Journals and blogs in the LMS

They can be used for a range of educational purposes including:

• Reflective learning diary
• Learning journal
• Work placement journal
• Development of writing and language skills
• Critical reflection on readings
• Capturing lab work
• Documenting individual or group projects or group work
• Recording creative process.

What’s the difference?

Journals and blogs are very similar to each other in their purpose and structure, and can be used for similar activities. Some may be text-based only, whereas others may support multimedia.

• Journals are typically personal reflections, but may be shared or assessed. Often the writing for a Journal activity is expected to be more informal, and the skill of reflection needs to be scaffolded for students by the teaching staff.
• Blogs typically display a series of posts or reflections in a chronological order format (reverse order where most recent blog post is displayed at the top). Blogs may be personal or shared, but are often designed to be for public audiences, and typically will have options to share and allow others to comment on blog posts.

While journals are typically private and text-based, and blogs are typically shared (and often support multimedia), you can use blog tools for private reflections as a journal, and you may choose to share journal reflections to others.

Supporting journal and blog activities

There are a number of support guides on how to implement reflective activities with students. Refer to the following resources:

• Reflective practice (staff guide) – provides an overview of reflective practice and different reflection models or frameworks you could use to support students in reflection
• Reflection and consolidation activities – provides ideas and advice on setting different reflection activities and how to provide feedback to students.
• Reflective writing (Academic skills resource) – this student guide can support students in reflective writing using the DIEP model.

LMS technologies to support blogs and journals

Canvas LMS does not include a journal or blog tool specifically, however, the following tools and options can support blog or journal activities.

Private journals can be achieved using:

• Stackle Learning Journal.
• LMS assignment (supports some multimedia)
• Cadmus assignment
• PebblePad Blog (supports multimedia)

Most of these journal tools will support text-based responses only unless otherwise noted.

Blogs or blogging activities can be supported using:

• LMS Discussions
• PebblePad Blog.

Both Canvas Discussions and PebblePad Blog will support rich multimedia as part of student responses.

Other technologies can also support reflection or reflective practice, but may not be in the format of a blog or journal. Refer to our guide on reflective practice for further ideas on technologies that can support reflection activities.

Stackle Learning Journal

In Stackle, a learning journal helps you set up that sequence in one build, then embed each reflection where it belongs in your Canvas modules or pages.

Use a Stackle learning journal when you want students to:

• Build a habit of short, regular reflection
• Track progress, decisions, and feedback across the semester
• Bring reflections together so students can look back across weeks (and, if enabled, export their reflections as a Word document for portfolio-style tasks)

How it works in practice

When you create a Stackle learning journal you:

• Build multiple reflection activities as a set (for example 10 weekly prompts)
• Embed each activity into the relevant Canvas page or module item
• Optionally embed the collated “all prompts” activity so students can review their reflections across the teaching period in one place

For step-by-step instructions, see creating a Learning Journal with Stackle.

Journals in the LMS using Assignments

The LMS Assignment tool allows students to submit multiple entries until the Assignment is no longer available to students. In this way, it can be used for a journal activity where the student can be asked to make a submission to the journal Assignment  on a regular basis. When teaching staff review the journal Assignment, they can view the multiple entries submitted by students and provide feedback on any or all submissions. Alternatively, staff can create one assignment for each Journal entry, however, this may make an overview of the student’s progression of learning and development over time more difficult.

Assignments as a journal activity

To use an Assignment as a journal for your whole subject:

1. Click on the subject navigation link Assignment.
2. Click + Assignment to create an assignment.

3. Enter the Assignment Name for your Assignment (e.g. journal activity).
4. Write or paste the Journal activity instructions into the rich text editor.
5. In the Points box, enter the points for the assignment. (It is recommended to grade the activity out of ‘100’ and weight the assignment according to its relative value in GradeBook later).
6. In the Assignment Group box, choose the appropriate Assignment group or create a new one (suggestion: journal activity).
7. In the Display Mark as box, choose the appropriate method to display your grades.
8. In the Submission Type box, click Online and check File Upload.

We suggest you use the File Upload option so the student has a record of each journal post. The students can only see the latest submission they have submitted and not earlier submissions. By using the File Upload option, students can view their previous journal entries by reviewing their files they have stored elsewhere. File Uploads also gives markers the ability to annotate the actual submission.

