external video or H5P object.

For more information regarding the toolbar functions please read this guide: Using the VU Collaborate HTML Editor.

2. Remember to save to avoid losing your work. Click the Save as Draft button at the bottom of the page to save at any time (this will not publish your news to the unit space).  

You can use strings such as  {FirstName}, which will automatically display the readers first name. For example “Dear {firstname}” will read as “Dear John”, if the student reading the post is named John. View the complete list of strings available. 

Step Four: Setting Post Availability

You can schedule a news item for release on a particular date and time, or hide it after a certain period.

1. Scroll down to the Availability section to view the start and end date options. 

2. Always show start date is ticked by default to display the start date to all users.

3. Type in the Start Date field to specify the date and time you would like your news item to be published. 

4. To hide your news item after a certain date, tick Remove news item based on the end date, then enter details in the End Date field.

Step Five: Attach Files or Audio

You can add attachments to a News item for students to download. The current options are Add a File, Record Audio, or Record Video. This is an optional step.

1. Scroll down to the Attachments section and click the file type you would like to attach. 

If you are recording audio or video, you will need to allow VU Collaborate to access your microphone and/or camera.

2. Depending on which option you choose, either Add a File or Media Capture will appear in the pop-up window. Record your media, or browse for the file you want to upload. When finished, click the Add button to insert the file into your News item. 

Step Six: Add Release Conditions

Release conditions allow you to display the news post to students based on a given condition, such as their tutorial group or grade received on an assessment task. This is an optional step.

1. Click Create and Attach in the Additional Release Conditions section.

2. This will open up a menu where you can select the preferred condition. This will determine who can view the News Item when you publish it (e.g. students currently enrolled in the unit). 

3. Click Condition Type, Criteria and Role to edit.

3. Click Create to add the release condition to the News Item.

4. When you have added all of the conditions and content you want to include in the News Item, click Publish to make it available in the space immediately.