What are global announcements?

The Canvas Global Announcements tool can be used to communicate brief and timely information to Canvas users at Tufts. A global announcement displays as an alert at the top of Canvas dashboards.

Global announcements must be relevant to the majority of student and/or faculty Canvas users at Tufts. An announcement can be shown to all Canvas users, all students, or all faculty.

Examples of appropriate global announcements include:

Weather and other emergency alerts

Screenshot of global announcement with red alert icon. Text reads: Weather closure Monday Dec. 1. All campuses are closed today due to inclement weather. Read more.

Downtimes for Canvas and other widely-used educational technology systems

Screenshot of global announcement with blue info icon. Text reads: Canvas Service Interruption. Canvas Discussions are loading slowly for some users. Engineers are investigating and we expect an update from the vendor by the end of the day. Please reach out to canvas@tufts.edu if you have questions.

University-wide events

Screenshot of global announcement with blue calendar icon. Text reads: Educational Technology Workshops in February. ETS is offering workshops on Generative AI, Kaltura, and more this month. Read more.

Important academic and administrative deadlines

Screenshot of global announcement with blue information icon. Text reads: Course Evaluations for AS&E. Course Evaluations for AS&E courses are open and will close at 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 10. Reports will become available on January 9, 2025. For support, see the Course Evaluation guides.

If you would like to request a global announcement, please read the following guidelines and fill out the request form below.

Global Announcement Guidelines

  • Global announcements are limited to 50 words of text, not including a brief title.
    • If you would like to convey more information, please provide a link to a document or web page. It will be included as a “Read more” link at the end of your announcement text.
  • A maximum of three global announcements will be active at any given time.
  • Global announcements will be posted on a first-come, first-serve basis, with exceptions for announcements of higher priority. (We will always contact you if a posting schedule needs to be re-evaluated.)
  • Please submit announcements at least three business days prior to your desired post date.
    • Emergency, time-sensitive announcements are an exception to the deadline and the three concurrent messages limit; examples include weather closures and unplanned Canvas downtimes. Emergency announcements will display on Canvas Dashboards with a red alert icon.
  • Announcements will post for a maximum of seven days.

Global Announcement Request Form (Tufts login required)