Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Activity Feed Guide

Using Activity Feed

Activity Feed can be added to your homepage as a way to engage with your students more frequently, with the opportunity to have a more casual format. It is for posting reminders, fun subject matter news, time sensitive/course sensitive updates, and it can also be an easier way to create assignments. We think you’ll find it simpler and more satisfying than the Announcements tool.

• Who is this for: Campus Instructors
• What is required: A D2L course and custom homepage

Step 1: (If Activity Feed is not currently on your homepage; otherwise proceed to Step 2)

Add activity feed to your homepage

1. Go to your course
2. Click on Course Admin from the navbar
3. Click Homepages
4. Choose one of the two options to add the activity feed:
   1. You can use the Campus Basics Template by selecting it from the Active Homepage list and click the Apply button.

If you are currently using a custom homepage, click on the name of your custom homepage (it should have the “active” status).

Click Add Widgets, check the box next to Activity Feed and click Add. To change a widget’s vertical placement on a panel or move it to another panel, click and drag the widget. Click Save and Close.

Step 2: Creating activity feed

Once the Activity Feed widget has been added to your homepage, you can create a message or an assignment.

Note:  Activity feed “messages” CANNOT be transferred from term to term. If you have something that is formal and/or permanent in the course, use the ‘announcement’ tool. If you use the Assignment option within the Activity Feed tool, and grade the item, it will be copied to the next class, and you can re-link them back to the Activity Feed.

To create a message:

1. Select the plus icon (+) from the top left corner of the widget on the homepage. The default selection will be message.
2. Where it says “Share announcements, reminders, & to-do’s” type the text of your message.
3. You can choose to attach a file by selecting the paperclip icon from the bottom left corner, or to delete the message contents select the trash bin. To collapse the message, refresh your browser page.
4. You can choose to allow the students to comment by selecting the ‘Allow Comments’ setting, or deselect it to prevent them from commenting.
5. When you are ready to post, choose ‘post later’ to schedule for another time, or ‘Post’ to schedule right away.

To create (or post an existing) assignment:

1. Select the plus icon (+) from the top left corner of the widget on the homepage. The default selection will be message, choose “Assignment.”
2. You may choose to create a new assignment by typing a title where it says “Add a title or create a new assignment” or you can choose to post an already existing assignment by “Select Existing.”
3. If creating a new assignment, you can attach something (bottom left corner paperclip), add a due date, and/or add it to grades.
4. Once complete, select to schedule it to ‘post later’ or ‘post’ right away.

Note about assignment settings:

If you need to change settings for the Assignment and the Grade item, go directly to the Assignment or Grades from the navbar.