Blackboard Ultra (Faculty) - Journals: Create a Journal

Creating a Journal

Journals are personal, online spaces for students to reflect on course material, discuss ideas, and pose questions about course-related topics. As an instructor, you can create one or more journals in your course and set up the journal to be graded or not graded.

Steps to Create a Journal

1. Navigate to your Blackboard Ultra course.
2. In the Course Content area, click the plus sign.
3. Select Create.
4. In the Create Item panel, click Journal.
   
   
   
   
5. Type a descriptive Title. If you do not add a customized title, the default title will be "New Journal" and the date it was created.
6. Add Instructions for the journal assignment in the text box. Provide students with clear prompts or guidelines for their journal entries. Use the text editor toolbar to include hyperlinks, attach other relevant items, or add audio/video components.
7. New journal items are hidden from students by default. Use the drop-down menu to change the visibility settings or to set release conditions.
   
   
   
   
8. (Optional) Under Journal Settings, you can:
   • Add a due date.
   • Set availability dates.
   • Grade the journal:
     1. Select Grade journal.
     2. Enter the Points possible.
     3. Add a rubric.
     4. Choose grading settings, such as allowing anonymous grading or parallel grading.
9. Click Save.

Accessing Student Journals

Once students have submitted journal entries, you can access and grade them (if applicable) by taking these steps:

1. Navigate to the journal in the Course Content area.
2. Click on the journal title.
3. Click on the Grades & Participation tab.
4. Student submissions will be listed, and you can click on a student's name to view their journal entries and provide feedback.

Need Additional Support?

This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!