9. Complete the remaining Assignment settings as desired.
10. Click Save.

Viewing and giving feedback on students’ Journal submissions

When entering Speedgrader to view and provide feedback on the Journal assignment, the most recent submission will be displayed. Staff can view and add annotations to the submission, as well as add comments. To view previous submissions, click the drop-down menu on the top right in Submission to view and navigate to previous submissions.

Cadmus Assignment as a Journal

Cadmus provides a supportive environment for student assignments that allows you to provide some structured prompts and provide students space to complete multiple drafts. In this way it can be used for a reflective journal.

When setting up your reflective journal in Cadmus:

1. Use the Setting up a Cadmus Assignment guide to set up Cadmus within the LMS (Canvas). Choose ‘open in a new window’ as the option within Canvas assignments.
2. Once you have created the Cadmus link, in Cadmus requirements and settings, choose the following:
   1. Assessment type: choose Assignment
   2. Turnitin: Review the similarity report settings and choose what is most relevant for your context. If unsure, we recommend choosing Allow students to view similarity before final due date.
   3. Drafting is on. This would allow you to set draft due dates for each of your journal entry submission dates, with the final due date being when the whole journal is due or going to be asssessed.
3. When setting up assessment instructions, you may find it useful to start with the Reflective Journal template and modify the template instructions for your context.
4. Note: You may also wish to add additional calendar to do items for students within the LMS (Canvas) to remind them of when each journal entry is due, so they see each deadline within the LMS and not just in Cadmus.

PebblePad blogs

PebblePad (ePortfolio and personal learning software) includes functionality for creating blogs, which could be used by students as private journals, or shared with other students for peer feedback. Blogs are perfect for recording and reflecting on any time based or ongoing activity such as a project or a placement. Blogs are made up of posts or other records and these are displayed in chronological order.

PebblePad blogs can be part of unassessed or assessed activities, however if you are planning to use PebblePad Blogs as part of formal assessment, please contact Teaching and Learning Innovation to discuss your needs and set up relevant links between PebblePad and Canvas assignments.

For further information on setting up or using blogs (useful for informal activities) refer to the PebblePad blogs guide.

Blogs can be shared individually with others, publicly on the web, or submitted for assessment. For example, students can create a web share link then share this informally with peers or mentors for comments.

Blogs in the LMS using Discussions

LMS Discussions can be used as a blog tool as they allow students to see each other’s posts and make comments on them. They can also be graded if required.

Discussions can be setup to be viewed and interacted with in three ways:

1. A Discussion for each individual student where students can post and reply to each other.
2. A Discussion that allows access to a specific Section of students within the LMS only.
3. A Discussion that allows access only to a specific Group of students within Canvas.

A Discussion for each individual student where students can post and reply to each other

One way of setting up Discussions for a Blog activity is to create a Discussion for each individual student, giving each Discussion the student’s name. The student can then use their own Discussion to make their posts, as well as view and make comments on other students’ posts.

Alternatively, you could turn on the setting to allow students to make their own Discussion by:

1. Clicking the Cog icon in Discussions.
2. Ticking the option under Student Settings: Create discussion topics.

Ask the students to create a Discussion with their own name. When the student creates the Discussion they can choose:

• That Everyone can view the Discussion.
• Just a Section (that they are in) can view the Discussion.
• Just a Group (that they are in) can view the Discussion.

Note that students are automatically able to create Discussions within any Group they are in.

It is recommended that you make the subject navigation link ‘Discussions’ available to students if you are using Discussions for Blog activities. To do this:

1. Go to subject navigation: Settings>>Navigation.
2. Drag Discussions to your preferred place in the subject navigation.
3. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

See how do I manage Subject (Course) Navigation links?

To create a Discussions for each individual student where all students can post and reply to each other's posts, follow these steps:

1. Click on the subject navigation link ‘Discussions’.
2. Click + Discussion to create a discussion.

3. Enter the Topic title for your ‘Discussion’ (suggestion: use student name).
4. If desired, paste the Blog activity instructions into the rich text editor.
5. In Options, tick Allow threaded replies to ensure a logical threaded conversation.

