Post 394: Do online students read the announcements in their online class or do they read their email more?

Do online students read the announcements in their online class or do they read their email more?

As an online teacher, we are very busy. We have assignments to grade, email to check, and other class prep activities.  If you have reminders or tips for the students, should the teacher post it to announcements or to the student emails?  If you have an upcoming Zoom Live Lecture class and you really want students to see the Zoom link, should you post the link to announcements or to email?

Even though I tell students in their syllabus to always check their announcements upon entering their online classroom, I get the impression most students just go straight to their forums or they go straight to the assignment portal to upload their assignments.

I once posted a Zoom link for my live lectures only in the announcements, I got very few students. It seems most students did not even see the announcements since it was buried among many other announcements so says the students.

It seems the most effective method to notify students of your upcoming Live Zoom Lecture is to email them the link to your Zoom lecture.

To my surprise, students check their email more than they check their announcements. I think it is because students have had email accounts for years to check on, so students have the habit of checking email more than they have of checking announcements.

So, if you have any important reminders, I recommend sending to the student email. When I sent to student email my Zoom link for that lecture, more students showed up than when I just put the link in the Announcements.

The Canvas classroom I currently use does not give me the option to email my announcements to the students. So, I put general announcements in the Canvas classroom, but if I have anything important to announce like a reminder, impending Zoom Lecture, Quiz Prep materials that students need to read, I email it to them.

I also think best practices if your LMS allows it is to program your LMS announcements to be emailed to each and every student so that when you post your announcement, it goes straight to student email since students read and check their email more than they check and read class announcements or class syllabi!

If your LMS does not allow you to email your announcements, then make general announcements like general reminders of assignments, tests, and tips, but for the most important stuff like Zoom links or events you want students to participate in, or Quiz Prep material your students will need to get a good grade on their grade, then by all means USE EMAIL.  Students check their email ALL THE TIME, but not always the announcements or the syllabus.