Hi folks. We are getting quite a bit of pushback from our customers on the changes made to Course Updates, with Hawthorn. Many are frustrated that edX made this change without replacing the ability to create and deliver in-course updates at any time, as they were using and relying on that function.
Here is an example of the feedback we’ve received:
“I was relying on course updates to both welcome new learners and announce scheduled maintenance. Now that updates is only a welcome message, I can’t use it for announcements.”
Also this:
“I’m not sure how we are now supposed to communicate updates to learners/participants in an intelligible way. Seems a bit wacky.”
Where, in the edX priority list, is replacing the Course Updates functionality? Not loving the customer pain this has caused!
Absolutely agreed with this. The fact that updates are effectively no longer usable as updates while still being labelled updates is frankly bizarre for both staff and learners.
Add another vote of disappointment. The message goes away 7 days after the course start date, which makes no sense either. With a self study course, no one would see it unless they started the course when it is launched. All of my courses are instructor paced and I relied on announcements for my weekly update. I realize that students can click the updates link, but it is really a poor user experience.