Please be aware that if you select Marked the discussion will also appear in Assignments and there will also be a Gradebook column for each discussion you create. This is NOT recommended if creating a discussion for each student in your subject, as there would then be as many Gradebook columns.

6. Click Save & Publish to make discussion available to students

Tip: If creating a Discussion for each student, a simple way to do this is to Duplicate the first discussion you make, then rename it for the next student.

To duplicate a discussion:

1. From the Discussions page, click the Options button for the discussion you wish to duplicate.
2. Click Duplicate.
3. Click on the duplicated Discussion.
4. Click Edit to rename Discussion with next student’s name.

The Discussion will appear in the following places for students to see: ‘Discussions’ menu link, under ‘Assignments’ (if ‘Grades’ have been assigned to the Discussion), as well as within any ‘Module’ the Discussion has been added.

LMS Discussions guides can be found in our staff guides for the LMS.

A Discussion that allows access to a specific Section of students within the LMS only

If you have setup Sections in your subject, you can allocate a Discussion to just that Section of students. When creating a Discussion, in the Post To box, select one or more of the Sections you want to allow to have access to the discussion.

The Discussion will be listed under subject navigation: Discussion, under Assignments (if ‘Grades’ have been assigned to the discussion), as well as within any Module it has been added to.

On the Discussions page, the Discussion will state how many Sections can view the Discussion, and if you click on this, you will see the names of the Sections.

Students will be able to see and comment on blog posts within their sections but not post in other sections.

LMS Discussions guides can be found in our staff guides for the LMS.

A Discussion that allows access to a specific Group of students (and is accessed through their Group home page)

To create a Discussion for a specific Group within the LMS, the Group Set and Groups need to be created first. Creating Groups within the LMS automatically gives the students within that group a set of tools for collaboration, including Discussions.

Creating groups

To set up Groups in your subject:

1. Go to Subject Navigation: People>>Groups>> + Group Set.
2. Enter a Group Set name, for example Subject Code x, Blog Activity x.

Note: We recommend to always include the subject code in both the Group Set name and the individual Group name. The reason for this is that students can access their Groups outside of their subjects via the global navigation area in Canvas and may end up with several groups with the same or similar names from several subjects unless the subject code/name is included.

3. Choose how you wish the Group membership to be populated:
   1. Allow self sign-up: students can self-enrol in Groups.
   2. Split students into groups: students are automatically assigned to Groups. This options lets you set up group structure and offers the option to split students into groups with x-number of students per group.
   3. I’ll create groups later: group structure is set up manually in which students can be manually (drag & drop) assigned to Groups.

See how do I add a group set in a subject (course)?

Students access to the Group Home Page

Once you have created Groups, a Groups Home Page is available to students, accessible via the Groups icon in the global navigation. Students can also access their group via the Subject Groups area on the home page of your subject in the right-hand sidebar.

Within their Groups Home Page students will have access to Discussions where they can create different Discussions as a Group.

The Discussion area in Groups can be used for Group ‘blog’ activities, in the same way as described above.

Staff access to the Group Home Page for Groups in your subject

Staff in a subject can view each Group’s Group Home Page by:

1. Go to Subject Navigation: People>>Group Set Name.
2. Click the Options button for the Group you wish to visit.
3. Click Visit Group Homepage.

See: How do I view all Groups in a subject (course) as an instructor?

A Discussion that allows access to a specific Group of students (and is accessed through the Discussion link in the subject menu)

To create a Group Discussion:

1. Go to the Discussions link in the subject menu.
2. Click +Discussion to create the Discussion.
3. Under Group Discussion, tick this is a Group Discussion.
4. Select a Group Set you have already created or create a new Group Set.
5. Continue setting up the Discussion as desired.

The Discussion will appear under the subject navigation link: Discussions in your subject.

When you view the Discussion, you will see a list of the different Groups in the Group Set and a link to the Group Discussion area for each Group.

Note: The navigation thread at the top of the page will change to the Group when you click on the Group name from the Discussion.

The Group Home Page Discussion area will also include the group Discussion you have created and any Discussions the students have create.

The Discussion will be listed under subject navigation Discussion under Assignments if Grades have been assigned to the Discussion, plus within any module it has been added to. Students can also access the group Discussion by the Groups link in global navigation.

Visibility and commenting on ‘blog’ posts will be within the Group but not between Groups.