What is a Blog?

Wikipedia defines a blog as "a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order."

Pulse now offers a Blog Tool which will allow you to bring journaling to your course.

There are two types of blogs that can be added to a course; course blogs and group blogs. The course blog is open to all members of the course and is turned on by default. The group blog, which we will cover later in this tutorial, is set up by the instructor. The instructor assigns students in the course to the blog and it is only available for editing by those students.

The Course Blog (Blog Tool)

When you access a course, the course links are on the left-hand side of the screen (see image 1). In this example, those links are set up as text links, but some courses may have them displayed as buttons. The Blog Tool is located in the Tools section of the course (see image 2).

Image 1 The Blog Tool is located in the Tools section of the course.

Image 2 Inside the Tools section, there is a variety of course tools, including the Blog Tool. The Blog Tool is turned on by default.

Image 3 shows a newly created blog. Lets get started by going over the main features of the Blog Tool and then we will show how some of those features work.

A - The main area is where blog entries appear in reverse chronological order when added. B - The privacy section lets users know who exactly has access to this blog. C - New entry allows you to post a new blog entry. Print opens a printer-friendly window. This can include comments to blog entries if you click the w/ comments link instead of the print link. D - Filters can be used to display 15, 25, or all entries at a time. If the blog is set up as a private journal (see below), filters will also allow the instructor to filter by author in order to see individual students' entries. E - Search allows you to search the blog. (read more about searching Pulse) F - The calendar will allow you to quickly jump to a specific day and see its blog entries. G - Stats shows you the number of entries that have been posted to the blog. H - Export site will download the entire blog to your computer in the form of HTML files. This might be useful for archiving purposes or if you want to display the blog on another website. Note that these files are static HTML files. I - If turned on by the instructor, an RSS feed is available for the blog. The RSS feed is currently NOT protected by campus key and password, so private blogs, or blogs with copyrighted material, may not want to turn the RSS feed on. (read more about RSS)

Image 3

To post a new blog entry, click on the new entry link (see image 3, item C). This will bring up a new page where you enter the Blog Entry Title (subject of the entry) and the contents of the entry (see image 4). Note that the entry box has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. This WYSIWYG editor is NOT available using the Safari browser on a Macintosh. If using Safari, you will get a generic text box like you normally do when using Pulse.

To post a new blog entry, complete the form and click the Save button.

Image 4

Post a new entry by completing the form and clicking Save.

Your new blog entry will appear at the top of the blog (see image 5). Each blog entry contains 4 links; edit, history, delete, and comments. Edit will allow all members of the blog to edit the post. Keep in mind that this blog is a collaborative workspace, so even though student #1 may post an entry, student #2 can modify that entry. We will show an example of that shortly. History tracks the changes to the blog entry. It will allow you to go back in time to see each modification made to the entry since it was first posted. Delete will remove the blog entry from the blog. By default, the instructor is the only person with permission to completely purge the entry from Pulse. However, the instructor can change that setting and allow others to delete entries. Comments allows all blog members to read and post comments regarding this entry.

Image 5

The entry is now posted in the blog.

Image 6 illustrates what the above post might look like in your RSS aggregator. The aggregator shown in this example is Safari, a Macintosh web browser. (read more about RSS aggregators)

Image 6

This is what the entry might look like in your RSS aggregator.

Now that this blog entry has been posted, it is possible for another student, or the instructor, to edit this entry. If you click on the edit link (see image 5), you will return to the edit page, but instead of the editor being empty, it will contain the contents of the entry (see image 7). In image 7 we have already edited the original entry by spelling out the AVM acronym. Note that the WYSIWYG part of the editor has been replaced with a browser error. This is what Safari users will see when adding and editing content in the blog.

Image 7

Clicking edit will allow members of the blog to edit an existing entry. This example also shows you what Safari users see since Safari doesn't support the WYSIWYG editor.

