Configuration Options: The Notifications Feature

Configuration Options: The Notifications Feature

Synopsis

The Notifications feature allows users with an editing role in a course to notify registered users, such as students, assistants, developers, and managers, via email when syllabus content is changed. Notifications are sent from noreply@campusconcourse.com to the email address associated with each registered user’s Concourse account.

Notification messages include the following details:
  1. Name and email address of the user who modified the syllabus
  2. Title of the course where the syllabus was edited
  3. Name of the syllabus item that was modified
  4. Message to users (optional)
  5. Link to view the syllabus
Syllabus modifications are recorded on each syllabus’s Change Log; however, whether the editor chose the Save & Notify option when modifying the syllabus is not recorded. The Notifications feature is not available for unstructured syllabi (uploaded files). 

Key Terms

  1. Notifications: emails sent from Concourse Notifications to users registered for a syllabus when the Save & Notify option is selected during syllabus editing; this term does not refer to push notifications.
  2. Registered Users: Concourse users who have been registered to a course in a specific role, such as Students, Instructors, Managers, or Developers. Users who view a syllabus but are not registered to the course are considered Guests.
  3. Save & Notify: a feature to send notifications to registered users when editing a syllabus. This feature allows the editor to send a message to registered users in addition to the statement that the item has been updated.
  4. Copy Me: in the Save & Notify feature, a user can select the Copy Me option, which sends the notification to the editor as well as all users registered to the course.
  5. Statistics Report: a system-level report available to Concourse admins, this report indicates which features are enabled or “On” in the Concourse environment. This is where a Concourse admin can confirm that notifications are turned on for the system.

Important to this Decision

Before making decisions about how your institution uses Concourse, you should consider how stakeholders, systems, timelines, and other factors are impacted. Review the important elements below to be better prepared to make changes to your Concourse configuration or implementation.
Key Players
Academic leaders who inform or draft curriculum policy; staff whose work is related to accreditation and compliance; and IT staff who make decisions about institutional email and IT security policies should be consulted when making this decision. 
Consideration
The Notifications feature enables syllabus editors to send email notifications to registered course users manually whenever content has been changed; enabling Notifications in Concourse does not mean that users are automatically alerted whenever syllabus content changes.
Timing
Notifications can be enabled at any time. If end users are expected to use the Save & Notify feature, it is recommended that this practice be included in training materials and presentations. Syllabus editors should be trained on when it is appropriate to use the Save & Notify option (when modifications are made rather than during the syllabus creation process).
Connected Systems & Locations
Notifications are sent externally from Concourse, and the decision to notify registered users isn’t logged in Concourse. Notifications are sent to the email addresses associated with registered user accounts in Concourse; email addresses associated with Concourse accounts are usually determined by user data in the LMS or SSO. 
Method
To enable Notifications in your Concourse system, let your implementation team know. If your institution has completed the implementation process, you can email support@campusconcourse.com to make the request.
Motivation & Impact
The Notifications feature is a helpful tool for institutions that have goals of increasing student engagement with the syllabus or notifying students whenever syllabus content changes. 

Configuration Options

By default, the Notifications feature is enabled in Concourse sandboxes but disabled in Concourse production environments. Feel free to try out the Notifications feature in your sandbox environment to get a better sense of how it operates. Your institution may choose:
  1. Option A: Enable Notifications in your Production Environment
  2. Option B: Don’t Enable Notifications in your Production Environment
If you have questions about enabling or disabling the Notifications feature after reading the options below, reach out to Client Services for guidance.
Option A: Enable Notifications in your Production Environment
  1. Approach: Enabling Notifications does not impact the appearance of Concourse for students or the reporting or auditing experience for domain users; the only discernible difference within Concourse is the appearance of the Save & Notify option in the syllabus editing interface, which is only visible to user groups with editing permission. Notifications can be used to inform registered users whenever content has changed, such as new policy language being added or dates and deliverables being changed.
  2. Better For: This option is better for institutions that use Concourse as the main  source of sharing syllabus content with stakeholders and institutions that have communication or transparency requirements related to curriculum changes or course documentation. 
  3. Advantages: Students and other registered users can be notified about content changes immediately after they happen, ensuring timely communication. Additionally, the integration is seamless; instructors and editors can notify registered users about syllabus modifications without having to use additional technology platforms.
  4. Effort: The time investment required for enabling the Notifications feature is minimal; a decision-maker on your Concourse team just has to submit a request to Team Concourse to update the configuration setting. Note that training materials should be updated to ensure that end users understand how to engage with this feature; the time required to update training materials is likely under an hour.
Option B: Don’t Enable Notifications in your Production Environment
  1. Approach: Choosing not to enable Notifications simply means that the Save & Notify option does not appear to syllabus editors in the editing interface. If syllabus editors wish to notify registered users of changes to syllabus content, they must do so through another messaging system.
  2. Better For: This option is commonly used by institutions that share syllabus and course content through multiple outlets or that do not have communication or transparency requirements related to curriculum or course documentation.
  3. Advantages: Registered users will not receive excessive messages about content changes if editors erroneously select Save & Notify while creating syllabi. Additionally, IT staff do not need to investigate and update firewall settings to ensure that emails from noreply@campusconcourse.com will go to users’ inboxes instead of spam folders.
  4. Effort: The time investment required for disabling the Notifications feature is minimal; the Files feature is disabled by default, so your team does not need to take any action if you do not want the Files feature available in your system. 

Post-Decision Changes

Your institution’s needs may change over time and you may need to make changes to your configuration settings. In other words, the configuration decisions you make during the implementation phase might not be as efficient five or ten years afterward. Review the guidance below to better understand how changing this particular decision may affect your Concourse system or deployment in the future.
Enabling Notifications Later
If your institution decides to enable Notifications at some point, you will need to update training materials and socialize the intended use and expectations for Notifications to syllabus editors. Enabling this feature will not disrupt your existing system data in any way.
Disabling Notifications Later
If your institution initially decides to enable Notifications but later disables the feature, users with editing permissions will need to be informed about the removal of the Save & Notify option so they do not perceive its absence as a system error. Since no data logging on Notifications is stored or accessible in Concourse, disabling Notifications later on will not disrupt or change system data in any way.

Related Topics

Before making a decision about enabling Notifications, you should be familiar with some related issues and contexts. See the following articles for more information:
  1. Because Notifications are sent to email addresses associated with registered users’ Concourse accounts, it is helpful to learn how to manage and report upon users to keep account information up-to-date.
  2. The Notifications feature is separate from notifications sent during the Audit process. If Notifications is not enabled in your Concourse system but Audit is enabled, users can still notify editors and auditors when updating the Audit Trail. Learn more about the Audit feature.

Tell Us About Your Experience

Did this article answer your question? If you made a decision like this for your Concourse instance, let us know how it turned out. If we missed something in this article or if you have a question that isn’t addressed in our Knowledge Base, let us know how we can help by reaching out to support@campusconcourse.com. 

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