UBC Blogs Guide

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UBC Blogs is a website-building platform where you can create websites to publish content that you make on your own or that you collaborate on with other website authors and editors.

These websites can become course websites, group blogs, or personal portfolios—all built on a flexible WordPress foundation that helps you add different visual themes and customizable functionality without needing to learn code.

Access Immediate
Cost Yes Free.
Bandwidth Yes Low demand on internet connections.
Canvas Integration Yes Works in coordination with Canvas.
Privacy Yes Verified by UBC’s Privacy Impact Assessment process.
Similar UBC-Supported Tools N UBC Blogs is the only centrally supported tool that enables website-building. For instructors, other centrally supported tools can help you share course content in different ways.

What can I use it for?

You can use UBC Blogs to create websites for a variety of purposes.

Instructors:

  • Building a course website to share course materials
  • Enabling group work by inviting students to author a website together
  • Collecting open-pedagogy assignments where students submit their work publicly
  • Sharing Open Educational Resources

Students:

  • Authoring a group website for a course or a club
  • Posting public assignments or projects
  • Displaying portfolios or reflections

This tool guide was last reviewed in November 2024.

How are others at UBC using UBC Blogs?

David Vogt

David Vogt uses UBC Blogs to collectively build and curate knowledge in Education

Current knowledge in my courses evolves very quickly. I want my students to witness this evolution as well as understand their scholarly ability and responsibility to contribute to it. Read more »


Christina Hendricks uses UBC Blogs to have students share their work publicly in Philosophy

The work students do in my courses can also be very valuable to others who want to learn about philosophical topics. Thus I have asked students to create blog posts and post other assignments on our public course websites to share their thoughts and their knowledge with others. Read more »

What do I need to use UBC Blogs?

A supported web browser

UBC Blogs runs in your web browser and supports Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

Tips

  • UBC Blogs is a useful platform for collecting and submitting open-pedagogy assignments, but please keep privacy in mind. We recommend that you avoid posting confidential information that can be used to identify an individual.

How do I use UBC Blogs?

First, you will create a UBC Blogs website and then customize it for your educational purposes.

Click any accordion bar below for instructions and tips for using UBC Blogs.

Expand All

Log in to UBC Blogs and create an account

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL (Campus-Wide Login).
  2. If this is your first time logging in, follow the prompts to finish setting up your UBC Blogs account.

Create a new website with UBC Blogs

Instructors:

You can create your website with or without linking it to your Canvas course. Linking with Canvas will let you add a UBC Blogs link to your Canvas course. Students who click this link will by default be added to your website as "Authors", meaning they can contribute content to your website. However, linking with Canvas will not let you select your site name (which forms part of the web address), as it will be set to the name of your Canvas course.

Students:

You can create your UBC Blogs website outside Canvas.

  1. Go to the UBC Blogs sign-up page.
    • If you receive an error message when attempting to visit this page, follow the steps in the accordion section above to log in to UBC Blogs and create an account.
  2. Fill in the form:
    • Site Name - The site name will form part of the web address of your new website. All UBC Blogs have an address that starts with "blogs.ubc.ca" and incorporates your site name. Note that the site name cannot be changed after you create it, so use wording that fits your website's purpose.
    • Site Title - The site title adds a visible title to your website, but it does not affect the web address. You can change your site title at any time.
    • Site Language - Choose to display your website in English or French.
    • Privacy - You can allow search engines to index this website. Indexing means the website can be searched for and found by anyone on the internet. You can change this setting at any time; however, an indexed website will not be removed from the search results immediately if you remove index permissions.
  3. Click Create Site.
  1. Log in to your Canvas course and click Settings in the Course Navigation.
  2. Click Navigation.
  3. Find the UBC Blogs menu item, click the three vertical dots (options icon), and choose Enable.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Click UBC Blogs from the Course Navigation to launch your new website.
  6. If you want to change the default "Author" WordPress role given to students who join your website so they become a "Subscriber" instead, you can optionally contact us at the LT Hub with the following:
    • the web address of your UBC Blogs website
    • the web address of your Canvas course
    • a new name for how your UBC Blogs link will appear in the Canvas Course Navigation (it cannot be "UBC Blogs" after this change)

Tips

  • There is no limit to the number of UBC Blogs websites that you can have, but please create responsibly. Each website takes up UBC resources.
  • Even if you make your whole website publicly searchable, you can fine-tune the privacy settings of specific content to make it visible only to certain people. This fine-tuning can be done by adding password protection to individual pages or posts and sharing the password only with those should have access.
  • You can change the look and feel of your website by changing the theme. Navigate to your website by clicking "My Sites" and clicking "Dashboard" under your site name. From the Dashboard of your UBC Blogs website, hover over "Appearance" in the sidebar and select "Themes". Hover over any theme and click "Activate" to use it.
  • You can link a pre-existing UBC Blogs website to your Canvas course. Please contact us at the LT Hub and provide your UBC Blogs web address, Canvas course web address, and desired name for the new link in your Canvas course for assistance with the linking process.

