Customizing courses>>Adding content

Adding external links

You can add external links to your course. If you make the external link available to students, a button appears in the course menu for that link. Clicking the button opens the associated website either in the CourseCompass window or a separate browser window, depending on how you set up the link.

To add an external link to your course:

1. Click the course name on the My CourseCompass page.

2. Click Control Panel.

3. Under Content Areas, click the area where you want to add a URL (external link).

4. Click URL on the Add toolbar at the top of the page.

5. Under External Link Information, enter the following information:

• Name – A label for the link to the website. Enter a label in box provided.

• URL – The URL for the website you are referencing. Specify the full address in the box provided, including the http:// prefix.

• Description – Enter a description to be displayed with the URL in the content area. Choose a text display format for the text or accept the default format, which is Smart Text.

6. Under Options, set or modify these options:

• Make the External Link available – Select Yes if you want students to be able to view and click the link. Select No to hide the link.

• Open in new window – Select Yes or No to indicate whether the website should open in a separate browser window.

• Track number of views – Select Yes or No to indicate whether you want CourseCompass to track the number of times a student accesses the website using the link. Use the Course Statistics page to view a comprehensive report on usage.

• Add metadata – Select Yes or No to indicate whether you want to associate metadata—such as ownership, resource format, and copyright information—with the URL. If you add metadata, a Describe button appears next to the URL in the content area that you can click to access the metadata page.

• Choose date restrictions – This option lets you set the URL availability according to dates and times. Set the Display After date and time to indicate when the URL will become available to students. You can also set the Display Until option so the URL is only available up to a specified date and time. (See How display dates work for more information.) Be sure to select the Display check box as well as specifying display dates.

7. Click Submit, then click OK.