Notifications let you know that something needs your attention—something has happened that you need to look at or there's a task that you need to complete. If you have any notifications, you'll see an indicator on the icon in the upper right of the screen; if that's lit up, click it to see what's new.
What shows up here?
Depending on your user roles (and your settings—see below), any number of things might show up in your notifications. Students might learn that an assignment is due or a lesson is available. Profs might see that a test has ungraded questions. Admissions staff might hear about new inquiries. Financial aid officers might get word about an open disbursement batch. Some to-dos might be due today. There might be new discussions in one of your groups. You've been asked to respond to a form. And so on...
Two kinds of notifications
Some notifications mention a single, one-time event. We'll call these "One-off" notifications. Examples include a login from a new device, a to-do has been assigned to you, or a reply to one of your group discussion posts. One-offs only need to tell you that something happened. They'll linger in your notifications window until you click to dismiss them.
Other notifications describe the status of something that might merit your attention; these will update when that status changes. We'll call these "Dynamic" notifications. Dynamics hang around in your notifications window until you click to snooze it OR the task(s) behind the notification are completed. Some examples:
- On Friday at 4:59 PM you see that There are 5 applications not linked to a person. But the weekend is calling and it's time to log off and figure out what to grill tonight. On Monday at 9:03 AM you see that now There are 12 applications not linked to a person. Over the weekend, last week's small pile of unlinked applications started growing into a heap—so you click the notification and start linking those applications to people.
- On Wednesday at 11:50 AM your notifications are empty—the is unlit. But then at 12 noon sharp it lights up and you check it: Registration is now open. The online enrollment period has started, and you can now register for courses for the upcoming term.
- On Tuesday at 10 AM you see that There are 3 open disbursement batches. You check them and see that they're for scholarships that another financial aid officer handles. You snooze the notification because those batches aren't your worry. The following Tuesday the notification rouses from its slumber and tells you that There are 8 open disbursement batches. You check them and find that five of those are Pell disbursements started by another officer and it's your job to advance them to the next stage.
Controls
Here's what you can do with notifications...
- Click a notification to go to the relevant part of Populi.
- Click next to a one-off to dismiss that notification. Dismissing means it's gone—this particular notification about this particular event ain't coming back!
- Click next to a dynamic notification to snooze it. Snoozing hides it from the Notifications window for seven days, after which time it will re-appear.
- Click next to any item to mute it. Muting hides notifications of that type from the window in perpetuity or until you unmute it.
- If you mute a one-off, all such notifications will be hidden. For example, if you mute a notification about an online payment from Janey Collins, that will mute future notifications about online payments from other people as well.
- If you mute a dynamic, muting will respect a certain amount of context. For example, if you mute notifications about online tests for ENG101, you'll still get notified when there's a test available for MATH101.
- At the top of the window, click to:
- Dismiss/Snooze All: This will clear out your notifications window in one fell swoop.
- Notification Settings: This'll let you set up what you want to get bugged about (see below).
- See All Notifications: This takes you to the Notification Center, where you can see everything—including any details that don't fit in the Notifications window.
Notifications Center
The Notifications Center lets you see all your notifications, control your settings, and handle anything you've snoozed or muted. You get here by clicking at the top of the notifications window and selecting either ...Settings or See All...
In Settings, here's what you can do:
- General lets you set up text number and email notification addresses so you can receive certain kinds of messages sent from your school. Learn more here.
- Depending on your user roles, there will be some other tabs off to the side—Academic, Financial, Groups, Personal, et. al. These let you decide what to get hassled about.
- Go through the tabs and check which items you'd like to be notified about. Your changes are saved automatically.
- The Notify Me option means it will appear in the Notifications window and Notifications Center.
- The Email... option will send a note to the email address on your profile that's marked Primary.
- If you're logged in to the Populi mobile app (see Recognized Devices on your Personal Settings > Security view) you'll have the option to receive Push notifications.
- Notifications from courses and groups will have a Manage... option—this lets you choose specific courses and groups to hear about.
The Snoozed & Muted view shows notifications you've hidden—click to reanimate individual items, or use the button with the two made-up words—Unmute/Unsnooze All—to bring them all back into your notification rotation.
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