Add pages and posts to your UBC Blogs website

Pages are useful for displaying content on your website that is best organized in a hierarchical structure.

Posts are useful for displaying date-based content on your website, as posts are organized in chronological order. Posts can also be grouped by categories or tags to make them easier to find.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL. Navigate to your website by clicking My Sites and clicking Dashboard under your site name.
  2. From your site's Dashboard, hover over either Pages or Posts (whichever you want to add) in the sidebar and select either Add New Page or Add New Post.
  3. Type your page or post title in "Add Title". This text will become part of the permalink for your page or post. Use the text editor to add content to the page or post.
    • When adding content to your pages and posts, be careful when copying text from a file with formatting (e.g., a Word or OneDrive document) since the file formatting is not always pasted correctly in UBC Blogs. It is best to paste content without formatting first and add the formatting using the UBC Blogs text editor afterwards.
  4. Explore customizable options for your page or post in the editing interface. For example, you can choose the location a page sits in the website hierarchy or the category a post is displayed in.
  5. Click Preview to see how your changes will appear when the page or post is published. Click Save Draft if you are not ready to publish your page or post.
  6. When you are ready to publish the content on your website, click Publish. Your page or post will be available for others to see.

Tips

  • If your webpage is public, remember to avoid sharing confidential information. Confidential information includes details like student numbers, addresses, or other personal identifying information. The UBC Digital Tattoo site has more information geared towards students about protecting privacy online and carefully forming a digital identity.
  • Pages are ideal for sharing your main content. You can have course pages labeled as weekly modules and build sub-pages underneath each page that feature the different topics or themes covered that week. Alternatively, you can create portfolio pages for information about your background or projects.
  • Posts are ideal for sharing supplementary, time-based content. For example, you can use posts to share announcements, invite discussion on timely topics using the post comments, or showcase your projects chronologically.
  • Pages and posts can be scheduled instead of immediately published. To schedule a page or post when you are creating it, click "Edit" next to the calendar icon in the "Publish" box, select a date and time, and click "OK". You will see the "Publish" button change to a "Schedule" button. Click "Schedule".
  • For extra editing features in UBC Blogs, you can enable the Gutenberg editor. This editor adds time-saving features such as reusable blocks of content. From the Dashboard of your UBC Blogs website, hover over "Settings" in the sidebar, and select "Writing". Check the boxes to enable Gutenberg features on posts, pages, patterns, and navigation menus, then save your changes.

Share files on your UBC Blogs website

You can share files such as images, PowerPoints, or PDFs on your website. However, please make sure that you own the copyright for the file or have the copyright holder's permission to use the material.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL. Navigate to your website by clicking My Sites and clicking Dashboard under your site name.
  2. From your site's Dashboard, hover over "Media" in the sidebar, and select Add New Media File.
  3. Select a file to upload.
  4. Check the copyright permission box that applies:
    • With the permission of the copyright holder(s) - Applies if you have created the image, have the permission of the copyright holder, or are using a Creative Commons license
    • Public Domain - Applies when the work is in the public domain (e.g., expired copyright or copyright has been waived)
    • Other - Applies for cases outside the above that require additional explanation
  5. Input any additional information regarding the copyright permissions in the textbox (e.g., "the image has CC by 4.0 license on it" or "permission to upload from the copyright holder via email").
  6. Click Upload. Once the upload is complete, you will be able to link to or embed this file in your pages and posts.
  7. To add a link to the uploaded file:
    • Click either Pages or Posts in the sidebar. Click the page or post you want to edit.
    • Click Add Media above the text editor.
    • Click the file you want to use under "Media Library" to open its "Attachment Details" in the sidebar.
    • Under "File URL", click Copy URL to clipboard, then close the "Add media" window.
    • Within the text editor, select the wording that you want to use for the link, then click the "Insert/edit link" link icon from the toolbar.
    • Paste the copied URL and click the arrow icon to apply the link to the text.
    • Click whichever button you see (Save Draft, Publish, or Update) to save and/or publish your changes.
  8. To embed the uploaded file into your page or post:
    • Edit your page or post.
    • Place the cursor where you want to embed the file, then click Add Media above the text editor.
    • Click the file you want to embed and click Insert into page or Insert into post.
    • Click whichever button you see (Save Draft, Publish, or Update) to save and/or publish your changes.