Once you edit the blog entry, click the Save button to post the updated entry. The updated entry now replaces the previous version of the entry in the blog (see image 8). Remember, if you ever need to revert back to a previous version of the entry, click on the history link to do so (see image 9).

Image 8

The updated blog entry replaces the previous version.

Image 9

The history link will allow you to view previous versions of the blog entry and revert back to them if needed.

If a blog member wanted to comment on the blog entry, they would click on the comments link (see image 10). This will cause a text box to appear on the screen. You will see that it is a scaled-down version of the WYSISYG editor. Safari users should take note that, at this time, the text box will appear, but you can not type in it.

Type your comment in the editor and click the Add Comment button to add your comments.

Image 10

Click the comments link to add a comment.

If comments have been added to a blog entry, the comments link will show you how many comments there are (see image 11). Now if you click on the comments link, you will see those comments above the WYSISYG editor (see image 12).

Image 11 The comments link shows that 1 comment has been added.

Image 12 Click the comments link to see the comments.

For Instructors and Organization Leaders: Course Blog (Blog Tool) Settings

There are a variety of settings for the Blog Tool that can be modified by the instructor. To do so, the instructor must first go to the Control Panel and click on the Configure Blog Tool link in the Course Tools box (see image 13).

Image 13

Click on the Configure Blog Tool link to modify its settings.

Image 14 illustrates the variety of settings available for the course blog and it also shows you the default setup of the Blog Tool. Most of these options have been discussed in detail earlier in the tutorial, but there are a few that might need further explanation.

Allow Users to Create Blog Entries
If you plan to use the course blog, note that this is set to No by default. You will want to change this to Yes, otherwise your students won't be able to post any blog entries.

Allow Users to View Posts by Other Users
Choosing Yes will allow the course blog to be open to all students in the course. They will be able to read posts by other students. If you want your students to be able to use the course blog, but only as a private journal, set this option to No. When set to No, only the individual student and the instructor can read that students' posts. Instructors can then filter entries by author (see image 3, item D).

Comments
If you don't want students to be able to comment on blog entries, you can disable that feature.

Public References to Students
You can choose how the blog entries are signed. In our examples above, we used Person Name.

Image 14

There are a variety of settings for the Blog Tool.

For Instructors and Organization Leaders: Group Blogs

An instructor has the option of setting up blogs that are assigned to smaller groups of students. To do this, the instructor must first go to the Control Panel and then to the section of the course where they want to add the group blog (e.g. Assignments).

Once in the location where you want to add the group blog, you need to use the toolbar at the top of the page (see image 15).

Image 15

Navigate to the area you want to post the group blog and find the toolbar at the top of the page.

Click on the pull-down menu at the far right of the toolbar and select Blog (see image 16), then click the Go button to the right of the pull-down menu.

Image 16

Select Blog to add a group blog to the course.

This will take you to the Create Blog page (see image 17). On this page you will add the name of the blog, a description of the blog, and assign the groups or students who will have access to edit the blog. Note that the default setup on the Create Blog page is to allow all students in the course to read the blog. To prevent this, and only allow group members to access and read the blog, you must set up date restrictions in the Options section of the Create Blog page (see image 17).

For this example I've entered Group 1 Journal as the blog name, entered a description, and assigned User Group One as the members who have access to the blog. Note that I previously created User Group One by going to the Control Panel and then Manage Groups.

Image 17

The Create Blog page.

At the bottom of the Create Blog page is a section to create a Gradebook entry for this group blog (see image 18). This will put a column in your Gradebook and you will then need to grade each student manually based on their performance.

Image 18

Group blogs can be added to the Gradebook in order to assign grades to students for their work.

Once you click the Ok button at the bottom of the Create Blog page, the group blog is now added to the course. Image 19 shows the student view for accessing the blog.

Image 19

Student view for accessing the group blog.

If you have any questions, please contact Chris Braster at Chris.Braster@jefferson.edu or 215-503-3120.