As you work through the course, you will need space to make notes for your thoughts, reflections, and review. Also, you will need to write down your responses to various learning activities and challenges, both for your own use and, if desired, for collaborating with others. There is a broad range of ways to achieve this. For example, you can use word processing software, notebooks, sketch pads, presentation software, diaries, and e-portfolios. Consider using a learning journal to record your responses to the learning activities and challenges. This strategy can help you assess your learning progress and consolidate new insights. In some learning activities, we will suggest discussion with other learners or people in your home community. Discussing course concepts, seeing examples of others’ work, and exchanging feedback on course activities is offered to enhance your learning. Most learners find that participation in peer discussions adds to their learning insights and enjoyment.

As the course progresses, you will be invited to participate in various course topic forums when it is relevant. For information you prefer to keep private, use a word processing document rather than writing a blog post or using an open forum.

Using a word processing document is an easy way to create a learning journal unless you are familiar with blogging. Note that the following file formats are acceptable:

• Word (.doc or .docx)
• Open Office (.otd)
• Google docs
• Rich Text Format (.rtf) most word-processors can save a file in this format
• Portable Document Format (.pdf) most word-processors can save a file in this format

You will need to send (or share if you use Google docs) the learning journal file with others.

You may also wish to publish your work openly for others to see and comment on. Blogs (web logs) are particularly useful for this purpose. You may wish to look at this resource on how to use a blog. You can use any blog which has the capabilities to tag or label posts for your learning journal. Many OERu learners use WordPress or Blogger. If you would like to use an existing blog you own, we will harvest posts which are tagged or labelled using the course tag. However, you may prefer to set up a new dedicated learning journal blog for the three micro courses in the ART 100 series.

Your blog posts for this course do not have to be visible to the world (unless you want them to be). Here’s how you control their visibility in WordPress and Blogger (look half way down the page).