An essential Course Term Shell Checklist task includes reviewing and managing the hyperlinks embedded in your course modules (and possibly discussions), a process that ensures your students can reliably access the wealth of resources you’ve curated for their learning journey.

As McMaster Continuing Education leverages open educational resources (OER), it’s particularly important to periodically check and update the links and resources incorporated into your course. As the digital world continually evolves, some resources may change their online location, alter their access methods, or, in some cases, become unavailable. Regular maintenance of your hyperlinks is therefore necessary to prevent ‘link rot’ – the phenomenon where previously active links become inaccessible over time.

Proper management of hyperlinks helps maintain the integrity of your course and avoids potential disruptions to the learning process. It ensures that your students can focus on what matters most: engaging with the course material and progressing in their learning journey. This practice also demonstrates respect for your students’ time, showing them that you’ve taken the steps to ensure a smooth and efficient learning experience.

The following sections will guide you through the process of reviewing and updating hyperlinks in your course modules, so you can be confident that your students will have uninterrupted access to all the essential learning resources right from the outset of the course. This is not just a task, but an essential part of high-quality online instruction.

Testing Links

To ensure that all of that the hyperlinks in your term shell open in a new window, take the steps outlined below:

1. Locate the hyperlink: Navigate to the location in your course where the hyperlink is. This could be within a module, an announcement, a discussion post, or anywhere else you’ve inserted a link.
   • Text links are the most common form of hyperlinks. By default, they’re often displayed in a different color than the surrounding text, and they may be underlined. The color usually changes once the link has been clicked, indicating that it’s been visited.
2. Open the link: Move your cursor over the hyperlink. It should change from a regular cursor to a hand symbol indicating a clickable link. Click or tap on the hyperlink.
3. Check the new window: Upon selecting, the link should open in a new tab or window in your web browser. Make sure your browser settings aren’t preventing new windows or tabs from opening.
4. Verify the content: Check that the link takes you to the correct web page or online resource. This ensures not only that the link opens in a new window but also that it’s directing students to the right place.
5. Return to the course page: You should be able to return to your original course page by simply clicking on its tab in your browser, without needing to use the browser’s back button. This confirms that the original course page remains open, providing a seamless navigation experience for your students.
6. Repeat the process: Go through the same process for all the hyperlinks in your course content to ensure they all function as expected.

Remember, setting hyperlinks to open in a new window helps keep your course easily accessible and prevents students from unintentionally navigating away from it. Following this process can ensure that your hyperlinks are correctly set up to support a smooth, efficient learning experience.

Replacing Broken Links or Unavailable Content

Even with meticulous course design, you might occasionally encounter broken links or unavailable content in your course materials due to the dynamic nature of the web. When this occurs, there are typically two scenarios you may come across:

1. The link has changed, but the content is still available: Web hosts sometimes move content to a new URL, making the original hyperlink in your course ineffective. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean the resource is no longer available. You can usually locate the same resource by conducting a search directly on the web host’s website. Once you’ve found the updated link, replace the old one in your course to maintain access to the learning resource.
2. The original content is no longer available: In some instances, the content may no longer be accessible at all. In this case, you’ll need to find a suitable alternative to replace the broken link. As the instructor and subject matter expert, your knowledge of the course content is invaluable in identifying an appropriate substitute resource that achieves the same learning objectives.

If you encounter difficulties in either scenario or need assistance sourcing replacement materials, we encourage you to reach out to your Program Manager. They are there to support you and can provide valuable help in navigating these challenges.

Once the replacement links are identified, it’s crucial to add them to the tracking sheet. This helps us maintain an up-to-date record of all active links in your course. For more information on how to add links to the tracking sheet, please refer to the ‘Submitting a Tracking Sheet‘ chapter of this guidebook. Regular maintenance of your hyperlinks ensures a seamless learning experience for your students, keeping them focused on their learning journey rather than navigating technical hurdles.

Updating Links in Content

1. Select Content in the navbar
2. Navigate to the page where a link needs to be updated
3. Scroll down and click the Edit HTML button
4. Locate the link that needs to be changed
5. Select or highlight the link
6. Select the Insert Quicklink button (chain-link icon)
7. Replace the text in the URL field with the new link
8. Replace the text in the Title field (this should be the same as the website title of the link)
9. Make sure the Target is set to New Window
10. Select the Update button
11. Select Update at the bottom of the page
12. Finally, test that the new link works correctly

Fixing Broken Links in the Table of Contents

Broken links are indicated in the Table of Contents by a broken chain-link exclamation point icon –  .

1. Select Content in the navbar
2. Locate the broken link
3. If the link is supposed to open a file:
   • Select the name of the file
   • Select Upload and locate the file on your computer, or click Choose Existing and locate the file in Avenue to Learn
   • Select Update when the file selection window disappears
4. If the link is supposed to open a tool (i.e., a QuickLink):
   • Select [Broken Topic]
   • In the header, click the downward arrow to view a list of QuickLink categories
   • Select a category/tool
   • Select an item from the list of QuickLinks

References

McMaster University. (2018h, January 17). Content – update links. YouTube. https://youtu.be/vRmRxGu9BkY