School-level feature — managed within your school portal at
yourschool.deandesk.com.Video walkthrough
This walkthrough uses the real DeanDesk interface with the fictional Northstar Academy demo school and a calm, AI-generated English voice. Payments and outside services are not connected in the demo.
Who can post announcements
Teachers can only post announcements in courses or programs they are assigned to. Admins can post in any course or program.
Post a course announcement
1
Open your course
Navigate to the course from your dashboard. If you are the instructor, it appears on your instructor dashboard. Admins can find any course under Courses in the sidebar.
2
Go to Announcements
In the course menu, select Announcements.
3
Click Create Announcement
Click Create Announcement. The Create New Announcement dialog opens.
4
Write your announcement
Enter a Title and your announcement Content. Be clear and concise — students see the title and a short preview in their notification feed.
5
Pin if needed
Turn on Pin this announcement if this announcement should stay at the top of the list. Pinned announcements always appear above unpinned ones regardless of date.
6
Create
Click Create. DeanDesk creates notifications for the actively enrolled audience and attempts the associated deliveries.
What students receive
When an announcement is posted, every enrolled student receives:- Email — delivered to their registered email address (or their parent’s email if the student is a child account)
- Push notification — sent to an eligible signed-in mobile device when push notifications are enabled
- In-app notification — appears in their notification feed on the web and mobile app
For child accounts that cannot receive email directly, DeanDesk automatically redirects the email to the student’s parent with a
[For ChildName] prefix in the subject line.Pinned announcements
Pin important announcements so they stay at the top of the list and don’t get buried by newer posts.- Turn on Pin this announcement when creating or editing an announcement.
- Pinned announcements display a Pinned badge so students can distinguish them from regular posts.
- You can unpin an announcement at any time by editing it.
Responding to announcements
Students and teachers can respond to announcements. Open an announcement to see its Responses below the original post.- Click Add Response, write your reply, and click Post Response.
- All course members are notified when a new response is posted (except the person who wrote it).
- Parents viewing a child’s announcements can read responses but cannot post on the child’s behalf.
Editing and deleting announcements
Open the menu on an announcement card to manage it.- Edit: The announcement author or an admin can update the title, content, and pin setting, then click Update.
- Delete: Deleting an announcement permanently removes it along with all of its responses.
Best practices
- Keep it relevant. Announcements go to every enrolled student in the course. If a message only applies to one student, use a targeted email from the Communications Dashboard.
- Use pinning sparingly. If too many announcements are pinned, the feature loses its usefulness. Reserve pinning for truly important items like exam schedules or policy changes.
- Write clear titles. Students see the title in their notification feed and email subject line. A good title tells them whether the announcement needs their attention.
- Check responses. Students may ask follow-up questions in the response thread. Check back after posting to answer questions.