You can start discussions at any time to engage with other participants within your class. These discussions are separate from lessons and assignments, so you can use this feature to start conversations about anything class related.
Announcements on the other hand, can only be made by your instructor. Your instructor may use these to update you about class details, like updated assignment dates or when new lessons open.

In this article:

1. You can start discussions from two places:

2. Click Start a Conversation to begin writing your message.

​3. Once you are happy with your message click Post.

4. Your message will now be shown on the "Discussions" page, as well as on the "Class Home" page (but class home discussions will quickly be replaced by newer messages).
Other students can read your discussions and add their own comments to it.

Only your instructor can create announcements.

When your instructor makes an announcement, these will also be shown at the top of your Class Home page. Newer messages will be highlighted in orange.
Depending on your email settings, you will also receive an email version of this announcement.

Announcements will be pinned to the top and will only be replaced by newer announcements. Like discussions, you can add comments to these posts.

💡Tip: From the discussions page, you will be able to tell the difference between an announcement and discussion based on its label.