Create a private reflection journal with Assignments

Idea: Create a private reflection journal with Assignments
Using an Assignment will allow the posts to remain private and will enable the instructor to comment on each post.

Before setting up your journal assignment

Decide if you want to give one grade for the overall journal postings or assign a separate grade each time the student posts. If you want to give one grade, you will create one journal assignment. By default Canvas allows multiple submission attempts to an assignment which is great for a recurring assignment like a weekly journal. Students will be able to access the assignment and submit a new journal post each week. In Grades, the instructor can access and grade each attempt separately.

If you want to assign a grade for each posting, you will create a separate assignment for each posting.

Create a New Assignment

Create a new assignment (Reflection Journal) by going to Assignments and selecting +Assignment.
Enter the number of points and instructions.
Select Online Submissions from the Submission box and allow submissions to be either text entry (the student types directly into the editor) or file uploads.
Reflection Journal Assignment
Add availability dates to the assignment. When does it start and when does it close? If this is a weekly journal that students will be resubmitting to, it may not make sense to add a due date.
Click on Update Assignment and then Publish your Assignment
Student View

Students will see the assignment – and click Submit Assignment (upper right)
Student view – Submit Assignment
Students will choose which type of submission (File Upload, Text Entry CyBox, Google Drive, Studio)
Types of files for submission in an assignment
Then, the student will click Submit AssignmentWhen students return to the Reflection Journal the next week they will see an option to Re-Submit Assignment. This will not overwrite the previous submission. All attempts are recorded and are available in the Grade Book.

Grading the Journal Assignments
When you go to the Grades column for the Journal assignment you will be able to select which attempt you wish to grade.

Use the dropdown menu to select which submission to view.
Then, enter the grade
Providing comments each week
Add a comment for the submissions. The comments will all be reflected in the grade book, but the grade will only reflect the most recent grade.
Enter the comment in the text entry box, attach a file or record a short video using the video button.
Then click submit
Provide a comment, attach a comment or record a short video with audio
Things to know

So if you gave a student a 5 on the first week and a 3 on the second week, only the 3 is recorded. The multiple assignment attempt method will only record one grade for all journal entries, but the comments to the student will be recorded for each week.
If you need to assign separate grades for each post, then using separate assignments is recommended.