Blogs

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	Blogs in Blackboard

Watch a Video--Observe the work of journalism students as they reflect on a museum visit, contribute to a blog, and give feedback to their peers. See how efficiently the professor can evaluate their work.

Contents:

What is a blog?

Why use a blog?

How do I use a blog in my courses?

How do I contribute to, add to, or search a blog?

Creating a Menu button for your blog.

How do I create an Individual or Group blog?

Is there an easy way to create a blog for each student in the course?

Manual

What is a blog?
The word blog is short for web-log. A blog can take a variety of forms, but the most common is that of an online diary or journal, recording what is happening in the blogger's life, or commenting on news and happenings in the world at large. Often a blog will contain links to other websites, perhaps other blogs. Usually visitors to the blog are able to leave comments on what the blogger has written. The entries are arranged chronologically--most recent first--but are often tagged with keywords to allow visitors to find relevant entries.

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Why use a blog?
There are many possible uses for blogs in education.

For teachers:

Summarizing and commenting on research in your field (for the benefit of students and colleagues)

Recording, publicizing, and inviting comments on your current research

Networking and sharing knowledge

Instructional tips for students

Course announcements and readings

Annotated web links for students

For students:

Reflective journals (as part of the course, or when on Work Placement)

Creative writing

As a tool in group work

E-portfolios

To share course-related resources

You can find ideas and links to further reading at: Weblogs in the Classroom (Department of Education & Training, Western Australia)

There are case studies on the use of blogs within a Virtual Learning Environment such as Blackboard on the Learning Objects website.

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How do I use a blog in my courses?
There are two types of blogs which can be created within a course--a Blog for the whole course, and blogs for individual course members (or Groups).
Watch a video on blogs

To create a blog:

Access the Control Panel.

Choose the Content Area (i.e. Course Documents, Assignments, etc.) where you wish to create the blog.

Select "Blog" from the drop down list in the right corner of the action bar.

Click the Go button to create the blog.

Once you have accessed the Create Blog page, you need to complete some information to configure it. Enter a name for your blog and briefly describe this assignment.
Next, pick the participants for the blog. The group option will only appear if groups have already been defined within the course. Continue selecting the various options for the blog.

Course Blogs might be set up so that only Instructors can post to it, but anyone can read posts and leave comments. The Instructor has control over who can access the blog, who can make new posts, who can comment etc. Access these controls via Control Panel--Course Tools--Configure Blog Tool. For help with choosing the appropriate settings, click on the ? in the top right of the screen.

Once set up, the Course Blog can be accessed via Course Tools--Blog Tool.

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Contributing, Adding, and Searching Blogs
After you have created a blog, you can add text, hyperlinks, images, and embedded media. Students can also contribute to the blog if they have been selected as a member of the blog. Students can view the blog and add comments to it. You can access student contributions to a blog by the entries they have posted by searching the entries.

Contributing to a Blog

Viewing and Adding Comments to a Blog

Searching for Blog Entries

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Creating a Menu button for your blog
You will probably wish to create a button on the menu so that course members can go straight to the blog. To do this go to Control Panel--Course Options--Manage Course Menu. From the toolbar click on Add Tool Link then select Blog Tool from the dropdown list. Type in a name for the blog, and press Submit.

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Individual Blogs are ideal for maintaining a reflective journal because they can be set up to be visible only to the blogger (i.e. the student) and course Instructors. Alternatively, a blog can be set up for each Group within a course, visible only to the Group members and the Instructor. Set up individual or group blogs for your students in any course content area e.g. Course Documents.

You might want to set up a new area to house your blogs. To do this go to Control Panel--Course Options--Manage Course Menu then click on the Add Content Area icon then choose an appropriate label for your new menu button.

Once in the desired content area switch to Edit View then select Blog from the drop-down list, top right, and press Go. Now provide a Name and Description for the blog. Then select the desired course members--either individual students, or course Groups. Next, on the same screen, select the required options.

Finally, you can choose to create a Gradebook entry for the Blog. For help with choosing the appropriate settings, click on the ? in the top right of the screen.

Creating an Individual or Group Blog

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Is there an easy way to create a blog for each student in the course?
The Private Journal feature was built specifically for this use. Private Journals allow the instructor to go to one blog to review each student's work, but students are only able to see their own entries in the blog. The instructor only needs to create a single blog where all students post their entries, but to students, the blog appears to be their own private journal.

Creating a Private Journal

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Manual

Blogs Guide (Journal LX)

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