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How to create and use a Moodle Blog

Published on: 02/08/2023 · Last updated on: 19/12/2024

Introduction

Watch this short video (4:36 minutes) to see some different examples of how Blogs can be used in Moodle.

Moodle Blog activity types

Before setting up the Moodle blog activity consider what type of activity you need:

  • Individual blogs – each student will have a personal space to post their ideas
    • Separate – individual students can only post to and see their own blogs
    • Visible – individual students can only post to their own blogs, but they can see other blogs by students in the cohort
  • Course blog – shared by all participants
    • with group mode off, all staff and students can contribute to the blog
    • with group mode on, each group will have a blog where each member can contribute

Moodle Blog activity considerations

  • People can leave comments in both user and course blogs, although these can be turned off for blogs or posts if required.
  • There are levels of access available where viewing blogs and commenting can be private (i.e. an individual student plus staff), between participants in the Moodle space, logged-in Moodle users (i.e. other Bath staff and students not part of this cohort) or worldwide (ie. available to the public without logging into Moodle). The ‘worldwide’ version is currently turned off.
  • Blog-specific tagging can be used to provide easy access to related blog posts.  (This is not linked to Moodle’s general tagging system).
  • Blogs can be assessed.

Set up a blog activity

On the Moodle space home page, click Turn editing on then click Add an activity or resource, select Blog from the Activities menu.

You will be presented with the activity settings page, many of which are familiar from other Moodle activities. You can click the question mark icons for more information on the blog specific settings and use the guidance below.  Once settings have been chosen, click Save and return to course.

Moodle activity chooser with Blogs selected.

Read more about the settings available

  • Give the blog a name and add an intro to describe what the requirements of the activity are.
  • Decide whether comments are allowed, and from which people.  If you allow comments from those outside Moodle (i.e. not logged in) then comments will require moderation before being displayed on the blog.  You will receive an email when such a comment is made.
  • If you want students to blog as part of a class, leave the individual blog setting to No.  This will allow all students and staff enrolled in the Moodle space to view and post to the blog.  You can then also adapt the Maximum visibility setting to suit your needs.  You can also adapt the Common module settings, by changing the Group mode, if you want to break the class blog into Group blogs.
  • If you want students to blog privately, select Separate individual blogs.  This allows students to post to and view their own blog.  No other students will be able to see it.
  • If you want students to blog for themselves but want other students to be able to view it, then select Visible individual blogs.
  • This section allows you to pre-populate Blog activities with tags that are available to students when they write posts.  This will then be used to categorise posts in the Blog block that displays when a blog is viewed.
  • This can be left blank, and students create their own tags, however it could be useful to group posts on given topics for easy review later.  You can restrict the tag options by selecting Allow pre-defined Moodle Tags only.

Note: there is another Tags section at the foot of the page, and this is related to general Moodle tags.

You can choose when posting and commenting are available to students, or you can leave this blank.

  • You can choose not to grade this activity and students receive feedback from comments on their posts.
  • You can choose Teacher grades students and treat the activity like other assessments in Moodle (Point score out of 100).
  • You can choose to allow Rating of blog posts and then choose the Aggregate type in the Ratings section.
  • See guidance on setting up groups if you want to use group blogs.
  • You can change the Group mode to Separate groups if you want students to work together ‘privately’ i.e. students in other groups will not be able to view the blog.
  • You can change the Group mode to Visible groups if you want students to work together but be able to see the work of other groups.
  • You can select a Grouping where used.
  • You can keep track of student contributions by changing the Completion tracking option to Show activity as complete when conditions are met.
  • This will then allow you to specifiy the minimum number of posts and comments that students must make for this activity to be considered complete.

Creating a blog post

  • On the Moodle space home page, click the blog name.
  • Click New blog post and then add a title before typing the post content.  Apply a tag where suitable or necessary.
  • Choose if others can comment and add any relevant Attachments.
  • Click Add blog post.
  • The new post will display on the blog page, where you can Edit or Delete it if required.

Adding or deleting a comment

Comments can be edited by staff but not students, they can only delete it if they wish to try again.

  • Select the blog and click Add your comment.
  • Add a title and type the comment in the Message box.
  • Click Add comment. The new comment displays on a page with the relevant post, under the heading Comments.
  • To delete a comment, navigate to it and click the Delete option.  You will be asked to Confirm, and you can do this by clicking Continue.
  • Deleted posts display for staff only with the message Deleted by [name], [day, date, time].

Grade a blog

If grading has been enabled in the Moodle blog settings:

  • Select the blog and click Participation by user.
  • From the User participation page click Details next to the student’s name to view that person’s posts and comments.
  • Click the User grade tab and select the relevant score from the grade drop-down menu. Click Save changes.  The grade will be added to the gradebook.

Frequently asked questions

It’s recommended only to allow this feature if you have a specific audience in mind as opening comments to the wider public can increase the risk of spam.  You may want students to seek wider comments from people in a particular field (i.e. subject experts) or in a particular organisation (i.e. on placement) and this feature can be useful for that.

  • If the blog has been set up to allow worldwide comments, then people with the permalink to the blog post can view it and leave comments.  These comments do not immediately appear on the blog, as first the author of the post will need to approve them.
  • The author will receive a notification email to alert them to a new comment.
  • In the blog the author will see a link to approve the comment.  A security warning message will also display to remind the author to be careful with any content that might be suspicious (i.e. spam with links to websites).
  • The author can approve or reject the comment.

Individual blog posts can be shared to a parent blog.  The parent blog will need to be given an ID (in settings) which is then added to the individual blog settings.  Be aware that using this feature can result in unexpected events depending on the combination of settings you choose.

  • When a blog activity is selected you will see a new block appear in the side panel, called blog usage.  This provides an overview of blog activity and quick links to access posts and comments.
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