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The Knowledgebase

Study Abroad: Applicant Journal Entries (Classic)

Important Note: This article discusses classic functionality. For information on the modern applicant experience, refer to the Applicant Experience Knowledgebase article.

 

The journal tool is an optional feature that allows you to publish journal entries from applicants in various stages of the study abroad process. In order to turn on this feature, go to Settings > System Features > Features tab and click 'Enable’ next to 'Application Journals.’ Next decide in which phase of the application process you would like the applicant to first have access to the journal feature: Pre-Decision, Post-Decision, While Abroad, or Returnee. Click 'Update’ at the bottom of the page to save your changes.


Journal.png
This article discusses the following topics:

 

Disabling Journals for Specific Programs or Applicants

Once having enabled the global journal feature, you may want to specify certain programs or applicants who should not have access to journals. To disable the journal feature for a single program, go to Programs > Program Builder (click the pencil adjacent to the program) and go to the 'Settings’ tab. Under the 'Journal’ section, you will have three options for journals for this program: Enabled, Disabled, or Default. The default setting is always the global setting. To disable the journal feature for a particular program (when you have journals enabled as a global setting), click 'Disabled.’ Click 'Update’ to save your changes.

Choices.png

 
To disable the journal feature for a single applicant, go to Applicants and search for the applicant. Open the applicant’s application and click the ' Journals’ tab. You will have three options for journals for this applicant: Enabled, Disabled, or Default. The default setting is always the global setting. To disable the journal feature for a particular applicant (when you have journals enabled as a global setting), click 'Disabled.’ 

Applicant_Journal.png

 

Journals - Applicant View

In order to publish journals to your site, first the applicants must create journal entries. Once the journal feature is enabled, applicants will be able to write journal entries and upload photos. When they log in to their account, an applicant will see the 'Manage Your Journal’ panel near the bottom of their program homepage:

Manage_Journal.png

 
The panel displays the applicant’s most journal recent entry (if they have made one previously), as well as a variety of options. The panel specifies whether or not the most recent entry has been reviewed. To delete the most recent journal entry created, the applicant can click ' Delete this entry’ at the bottom of the panel. The applicant can view their entire journal by clicking ' View Full Journal’ at the top of the panel. 

 

Creating a New Journal Entry

To create a new entry, the applicant should click 'New Entry’ near the top of the 'Manage Your Journal’ panel. This will bring them to the New Journal Entry page:


New_Journal_Entry.png
 

  • Entry Title – the applicant can enter a title for their entry
  • Entry Message Body – here, the applicant can write up to 4000 characters about their experience.
  • Photo to Upload – the applicant can browse on their computer for a photo to add to their entry. Applicants are not able to upload photos without also adding text to the message body.
  • Notices – the applicant is reminded that uploaded content belongs to the office and could be used for any purpose, including photo contests. In addition, the applicant is notified that their journal is not public until it is reviewed and published by the office. (The applicant also has the ability to decide if they wish their journals to be published – this setting will be explained in the next section.)
  • The applicant should then click 'Save’ to save and submit their journal entry.

 

Applicant Journal Settings

Applicants can manage their journal settings by clicking 'Settings’ at the top of the journal panel on their application page. This will open a new window:


Journal_Settings.png

  • Public – Applicants can make their journals public and publishable by clicking the box next to the 'Public’ setting. The applicant will also receive a URL that they can share with others. If this box is not checked, their journals are considered to be private and entries will be seen only by the applicant. Admin cannot see journal entries unless the applicant has set their journal to 'public.'
  • E-mail List – Applicants can enter email addresses of people to whom they would like a notification sent when their journal entry is published.
  • The applicant should click 'Save’ to save changes. 

 

Administrating, Reviewing, Publishing, and Rejecting Journal Entries

Once an applicant has created a journal entry and set their journal settings to 'Public,’ the journal entry will be added to a queue for an administrator to review, and to either publish the entry or reject it.

To authorize or reject pending journal entries:

  1. Click the Pending tab on the Journal Entries home page. A list of journal entries pending review is displayed.
  2. To make the journal entry viewable to the public, click Publish. This entry is moved to the Published Journal Entries list. 
  3. To reject the journal entry, click Reject next to the entry. The entry is moved to the Rejected list and will not be publicly viewable.
Manage_Journals_Publish.png

To manage published journal entries:

  1. Click the Published tab on the Journal Entries home page. A list of published journal entries is displayed.
  2. To reject a journal entry, click Reject next to the entry. The entry is moved to the Rejected list.

 

To publish rejected entries:

  1. Click the Rejected tab on the Journal Entries home page.
  2. To publish a rejected entry, click Publish next to the entry. This journal entry is moved to the Published Journal Entries list.
Reject_Entries.png
 

Additional journal publishing options

To put the journal on the public site or program brochure page, copy the URL for the journal by accessing the tab 'public journals' and click the 'copy' button next to the corresponding journal URL or highlight the displayed URL and copy it to your clipboard.

Public_Journals.png

 
Next, access the WYSIWYG editor on the page that will have the link. Highlight the desired text to be your web link, select 'insert web link' from the WYSIWYG tool bar, and paste the journal URL into the field 'enter URL,’ click 'OK’ and update the page. 
 
Note: this URL will be for the journal's current week only and may not be the best option for a public view.
 
If the applicant chooses to make the journal un-public after the journal has been published and in a page, the site visitor will get a message stating 'we're sorry. The journal you have requested is not publicly available.'
 
As mentioned above, the URL of the journal you are posting will display the entries for the current week which, after the end of the program, may not necessarily be the desired destination page. You can replace the URL in the content page's link with the URL of any week's page in the journal should you wish to highlight a specific period in the journal. To do that, follow the link to the applicant’s journal, and click the drop-down box labeled 'Archive Weeks.’

Journal_Archives.png
 
Choose the week you would like to highlight. Copy the URL that appears in your browser’s navigation window into your brochure in order to link to that week in the journal. 

Deleting Journal Information

Journal information can be permanently removed by scrubbing the application. To scrub the application, go to  Maintenance > Scrub Application  > search by the applicant name > select the appropriate application that has the journal entry and/or alumni information > follow the prompts to scrub the application. This completely deletes the application, journal entries, and alumni information. The applicant data is not removed. If the application was submitted by a real applicant, it is not recommended to scrub the application.