Albuquerque Public Schools Creating a Blog CREATING A BLOG There are two discrete blog tools in Blackboard. This document provides
instructions for the one that comes with Blackboard, which is the easier to use.
To learn how to link a blog to either the Course Menu or a Content Area, see the
document titled Creating a Class Link or Tool Link. There are a few different
starting points for creating blogs. It is possible to create a blog in your course
without actually linking anywhere, which means students might not be able to find
it. By creating a Class Link or Tool Link, you can create the blog and link it to a
particular part of the course at the same time. You can also just go to the Blogs
section of the course and create a blog
ACCESS THE COURSE After logging in to Blackboard by going to http://aps.blackboard.com, instructors will find a list of their courses in the My Courses module, which is located on the My APS Online tab. 1 Albuquerque Public Schools Creating a Blog Click on the name of the course that is to be customized, in this case Blog Tutorial. Note that is says “(unavailable)” next to the course name. All this means is that the course is not viewable by students. Non‐students can still access the course. CREATE THE BLOG LINK This guide assumes that you already have a content area into which you would like to place a link to a blog. If you need to create a new content area, see the document titled Creating a New Content Area. Pick a content area from the class menu. In this case the content area is named “Content,” appropriately enough. Which content area you choose is up to you and your course organization. Look for the blue buttons across the top of your content area. If you don’t see the blue buttons, you either aren’t in a content area, or you don’t have the Edit Mode turned on. 2 Albuquerque Public Schools Creating a Blog Look for the Collaborate button and hover the mouse over it. On the resultant drop down menu, click Create Blog Link. The Control Panel may be collapsed by default. If so, click it to expand it so that the various tools below it are visible 3 Albuquerque Public Schools Creating a Blog Next, click the Class Tools button, which will further expand the Control Panel. There are many tools available in the Class Tools section, but the one we are looking for (and subsequently clicking) is Configure Blog Tool. You are going to notice many, many options on the Configure Course Blog Tool. Choose the options that are most relevant to your audience (students), your content, and, of course, your disposition. If you want to change any of these options later, you can always click the Configure Blog Tool again and reconfigure your blog 4 Albuquerque Public Schools Creating a Blog settings. Remember to click the OK button at the bottom of the screen after making your configuration selections. The Blog Tool is now configured. 5