Create and manage journals
Open Content → Community Journals to create reflection templates and follow learner submissions.
Prepare a journal
- Create a journal or open an existing draft.
- Set its title, prompts, timing, and cohort authoring audience.
- Add the required blocks: reflections, media, links, checklists, documents, or consent as needed.
- Set the journal’s maximum visibility.
- Save, review, and publish when ready.
Use Copy to cohort when you need a separate draft based on an existing journal. The copy includes settings and active blocks, but not learner entries or the original opening and due dates. Review the copy before publishing it.
Understand blocks and dates
| Block | What the learner does |
|---|---|
| Reflection or rich text | Writes an answer or reflection to the prompt. |
| Prompt | Reads instructions or context; it is not an answer field by itself. |
| Checklist | Confirms the requested items; the template can require all or a selected minimum. |
| Photos, video, or audio | Adds the media requested by the activity. |
| Link | Supplies a relevant web address. |
| Document | Uploads a file, which can become downloadable if the entry is shared publicly. |
| Consent | Records agreement to the wording specified by the template. |
An opening date places a not-yet-submitted journal in Upcoming before that date. The due date is shown as a deadline or overdue indicator. Do not assume that passing the due date automatically closes the journal or removes existing entries.
Close changes the journal's status to Closed. Closed journals can still contribute submitted entries to feeds, subject to sharing and moderation rules. Closing is not a privacy switch or a way to recall published work. Use visibility and moderation controls when the task is to change who can read an entry.
Track submissions
Open the journal’s submissions roster to see drafts and submitted entries. Check completion and review individual work in context. Staff with moderation access can also hide, restore, or purge entries from this view.
Review sharing settings
Cohort authoring restrictions and feed visibility do different jobs. A journal limited to one cohort can still share its entries more widely if its visibility allows it. Read Journal visibility before increasing an existing journal’s reach.
Use Journal moderation for content review and Embedded feeds for public display.