Tips

  • UBC Blogs limits the size and number of files that you can upload. Individual files can be up to a maximum of 20MB each. Each UBC Blogs website has an overall space limit of 500MB. You can contact us at the LT Hub to request a space limit increase, which may be granted only in special circumstances.
  • To save storage space, you can reduce the file size of the images you upload to your website. One way to reduce the file size of an image is by using an offline image editor such as TinyJPG.

Set the navigation of your UBC Blogs website

Menus in UBC Blogs are used to help visitors to your website navigate through your pages and/or posts.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL. Navigate to your website by clicking My Sites and clicking Dashboard under your site name.
  2. From your site's Dashboard, hover over "Appearance" in the sidebar, and select Menus.
  3. Fill in the "Menu Name" and click Create Menu to build your first menu.
  4. Under the "Add menu items" on the left-hand side, select the items to which you want to include links:
    • Pages - Link to pages you have created.
    • Posts - Link to posts you have created.
    • Custom Links - Link to web addresses (e.g., ubc.ca or media that you have uploaded).
    • Categories - Link to categories you have used for posts. UBC Blogs will generate a page of all the posts under that category.
  5. After you have selected the links you want to add to the menu, click Add to Menu. You can sort the menu items by dragging and dropping them once they are added. You can delete a menu by clicking the arrow next to the menu item and clicking Remove.
  6. Under "Menu Settings", select the "Display location" box(es), i.e., where you want the menu to display on the website. Different website themes may have different options for display locations.
  7. Click Save Menu to make your changes visible to everyone.

Tips

  • Try to use fewer than ten items for the main navigation. More than ten options can make your website confusing to navigate. Remember you can use sub-pages to help with organization (e.g., link to one page called "Weekly Modules" that includes sub-pages of each week's module).
  • Clearly differentiate and label your navigation items, so viewers know what to expect when they click each link. Consider the reasons they may be visiting the website and use your navigation items to guide them.
  • UBC Blogs websites assign different roles to people who join them, and these roles affect who can manage the website's menus. Only people with the "Administrator" role can create and edit menus. If you have questions or need help with assigning roles, please contact us at the LT Hub.

Add people to your UBC Blogs website

You can use the email or self-signup options to invite people to your UBC Blogs website. For these options to work, the individuals you invite must already have UBC Blogs accounts. Depending on how people join your website, they can follow the content you share or even contribute to it.

If you are an instructor setting up your website by linking to a Canvas course, students from your Canvas course will join the website as "Authors" by default, once they click the UBC Blogs link in Canvas.

This method is useful for adding specific members of the UBC community to the website.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL. Navigate to your website by clicking My Sites and clicking Dashboard under your site name.
  2. From your site's Dashboard, hover over "Users" in the sidebar, and select Invite User.
  3. Enter the person's email.
  4. Select a role for the person on your website:
    • Administrator - can do anything on the website, including adding and removing users
    • Editor - can publish posts and pages and edit others' content
    • Author - can publish posts and pages and edit their own content
    • Contributor - can write posts and pages but cannot publish them without approval from a user with an "Editor" role or higher
    • Subscriber - can only access content on the website, whether the website is publicly searchable or not
  5. Click Add User(s).

This method is useful if you do not want to manage adding people to the website yourself.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL. Navigate to your website by clicking My Sites and clicking Dashboard under your site name.
  2. Click Plugin in the sidebar of your site's Dashboard, find the "Add Users Sidebar Widget" plugin, and click Activate. This widget lets you add a signup form to your website.
  3. From your site's Dashboard, hover over "Appearance" in the sidebar, and select Widgets.
  4. Click where you would like the widget to appear on the website layout, then click the + icon on the top left to open the widgets panel.
  5. Find and click the Add Users widget. Note that you can move the widget by selecting it and using the options presented above the widget to change its placement.
  6. When the "Add Users" widget has been added, enter a title, text for the submit button, and select the role you would like people who sign up to have:
    • Author - can publish posts and pages but only edit their own content
    • Contributor - can write posts and pages but cannot publish them without approval from a user with an "Editor" role or higher
    • Subscriber - can only access content on the website, whether the website is publicly searchable or not
  7. To better control who can sign up, check Add a password to stop unwanted users from signing up and/or check Hide Add Users Widget if user is not logged in.
  8. Set the password and the error message shown if the user enters the wrong password. Remember to distribute the password when you invite people to sign up.
  9. Click Update to publish the widget to your website.
    • When making changes to the widget after you have published it to your website, click Save below the widget to publish your changes.

Tips

  • Anyone you invite by email or using self-signup must have a UBC Blogs account. Ask invitees to create a UBC Blogs account by logging in to UBC Blogs with their UBC CWL.

Where can I get more support with UBC Blogs?

Instructor support

If you are an instructor and are having technical issues with UBC Blogs:


Student support

If you are a student and are having technical issues with UBC Blogs:

If you are a student and are looking for online learning support:

Learn more


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