Blogs

Using blogs for student learning
Types of blogs in UTSOnline
Help with creating and using a Campus Pack blog
Help with creating and using a Blackboard blog
Archiving blogs at the end of semester

A blog is a website (public or otherwise) where an author regularly posts content and news items. Blog posts or entries usually appear in chronological order with options for readers to comment on entries. Postings are archived so blogs become a longitudinal journal or commentary on a topic. The content is usually focussed on specialty areas of interest such as politics, personal reflections, opinions and more. You can see examples of publically-available blogs by using the Google blog search page to search for blogs in your area of interest.

Using blogs for student learning

Some ways blogs have been used to support student learning in higher education include:

As learning journals where students reflect on discussions in weekly tutorials
To log critical incidents during placements and internships
Where research-degree students keep a record of their reading and its relevance to their research project
Tutors post updates and news items on current events in the discipline
Guest writers invited to produce a critical commentary on selected topics

Blogs can contain text, pictures, links, files and embedded audio and videos (including YouTube videos). Here is one example of a blog page in UTSOnline:

UTSonline blog page

Types of blogs in UTSOnline

There are at three types of blogs you can use in UTSOnline:

Personal (individual) blogs. Where students have their own blog, visible only to themselves and instructors.
Group blogs. Where the student group contributes and comments on the one blog, visible only to group members and instructors.
Subject blogs. Where students and instructors all contribute and comment on the same blog.

Blog tools in UTSOnline

UTSOnline has two blog tools available for you to use with students - the Blackboard blog and the Campus Pack blog. The two tools have very similar features, the major difference being that students can create their own blog using the Campus Pack blog and select fellow UTS students and staff with whom to share their blog.

Help with creating and using a Campus Pack blog

You can add a Campus Pack blog to your subject in UTSOnline, just as you would add any other tool either to the course menu or to a content area within your subject (see Organising your site). To create and configure the Campus Pack blog see the following guides. Please note that in these help pages Journals LX refers to the Campus Pack blog:

Creating Campus Pack blogs and journals within your subject
Using a Campus Pack blog within your subject
Student-generated blogs - see ePortfolios in UTSOnline

Help with creating and using a Blackboard blog

You can add a Blackboard blog to your subject in UTSOnline, just as you would add any other tool to the course menu or to a content area within your subject (see the pages on modifying the course menu and adding/organising content within this site). To create and configure a Blackboard blog in your subject see the following step-by-step videos from Blackboard:

How to create a blog (video 2m:19sec)
How to create and edit blog entries (video 2m:15sec)
How to comment on a blog entry (video 1m:27sec)

Archiving blogs at the end of semester

If you assess student blogs or blog contributions you must retained the work for a period of 6 months after submission of final results (UTS Policies Procedures for the Assessment of Coursework Subjects, 2010). Blogs can be retained by leaving them within the site and hiding them from student view or by exporting and downloading them.

The export and download option is only available in the Campus Pack blog. To download a blog see Exporting Campus Pack blogs. This downloads a zip archive file of all the blog entries.

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