Take the classroom discussions online with course-specific blogging.

Blogs provides a forum for class discussion outside the physical classroom, where instructors can post comments on lectures and assignments, and students can reflect on course-related topics and ideas.

For detailed help on how to use a Blog, see the online guide.

Using the Blog tool, you can create:

• One classwide blog: This journal is accessible by all students enrolled in the course or community.
  
  
• Multiple blogs: These would be journals assigned to groups you have created in your course or community.

The classwide blog can be accessible to all students by creating a button in your course menu. Creating a class journal button is similar to creating a new Content Area.

• Go to your course Control Panel.
  
  
• Under the heading "Course Options", click Manage Course Menu.
  
  
• At the top of the Manage Course Menu screen, in the gray bar titled "Add", click Tool Link.
  
  
• Click the dropdown menu under the heading Type.
  
  
• Select Learning Objects Journal LX.
  
  
• Enter a Name, such as Course Journal. This is the text that will appear in the course menu button.
  
  
• Click to create the blog button.
  
  
• Return to the initial view of your course to view the course menu.

You can create journals as you would add an item to your Course Documents (i.e. a syllabus, PowerPoint file of lecture notes), and set up the journals to be available only to certain groups or individual students in your course.

• Go to your course Control Panel.
  
  
• Click on a Content Area such as Course Documents.
  
  
• At the top of the Content Area's screen, in the gray bar titled "Add", select Blog from the dropdown menu on the far right.
  
  
• Click GO (to the right of the dropdown menu).
  
  
• Enter a Name and Description for your blog.
  
  
• Select groups that you have already created using Manage Groups or Advanced Group Management or individuals from the course.
  
  
• Scroll down, and make sure Yes is select to make the content visible (to students).
  
  
• You may allow the blog posts to be viewed by others and allow students to comment on entries.
  
  
• You may also select dates and times when group members will be allowed to edit their site.
  
  
• If you would like the blog to be added as a Gradebook Item, add an Entry Name, and make sure you have included the number of Points Possible.
  
  
• Click Save to save the blog to your Content Area.