What's the Difference between a Discussion Board, Blog and Journal

Tracy Newman has provided a short definition of the differences in Blackboard between these three similar tools:

Threaded Topic in Discussions Tool

Users post and reply to messages. Replies that are associated with the same post are grouped together, creating message threads that can be expanded and collapsed.

Blog Topic

Participants post a chronological series of entries on a particular topic. Participants can add comments to any blog entry. Newest entries come first in the list.

Here is the comments screen for the Second Post entry:
Journal Topic

A place for students to write. Journals can be kept private between the student and instructor or shared with the class.

Here is a screenshot of what the journal screen looks like for the instructor. In the left panel, you can choose which student to review. Clicking on a name gives you that student’s journal in the right panel. It looks like a blog except that oldest entries come first. You can add comments, just like a blog.


Any of the three tools can be added to any Blackboard CE 6 course.