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Before publishing your course site, it’s a good idea to go through it from the student’s perspective. Simply use the “view site as” feature, available at the top-right corner of any course site in which you are an instructor, to explore a sample student view of the site. Remember to click the “exit” button (in that same place) to get your instructor powers back!
Please note: This feature is “view only,” so you will not be able to submit assignments or participate in discussions. However, this feature can be really handy when reviewing your course navigation menu (on the left-hand side) and in reviewing your Lesson pages. Is everything you intended to "hide" truly hidden? Is anything accidentally hidden (for example, students can't view "Draft" discussions, assignments, or announcements)?
Hit that “publish now” button on the homepage of your course site when you’re ready to open it to students. Students will not get any type of notification, which brings me to our last and final tip…(okay, nothing is ever final, but you get my drift...)
Review the Communications Page for an overview of the Announcements tool. A "welcome to the course" announcement might be your first communication with your students, so it's important to set the right tone and carefully consider what you’d like to include in this message. A short “talking head” video is great, but so is a thoughtfully-worded introduction paragraph and a “to do” list that helps students focus their energy on the areas of your course site that you’d like them to explore right away. You might even choose to create a “course site tour” video (as mentioned on the Media Gallery Page) to help them get oriented in your unique course site.