creating a blog
A blog is a communication tool that your students can use to record opinions, reflections, and observations about the course. Blackboard 9 has a built-in blog feature that allows students to post text, images, and small video files; students can also comment on each others’ posts.
Setting Up Your Blog
1. Access the Content Area where you would like to place the blog.
2. Click the Add Interactive Tool button and select Blog.
3. Click the Create New Blog button.
4. Provide a name and description or instructions for the blog.
5. Make sure the blog availability is set to Yes, so that students have access to it.
6. You can set time and date restrictions for when the blog will display. You can also choose how students post on the blog. “Individual to All Students” allows each student to write entries for only their own blog; comments can still be posted by other students. Choosing “Course” sets up one blog for the whole class where students can post and comment freely to the same blog. You can also choose if you would like students to be able to comment anonymously and if you would like them to be able to edit and delete their own comments/posts.
7. Click Submit. You will be redirected to the Create Link : Blog page where you will see a message confirming that the blog has been created.
8. Click Next to add a link to your new blog from the Content Area.
9. Click Submit again. A direct link to your blog will now appear on the Content Area page.
Posting a Blog Entry
1. From the Content Area, click the blog’s title to access the blog and create an entry.
2. Click Create Blog Entry button.
3. Type a name and the body text for your entry. You can also browse to upload a file or document to the blog.
4. Click Post Entry to submit your work; click Save Entry as a Draft to come back and edit your work later; or click Cancel to leave the page without saving.
Replying or Commenting on a Blog Entry
1. To reply to a blog entry, access the course blog and click the Comment button for the post you would like to reply to. A box will open up allowing you to type in a response; click Add to post the comment. The “Comment on Entry as Anonymous” option box will only be available if you set the blog up to allow for anonymous commenting.
2. To view comments, click the Comments link that appears under each blog entry; this will expand the comment threads for the entry. You can delete comments by clicking the delete icon next to the comment 
Students can create blog entries and leave comments in the same manner.
Note: If you set your blog up with the “Individual to All Students” option, each student will have a separate blog link within the course blog. To access a student’s blog, click his or her name from the “More Blogs” box on the right hand side of the screen.
For more information on the academic uses of blogs, visit this link from the Office of Learning Technologies & Assessment's Teaching with Technology Guide: https://sites.google.com/site/luctwtguide/tools/blogs-and-wikis
