Blog in Moodle

Create an OU blog

To create a course-specific Open University blog:

1. On the course home page, click Turn editing on , then click Add an activity or resource, select OU blog from the menu.
2. On the Adding a new OU blog page, enter a Blog name, and a Intro if required. The intro is a good place to describe the blog requirements.
   
   
    
3. Choose whether to Allow comments, and from whom.
4. Choose whether you will use Individual blogs in this case, e.g. select Separate individual blogs if you want a student to only be able to view or post to their own blog. (Click the Help icon for further information).
5. If applicable, choose the level of Maximum visibility for this blog (click the Help icon for further information).
6. Select whether you wish to Show intro when posting.
7. Select the Maximum attachment size and Maximum number of attachments to this blog.
8. Select whether you wish to Show blog usage statistics.
9. Choose an Alternate activity name if desired.  This will replace the default name 'blog'.
10. Choose whether you wish to allow users to import blog posts from other blogs by checking/unchecking Enable post import.
    
    

11. In the OU Tags field type in any predefined tags you wish students to have access to.  This will be helpful to give students a starting set of tags rather than creating their own. If you wish students to only use the tags defined by you here, select "Allow pre-defined Moodle Tags only".
    
    

12. Under Grade, select whether this blog will be marked by instructor or by ratings. If graded select what type of grade (scale or points), and which category of the Gradebook it should belong to.
    
    
     
13. Under Common module settings, decide whether you will make the blog Visible, and whether you will use Group mode for this blog. This is sensible if the blog is part of a group project. Select Visible groups if you want students to be able to see other groups' blogs, or Separate groups if they are only allowed to see their own blog.
14. Complete the remaining sections of the page as necessary and click Save and display.

Add an OU blog entry

To add an entry to an OU blog:

1. On the course home page, click the blog name.
2. On the blog home page, click New blog post.
3. On the New blog post page:
   • Enter a Title if necessary.
   • Type your Message, and add any necessary Tags. (Tags apply only within the blog. Click a tag to see all posts in the current blog with that tag.)
   • Choose whether you will Allow comments on this entry.
   • Add any necessary Attachments.
   • Click Add blog post.
4. The new post displays on the main blog page, where you can Edit or Delete it if you wish.

Add or delete an OU blog comment

Once you have added a comment to an OU blog post, you cannot edit it; you can only delete it. You can delete your own comments from any OU blog post, and the author of a blog post can delete any comments added to it.

To add a comment to an OU blog post:

1. On the blog home page, for the relevant post, click Add your comment.
2. On the New blog comment page:
   • Enter a Title—this is optional.
   • Type your comment in the Message box.
   • Click Add comment. The new comment displays on a page with the relevant post, under the heading Comments. Use the breadcrumbs to navigate to other blog posts.

To delete a comment from an OU blog post:

1. On the blog home page, for the relevant post, click [number of comments] comments. The post and all its comments display.
2. For the relevant comment, click Delete.
3. In the confirmation page, click Continue. The post displays with all its comments. The comment you deleted displays with the message "Deleted by [you], [day, date, time]"'. This message is only visible to you, and to the system administrator, not to other users.