---
title: "Diary Setup, Settings, and Use"
canonical: "https://helpcentre.macewan.ca/space/ETS/2658172933/Diary%20Setup%2C%20Settings%2C%20and%20Use"
format: markdown
---
**AUDIENCE: ****FACULTY**** | ****STAFF**
The Diary tool is a plug-in that was developed by the Moodle community. Instructors can use this tool to collect student entries and then give feedback to and/or rate their posts. Students’ postings are private and only accessible to themselves, the instructor, course site managers, and administrators. The tool has many potential uses, for example, creating reflective learning activities. Please note that the tool is not a system-built-in tool, so support for the tool is not guaranteed, and updates may not be available when the system is upgraded.
> ℹ️ To use this tool, we recommend that **instructors create a diary activity for *****every***** single activity, and in each activity, a student should only post one entry**.** This prevents issues if instructors choose “Sum of ratings” and change existing ratings or grades**.** **
As a result of the recommendation, instructors will not be able to view all entries posted by a student across multiple activities simultaneously.
Alternatively, faculty can use the assignment tool to create activities that allow students to post entries.
## Diary Setup, Settings, and Use
### Adding a diary to a course
Turn **Edit mode** on in the top-right corner of the main mêskanâs page.
Navigate to the section where the diary will be located. **Add an activity or resource**. Select **Diary **from the list.
Give the diary a title in the **Diary name **box,** **then enter the instructions and requirements for the task in the **Description **box. The option to display the description on the main page by clicking the **Display description on the course page **check box. It is recommended to choose not to display descriptions on the course page since it will take up a lot of space on the course page.
If you choose **not** to display the description, only the diary title will appear on the course page.
## Diary settings
The following is an overview of the diary settings, along with recommended settings.
### **Availability**
1. Set time parameters for when a diary is available by setting the **Open time **and **Close time **under the **Availability **settings, and then check the **Enable** boxes at the end of the rows.
2. To allow the students to edit their entries after posting them, choose **Yes** from the drop-down menu beside **Edit all entries**.
3. For the setting **Edit entry dates**, it is recommended to choose **No**. This setting is used when instructors allow students to post multiple entries. By choosing **Yes**, students can edit the post (entry) date. For example, if students miss a post, they can post an entry and change the date to a different date.
### Appearance
For **Enable statistics**, we recommend choosing **No**. If **Yes** is selected, a big block of information will be displayed below every entry.
### **Auto-rating**
This is the setting that allows the tool to rate the entry automatically. We don’t recommend using automatic ratings due to their complexity. Choose** No **to **Enable automatic rating**.
If you choose to use this setting, more information can be found here: [https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Diary](https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Diary). You should test it in a sandbox course first.
### **Min/Max counts**
We don’t recommend setting these counts due to their complexity. If you choose to customize this area, you can find more information here: [https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Diary](https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Diary)
### **Common errors**
Leave the settings as they are.
### **Rating**
Since we recommend creating one diary for each activity and allowing each student only to post one entry for each activity, choose either the **Maximum rating** or **Minimum rating **for the **aggregate type**.
Under Scale, either choose **Scale** or **Point**. Usually, Point is used. If using scale, set up scales in advance.
### **Common module settings**
In this settings section, hide the diary from students or assign groups under **Common module settings**.
1. To hide the activity from students (if you do not want students to see it until a certain date), select **Hide on course page **in the **Availability **drop-down menu.
2. Leave the ID number blank unless trying to differentiate from a similar item in the gradebook.
3. Leave the option **No groups** for Group mode setting unless wanting students to work in groups.
To use Group mode, you must first set up and assign groups.
- Select **Separate groups **to prevent students from seeing any of the other groups.
- Select **Visible groups **if students want to see other groups and what they post, but the students are prevented from posting on other groups’ posts.
If selecting **Separate groups **or **Visible groups**, an additional drop-down menu called **Grouping **will appear to select the grouping for the diary.
> ℹ️ **Note**: A **Grouping **can contain several groups within it. (See details in the ***Setting up Groups *****tutorial**.)
### **Restrict access**
Restricting access to any diary can be based on various categories. To do so, select the desired restriction from the drop-down menu.
### **Completion conditions**
Select the desired option from the drop-down menu to adjust settings for Completion conditions.
**None**: Select this option not to track the completion of this activity.
**Students can manually mark the activity as completed**: Selecting this option allows them to manually click the box next to the activity to indicate that they have finished it. This is useful to help students keep track of their productivity.
**Add requirements**: Selecting this option will mark the activity as complete only after students have met the conditions of the activity. If the option is selected, a drop-down menu will appear where required to determine the students' conditions. You must** **select** **at least **one requirement from the list **by clicking the box beside the condition.
**Tags**
Tags can be added to populate in the search feature. Type the desired tag into the **Tags **drop-down menu** **and hit the Enter key.
## Read and rate student entries
1. To read student entries, click the title of the diary activity in the course. A new page will open showing diary entries. The number of entries per page can be changed on this page.
2. Click **View # diary entries** (the number indicates how many entries have been posted by students), and all entries will be listed when clicked.
The options in the **Toolbar include** sorting the entries by students’ last name or using the arrows to turn page by page.
**Note:** All entries can be exported into a .csv file for easier reading.
3. To enter the rating and feedback to the entry, click
**SAVE ALL MY FEEDBACK**. The rating will appear in the students’ gradebook.
## View the rating/grade of student diary entries
To view ratings of students’ diary entries, click Grades on the left-hand side menu or the course home page, click the gear icon at the top-right corner, choose **Gradebook setup**, and then click **Single view** or **User report**.
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> | Related Issues | diary setup | module activity | diary entries |
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