Moodle does not have a purpose-built journal activity. This article describes techniques instructors have found for creating student journaling assignments using other Moodle tools as well as each technique's advantages and disadvantages.
Before You Start, you will need access to the following:
- an Instructor of record or Other editing teacher role in a Moodle course to create a journal activity
- an Instructor of record, Other editing teacher or Non-editing teacher role to view and grade student work
Create journals using the Database activity
Moodle's Database activity is a flexible tool for collecting text, images, files, links or data from course participants. It has a Journal preset that makes set-up easy, and instructors can require instructor approval before entries are published and leave them unapproved to create a private journal option. Database activities do not have Grading settings, but you can include grades for private journal entries in comments and/or create Grade Items for individual entries or the entire journal activity within the Moodle Gradebook.
- Toggle Edit mode on.
- Click +Add activity or resource in the section where you want to place the journal activity.
- In the Activity menu, choose Database.
- Enter an Name and Description for the activity.
Tips: Include questions or guidelines to consider when writing in the Description if you don't plan to create a custom template. If you are creating private journals, explain the Pending approval flags students will see on their entries (see next step).
- Click Entries to expand it, and change the following settings if needed:
- If you want to create private journals, change Approval to Yes. When students submit entries they will be flagged Pending approval. Leave them unapproved and they will be visible only to the author and course participants whose roles permit them see and view student work.
- Change Allow comments on entries to Yes if you want to be able to provide feedback on individual journal entries. For entries Pending approval, only roles that view and grade student work can comment; otherwise any course participant can.
- Click Save and display.
- Create the form that students will use to create entries:
- For easiest set-up, click Use a preset, select Journal and click Use this preset. This creates a simple form with fields to enter a title and body text; the author's name and a timestamp are automatically added when the entry is saved.
- To create a custom entry form, see Moodle's documentation on Building a Database and Database templates.
Warning: Although the Rating settings for the Database give you options for assigning a grade based on ratings, the Ratings themselves can only be provided by student participants. We've hidden ratings from students site-wide to avoid confusion; please email help@brynmawr.edu for assistance creating a local override to enable students to rate each other's journal entries if you want to assign journal grades based on peer review.
Create journals using the Forum Activity
Forum is Moodle's built-in activity for facilitating discussions. Forums can be displayed in a few different ways, some of which work well for student journals.
- Toggle Edit mode on.
- Click +Add activity or resource in the section where you want to place the journal activity.
- In the Activity menu, choose Forum.
- Provide a Forum Name and select a Forum Type. For the latter, we recommend selecting Standard Forum for general use. This will make it easiest to keep individual students' journals separate.
- Configure other settings depending on your goals and requirements for the assignment. If you are planning to grade this activity, go the Whole Forum Grading section. We recommend using Point for Grade > Type. From there, you can use Simple direct grading or Marking Guide for Grading Method. Marking guides can be created and edited in the Advanced Grading section of this assignment.
- Select Save and display.
Create journals using Microsoft Word or Google Docs
If you would prefer to have students do their journaling outside of Moodle before submitting that is also possible. Bryn Mawr students and Swarthmore students can use their college emails to access Microsoft OneDrive services, including Microsoft Word. Haverford students can use their emails to access Google Drive, including Google Docs.
- Follow our instructions for creating an Assignment activity. Under Submission settings, make sure to select Online Text. In the Description or Activity Instructions, make sure to specify that student will need to include the URL for their journal. Direct students to Microsoft's directions for sharing Word documents and Google's instructions for sharing from Google Drive (including Google Docs) if necessary.
- Click Save and display.
Warning: This option may not be the best to use if you have Haverford students in your class and you want them responding to journals written by students from other institutions, as Haverford students do not have automatic access to Microsoft services. This means they cannot do things like add comments to a Microsoft Word document created by a Bryn Mawr student, although they would be able to view it as long as anyone with a link is selected under sharing permissions.
Questions?
If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!
Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor
