Note: Internal Doc, but everything here CAN be shared with customers.

OpenedX made the decision to convert the Course Updates feature to more of a Course Welcome Message feature in Hawthorn. If you use the Course Updates feature to communicate with your learners, this will impact you, as the functionality has changed.

Prior to the Hawthorn release, all new Course Updates were visible at the top of the course page. With this change, only the most recent update will be visible on the Course page. Also, one week after course start or initial course home view (whichever comes second), the Course Update will no longer be visible on the main page at all. To view it, learners will need to click the Updates link (at top right, under Course Tools).

The Hawthorn release also adds the ability to dismiss a Course Update. It’s important to note that with this change, if a learner dismisses any Course Update, then new Course Updates will not appear on that learner’s course page going forward. 

Dismissing even one Course Update results in this global change in functionality. Going forward, to view Course Updates the learner must always click the Updates link (at top right, under Course Tools). 

OpenedX doc on this feature:
https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-partner-course-staff/en/latest/course_assets/handouts_updates.html