Announcements vs. Conversations (Inbox)

Two tools available in Canvas for course communications are Announcements and Conversations (the Inbox). The table below outlines the differences between the two options:

Tool

What is it?

Where is it?

Notifications:
What do students see?*

Notifications:
What does an instructor see?*

Announcements

Announcements are designed to allow instructors to broadcast information out to all members of a course or to all members of sections within a course.

Course navigation menu; enabled by default (but will show visibility icon-1.JPG

until content is added). Also by default, the 3 most recent Announcements will appear at the top of the home page.

Email notification, depending on course-level notification settings (see video below)
On the course site:
- Announcements section
- If enabled, at the top of the home page

Email notification, if course-level 'Announcement Created By You' notification setting is enabled (see video below)
On the course site:
- Announcements section
- If enabled, at the top of the home page

Conversations (Inbox)

The Inbox is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. It is more similar to sending an email compared to an Announcement.

'Inbox' on the global navigation menu, which is visible/accessible from any page on Canvas. As a global tool, rather than a course-specific tool, it displays all messages from all courses.

Email notification, depending on account-level notification settings (see video below)
'Inbox' on the global navigation menu will show how many new/unread messages you have whenever you are logged into Canvas.

Email notification, if 'Conversations Created By Me' account-level notification setting is enabled (see video below)
'Inbox' on the global navigation menu - can see all messages sent and received.

Note: Notification settings apply only to the individual user, so make sure you check your own settings. That being said, an instructor changing their settings will not update them for all students in the course; students will have to check their settings themselves. The clip below walks through how to do this, for both Conversations/Inbox and Announcements.

It is recommended that you include information somewhere on the home page, or linked from it, about how students should communicate with the teaching team. Part of this communication norm-setting for the course should include whether you intend to use Announcements, Inbox, both, or other tools (like Slack) to communicate with students. This helps set expectations and reminds students to check their notification settings. This information might also be included in the syllabus.