Campus Pack - Journal good practice guide

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The Campus Pack Journal tool allows tutors to set up individual journals in their AberLearn Blackboard courses for students to use in reflective learning.

Journals are effectively a one-to-one blog, where only the student and their tutor/marker can see their entries.

The term 'blog' is derived from 'web log', essentially an online journal of logged entries. In practice, a blog is a website in which the author ('blogger') posts short articles, which then appear in reverse chronological order with the newest at the top of the page. Visitors to the site may be given the ability to leave comments on each article, thus creating a dialogue with the blogger. Images and links to other websites can be included. See the short Common Craft video clip Blogs in Plain English for a concise explanation of the principles of blogging.

Campus Pack Journals are a basic blog facility that are integrated into an AberLearn Blackboard module. Tutors can enable individual journals for each student or group blogs for the entire class or sub-groups within the class. (Click here for more information on the Campus Pack Blog tool). Individual journals are particularly conducive for reflective journal activities, where students record their observations throughout the process of ongoing study, research or a project.

Campus Pack Journals can be linked to AberLearn Blackboard's Grade Center. Tutors can easily see what contributions each student has made to their journal. This makes it easy for tutors to assess individual student performance based on journal activity.

For more ideas on how to use this tool in teaching, please see the training courses offered by the E-learning Team through CDSAP.

Access

Access to blogs and journals are constrained to users enrolled in the AberLearn Blackboard modules.

Please keep in mind that use of blogs and journals in AberLearn Blackboard falls under the normal acceptable use policy for AberLearn Blackboard in general. Please keep copyright and data protection issues in mind when using blogs or journals in teaching. It is especially important to make guidelines clear to students who are posting their own material on to AberLearn Blackboard.

FAQs about using Campus Pack Journals

These FAQs written by E-learning Support staff contain concise technical guidance in using the tools:

• How do I add an entry to my AberLearn Blackboard Journal? Instructions for students
• How do I add a journal to my AberLearn Blackboard course? Instructions for staff

Please email us at is-alto@aber.ac.uk if you have further questions or require training.

For more information

• Common Craft video clip Blogs in Plain English
• Social Learning 101 - An Introduction to Social Software for Learning webinar on Wikis and blogs from Learning Objects
• Learning Objects website
• Resources page - articles on effective use of Web 2.0 in teaching
• Training courses offered by the E-learning Team through CDSAP
• Acceptable use policy for Blackboard
• Copyright information at AU