Overview

This article explains some of the frequently asked questions from staff whilst using Journal.

Contents

Question iconHow do I request a new Journal for my Module?

If you want a new Journal for a module, please email DLSupport@falmouth.ac.uk and arrange a discussion with a member of DL staff. This will provide the Digital Learning team with enough information to get started on your Journal.

Question icon A student on my module doesn't have a Journal.

If a new student has joined your module, transferred from a different course, or if they registered late for their course, you may need to request for a journal to be created for them. Our Student missing a Journal form will make sure you give the Digital Learning Team the information that we need.

Question iconWhy are student blogs showing as ‘My New Blog’?

In this scenario a student has attempted to join the class without first updating their website’s title – the default blog title is ‘My New Blog’. We suggest asking the student to update the name of their website before you approve their request.

Question iconA student has joined my class but I can’t see their request?

This occasionally happens and can be resolved by the student cancelling their request to join and trying again. To cancel their request, they simply need to go to their dashboard, ‘My Class’ and ‘cancel request’.

Question iconHow do I change the privacy settings so students can’t see their peer's posts?

A) If students are adding more personal content to their website you may want to consider changing the privacy settings. Do this by going to the class website dashboard, ‘My Class’ and ‘Settings’. Under settings you can change the privacy settings to ‘Only registered users of this site can view it’.

A pictorial representation of the 'My class' Settings dialog box in Journal

Question icon How do I remove student editing rights?

Removing Student editing rights from Journal will demonstrate to staff how to 'close' a Class Journal by removing student editing rights from their journals, and how to administrate granting extensions to individual students.

Question mark iconWhat additional guidance is available?

Following feedback from students, we have created a number of additional support guides to accompany the recommended Journal Short Course videos.


Scrapbooking

An additional Scrapbooking with Journal video can be embedded into Journals which include a "Scrapbook" page, or where a scrapbooking approach is intended with the Journal.


Images

A thorough guide to Adding and Using images in Journal discusses different ways to place images in Journal, including good use of galleries, wrapping text around images, and a discussion of the media library.


Technical guidance on Image compression and optimisation in Journal highlights the specific ways that Journal uses images and discusses optimising images prior to uploading and sensible dimensions for images.


Accessibility

Accessibility Tricks and Tips in Journal introduces some useful tools for improving digital accessibility with Journal and directs students to contact the FXPlus Accessibility and Inclusion Team for more general web-accessibility guidance.


Journal on mobile

For specific tasks, Journal has excellent mobile capabilities. Using Journal on Mobile discusses the benefits and limits of using Journal on mobile, and demonstrates how to create a desktop link on a mobile device for quick access.


Exporting Journals

At the end of their course, students commonly want to take their Journals with them. Our guidance on exporting a Journal to a new Wordpress Site enables this, and directs students to contact the Digital Learning Team for further support.

Question iconHow can I select which sites display in the 'My Sites' dropdown tab?

When you are logged into Journal you will notice at the top left of the page there is a dropdown menu titled 'My Sites'. Hovering over this will show all of the sites you are connected to and you can easily navigate between them. If you are attached to multiple class journals then this view can become overwhelming and crowded with lots of student sites. To customise this dropdown menu and select which sites show up simply click on the 'My Sites' button.

A new page will load showing all of the sites you are connected to. Tick the box next to the words 'Hide this site in Admin Bar' if you want that site not to be shown in the 'My Sites' dropdown menu.

 


Question mark iconFurther Support 

For further support on Learning Space, or to report any issues with this guide, please get in touch with the Digital Learning Team via dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk. Alternatively, please refer to the numerous help guides found on our Knowledge Base. 


View the Accessibility Statement for all of our support guides.