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Managing Blogs

Margarita Berezyanskaya

Last Update hace un mes

A blog is a personal online writing space. All students and teachers using the Avenue courseware have their own blogs. It is important to note that the Blog menu block is displayed only on the main course page of Avenue courses unless the instructor adds a Blog menu block that is associated with a specific activity or resource.


Editing teachers can create Blog menu blocks that are associated with individual activities.

Exemplar

The Blog menu block (visible below) is available in the Stage 2/3 Exemplar course. It appears on the right side of the course.



Students should use a blog menu block when responding to a blog writing task. Three links in the Blog menu block are contextualized to the course page where the block appears.



The above example is a screenshot of a blog menu associated with a blog writing task.


(A) This link displays on one page all blog entries associated with this task. Only blog entries that have been published to anyone on the site are displayed.

  • Students can decide if their blog entry is 'private' or 'shared' when they save their work. The only way for a teacher to see a student's blog entry is if it is shared. In this case, anyone in the course can see and comment on the blog entry, although the student can temporarily enable and disable sharing if desired.

(B) This link can be used by a student to display their own entries associated with this Page/task.


(C) This link associates a new blog entry with this Page/task. Links (A) and (B) will only display blog entries that were added using link (C).


  • If all students complete a blog task-using link (C), it will be much easier for the teacher to access all student blog entries through link (A). Otherwise, the teacher must navigate to each student's blog page, which is discussed later.

Once a blog entry is shared, teachers and students can leave a comment on that entry.
Note: Shared blog entries can also be viewed by students in other courses.
If unwanted comments are posted on someone's blog, the site administrator can delete them. Any such issue should be reported by the teacher to their mentor.

Teachers: Adding a Blog Menu Block and Associating it with an Activity

1. Navigate to a blog writing task from a course page.



2. Note this activity does not have an associated Blog menu block.


3. At the top of the page, click on the Edit mode toggle button in the upper right corner of the screen to activate the editing tools.
Note: The toggle moves to the right, indicating that course editing is now on.



4. Ensure that the course block drawer is visible.  If not, click on the Open block drawer button. 



5. Click on the Add a block button.



6. Choose, Blog menu from the Add a block pop-up.



Note: The new Blog menu block appears. 



Note: The students see the Environmental blog "Page" beside the blog menu block. 


How Students Add a Blog Entry Associated with an Activity

1. Click on the blog link.



2. Read the blog task on the left.



3. In the Blog menu block to the right, click Add an entry about this Page.



4. Type the blog title and the post.



Note: There is an option to include an attachment.
6. Select the appropriate setting in the Publish to drop-down menu.



7. Enter a tag or two to help others search for the blog post.



8. In the Associations section, check the appropriate Blog about Page title or deselect the checkbox to remove the association.


9. Click on the Save changes button.



The result appears in the student's blog space.


 

Publish to: Yourself (draft) vs. Anyone on This Site

There are two Publish to settings when saving a blog entry.


  • Yourself (draft) means the entry is private and can be viewed only by you and the site administrator.

  • Anyone on this site means the blog is available for everyone to see and comment on, including the teacher, other students and even guests visiting this site.

 

Looking at Blog Entries Associated with a Blog Writing Activity

1. Navigate to a blog writing task.



2. Click View all entries about this Page in the Blog menu block.



The student blog entries associated with this Page appear.


 

Viewing Blog Entries for a Specific Student

Teachers can view all entries by a particular student that have been published to Anyone on this site.


1. Click on the  Participants in the Course Navigation Menu.



2. Locate and click on the student's name.



The target student's View profile course page appears.


3. Click on the View all blog entries link.



Note: Blog posts associated with individual activities are not shown on this list.

Commenting on Blog Entries

1. Navigate to a blog page.



2. In the Blog menu block, click on View all entries about this Page.



3. Navigate to a blog entry you would like to comment on.



4. Click Comments under the blog entry.


The number in brackets next to the Comments link shows the number of comments for that posting.


5. After clicking on the Comments link, a text box appears. Type your comments in the text box.



6. Click on the Save comment link.


7. The comment appears below the blog post.


 

Editing a Blog Entry

1. Navigate to a blog entry you would like to edit.

Note: Unlike forum postings, teachers cannot edit student blogs. Only the blog owner (the student) or the site administrator can edit a student's blog entry.

2. In the blog menu block, click on the View my entries about this Page link.



Note: There is a link to delete the posting as well.

3. Click on the Edit link.



4. Make the changes to the blog. Ahmed added another sentence to his blog post.



5. Click on the Save changes button to complete the editing process.


The changes have been updated.

Resources

Moodle Documents: Using Blogs


Moodle Documents: Blog Settings


Moodle Documents: Blogs FAQ