Use the Blog tool to post and respond to questions, engage in discussions, and share opinions and comments with other users. You can create private blog entries, or choose to make public entries for other users to view.
The Blog tool has three main areas:
- My Blog for creating and maintaining your own blog.
- Blog Watch for reading other users' blogs.
- Blog List for setting up which other users' blogs you want to follow or read.
From the My Blog page or the Blog Watch page, you can change the following settings for your blog on the Settings page.
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Setting
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Description
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Show a link to your user profile from your blog
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Allow users who are viewing your blog to also view your profile
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Make entries public by default
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Selects the Make Public option for new blog entries so they are automatically shared with other users by default.
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Allow comments by default
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Selects the Allow comments option for new blog entries by default. Note that this option is only available if the Make entries public by default option is selected.
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Receive email when comments are added
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Select this option to receive an email notification when a new comment is made on one of your blog entries.
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Allow blog to be read by anyone
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Allow users who are not logged into Brightspace to view your blog through an external URL. The External URL field contains the URL to share your blog. Note that you cannot access private blog entries by URL.
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Publish your blog as an RSS feed
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Allow readers of your blog to link to your Site Feed and view your blog using an external RSS aggregator. To publish your blog in this way, you must enter a title for it in the Feed Title field.
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Persistence
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Enter a value in the Persistence field to determine how long blog entries stay in your Blog Watch list. For example, if you enter 10, entries will remain in your Blog Watch for 10 days after being posted. If you set the value to 0, blog entries remain in your Blog Watch indefinitely.
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Write a blog entry
- On the My Blog page, click New Entry.
- Enter a title. The title appears in the blog entry list after you publish it.
- Add content to your blog.
Note: Individual blog posts have a character limit of 128,000 characters.
- If you want to allow other users to view your blog entry, select Make entry public.
- If you want to allow other users to comment on your blog entry, select Allow Comments.
- If you want the blog entry to show a different date from the current date and time, change the Entry Date. To revert to the default values, click Now. The Blog displays the most recent entries first, according to the entry date you set.
- Click Save.
After you create your blog entry, click Preview to view your blog as it appears to others and to view the permalink and social media links to share your blog outside of your course.
View your own blog
- On the My Blog page, use the All Entries, Public Entries, and Private Entries tabs to view your blog entries.
- To view how your blog appears to others, click Preview Blog.
Tip: The Permalink field at the top of the Preview page lists a URL for your blog that can be accessed from any browser.
Edit blog entries
- On the My Blog page, from the context menu beside the title of the entry you want to edit, click Edit.
- Update the entry as desired.
- Click Save.
Add blog comments
- In the blog entry you want to comment on, click the Add Comment link. The writer must enable comments on their blog in order for you to see the Add Comment link.
- In the Comment field, enter your comment. Select Make this comment anonymous to submit an anonymous comment.
Note: Comments have a character limit of 128,000 characters.
- Click Save Comment.
Note: There is a limit of 500 comments maximum on any given blog entry.
Delete blog comments
You can remove comments on your own blog. You cannot delete comments on another user's blog.
- On the My Blog page, click Edit from the context menu of the blog entry or click the Comments link inside the entry.
- Click the Delete icon beside the comment.
Find and follow other users' blogs
The Blog Watch keeps a list of blogs by your peers and other users that you want to follow. To populate your Blog Watch, you add blogs from the Blog List. Your Blog Watch is empty by default.
- Click Blog List.
- Do one of the following:
- Search for a user's blog by entering any portion of their first or last name in the Search For field.
- Navigate the list of users. You can sort the table by clicking any of the column names. If you go to a new page, you lose the users that you selected on the previous page.
- Select the check box beside any user that you want to watch.
- Click Add.
To see recent posts from the blogs that you follow, click Blog Watch.
Set up RSS feeds
You can publish your blog as an RSS feed which any external news reader (RSS aggregator) can read. Depending on your organization, you might not have permission to use the RSS feed functionality.
- Click Settings, then select Publish your blog as an RSS feed.
- Enter a title and a description.
- Click Save.
- Share the External URL with other users to share your blog.