Defining Journal Settings

  1. The General Tab will open automatically after you’ve clicked to add a journal. This is where you will define the Journal Subject and Maximum Points which are mandatory fields. You can also define Submissions, Gradebook settings, journal details, and calendar settings from this tab.
    • Subject – This is the title of your journal and it is required.
    • Submissions – There are two options when setting submissions:  you can allow only one submission or allow multiple submissions for the journal. Multiple submissions will allow unlimited submissions as long as the journal is still released to users.
    • Maximum Points – Setting a number of maximum points is required because journals are automatically linked to the Gradebook. You will still need to add points even if you are not going to use the journal in the total grade calculation.
    • Gradebook Group – If the Gradebook is Grouped than you must use the drop down menu to choose which group the journal will appear in within the Gradebook. If the Gradebook is not grouped then this will not be an option.
    • Scale If the Gradebook is set up with Additional Grading Scales than you must use the drop down menu to choose which grading scale will be used to grade this Journal.  Additional Grading Scales must be defined through Gradebook settings.
    • Grading Method – You can grade the assignment by entering points, using a grading scale (drop down menu of letter grades which awards the upper end of the selected percentage range defined within the Gradebook), or using a rubric (must be defined through Gradebook settings).
    • Is Used in Calculations – Journals are automatically attached to the Gradebook but it is not mandatory to include journals in the final grade calculations for the course. Uncheck this box to exclude the journal grade from the final grade calculations.
    • Is Extra Credit – Journal grades can be added to the Gradebook as Extra Credit instead of a regular graded assignment by clicking this checkbox.
  2. Additional settings are available within the General tab.
    • Details is where you can name the Contributor (the administrator that is creating the content) and apply a Category.
    • Tags allows you to add tags to your content so that you may easily find content associated with a particular tag. Tags can also aid in your department's curriculum mapping.

      Categories and Tags can be used for searching and organizing content in the course. For example, you could create a Category named “Chapter One” with the tags “heart” and “brain”. This would allow filtering on all content from “Chapter One” or filtering on all content across all chapters related to the “heart” or the “brain.”

    • Location Information could provide students with the location details of the Journal assignment.
    • Calendar Settings allows you to publish the date/time that the Journal will be displayed on the Content Calendar and the What’s New list. Duration sets how long the event will be visible on the Calendar. 

      This does not affect the actual availability of the journal. Availability settings must be set from the Availability Tab.

  3. The journal will automatically be published in Released mode but can be changed to Draft mode under the Availability tab which contains the publish and release status of the journal.
  4. The Availability Tab also allows you to set a Released Date, Expiration Date, and whether or not the journal should be displayed in Content.
    • Selecting a Released date sets the date/time that the journal becomes available to students. If the journal is released and the released date is set to a future date/time then the journal will not be available until that date/time.
    • The Expiration date sets a date/time in which the journal becomes unavailable. Once a journal expires it will no longer be visible to students within Communication.
    • If you want to show the journal in Content you must first submit the journal creation then return and edit the journal. The Show in Course/Site Content checkbox will now be located on the Availability Tab. Click the checkbox to create a content item in Content for the journal.

      This is not available during the creation of the journal and will only become available if you edit an existing journal. You can also create the journal from within Content.

  5. All students have access to the journal unless restrictions are made. The Access Control Tab can be used to set restrictions based on your user list and preset roles. To enable restrictions, select any of the three Add Restrictions buttons within this tab.
    • Add User Restrictions - click this button to display the User List and Add/Remove specific users to/from the access list.
    • Add Small Group Restrictions - click this button to display the Small Groups List and Add/Remove Small Groups you have created to/from the access list.
    • Add Role Restrictions - click this button to display the Role list and Add/Remove Roles to/from the access list.
  6. The Dependent Release Tab allows you to release a journal based upon the completion of set criteria. For example, you can set the journal to be released once a user has scored at least an 80% on a previous exam or submitted an assignment.
  7. The Advanced Settings Tab contains optional settings that define Late Submissions, Due Date, and Directions.
    • Due Date – allows you to set the date and time that journal must be submitted by. If late submissions are not allowed then the user will not be able to submit to the journal after this date.
    • Allow Late Submissions – check this option to allow for late submissions so that users can submit after the Due Date.
    • Grade Reduction - if there is a defined Due Date and Late Submissions are allowed, then the Grade Reduction setting will also be available. For late submissions, reductions can be applied using the global settings set within Gradebook Settings, or you can choose to enact no grade reduction, a one time grade reduction for late submissions, or a daily grade reduction for each day past the due date it is submitted.
    • Directions – gives you the option to define specific journal directions for users.