Adding Resources

1. Add a book

The book module enables you to create a multi-page resource for learners in a book-like format, with chapters and subchapters. Books, which are not interactive, can contain media files as well as text and are useful for displaying lengthy passages of information which can be broken down into sections.  A book can be printed. A book may be used:

• To display reading material for individual modules of study
• As a handbook (such as a staff department handbook, a course guide for students, etc)
  
• As a showcase portfolio of student work (if the portfolio add-on module is enabled - it allows a teacher to set a structure and students to add portfolio contributions).
  

To add a book

1. In the course space switch editing on.
2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.
3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.
4. Under Resources select ‘Subpage’.
5. Click on the ‘Add’ button
6. The ‘Adding a new Book’ screen will appear.
7. You can decide on chapter formatting and custom titles in 'Appearance'.
   
8. For 'chapter formatting' select the appropriate option from the drop down list:
   None - Chapter and subchapter titles have no formatting
   Numbers - Chapters and subchapter titles are numbered 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, ...
   Bullets - Subchapters are indented and displayed with bullets in the table of contents
   Indented - Subchapters are indented in the table of contents
9. Style of navigation
   TOC only
   Images - Icons are used for navigation
   Text - Chapter titles are used for navigation
10. Normally the chapter title is displayed in the table of contents (TOC) AND as a heading above the content.  If the custom titles checkbox is ticked, the chapter title is NOT displayed as a heading above the content. A different title (perhaps longer than the chapter title) may be entered as part of the content.
11. Click on 'save and return to course’.
12. Your book will appear on your course page.  To edit the book, click on the title link.
13. You will be prompted to add a new chapter. Give the chapter a title and paste in the content for the chapter.
14. Click on 'save changes'
15. The Table of Contents will now appear at the top of the left menu, showing the first chapter and the first chapter content will appear in the content area.
16. To add another chapter click on the cross alongside the chapter.  The 'Add new chapter' form will appear.
17. Complete this form and save changes.  This new chapter will now appear in the Table of contents list.

1.1. Formatting a Moodle book page

You will need to ensure you keep the styling of content consistently formatted in Moodle book, so keep a list of useful/regularly used html formatting tags to copy and paste.

The Atto editor for formatting

Moodle book uses Moodle’s standard Atto editor for formatting of content on each page in the book.

To read more about Atto, please visit ‘Atto editor’.

Clicking the arrow on the top-left of the Atto editor menu reveals more options, including HTML mode.

The Atto editor includes buttons for various formatting functions.

Top line: Paragraph styles, Formatting, Subscript/superscript, Block quote, Font family/size, Unordered/ordered list, Horizontal rule. 

Middle line: Link/unlink, Prevent auto-link, Insert/edit image, Insert image description, Embed media, Align, Outdent/indent, Undo/redo. 

Bottom line: Insert equation, Insert character, Table, Font colour, More font background colours, Clear formatting, HTML, Accessibility checker, Screenreader helper.

1.2. How to insert a box around text in Moodle book

In the Moodle book you are building, you might need to add boxes around text. 

Insert a box around text

1. Go to the book page where you wish to insert a box and switch to HTML mode.
2. Copy/paste the following code from one of these examples, replacing the paragraph text with the text that you wish to be surrounded by a box.

Box 1: This is a basic box with a black border and some text inside it.

<div style="width: 200px; border: 1px solid black; border-radius: 5px; padding: 10px; margin: 10px;"><p>This is an example.</p></div>

Box 2: This is a basic box with a black dotted border and some text inside it.

<div style="width: 200px; border: 2px solid black; border-style: dotted; padding: 10px; margin: 10px;"><p>This is an example.</p></div>

Box 3: This is a basic box with a red dashed border and some text inside it.

<div style="width: 200px; border: thick red; border-style: dashed; padding: 10px; margin: 10px;"><p>This is an example.</p></div>

Box 4: This is a basic box with a double black border and some text inside it.

<div style=" width: 200px; border: 5px double black; padding: 10px; margin: background-color: lavender"><p>This is an example.</p></div>

Box 5: This is a blue left border and some text.

<p style="border-left: 5px solid blue">This is an example.</p>

This is an example.

There are many style options for your boxes. You can adjust the width, border size, border colour, padding, margin, border corners, background colour and border type, using standard inline CSS. 

If you are new to CSS, this CCS tutorial is a good starting point.

1.3. Add a table into a Moodle book page

You can add an html table into a Moodle book page. Providing a table as an html table rather than an image of a table, which is not screen readable, is much more accessible for those who use screen reader software and is often better for everyone than an image of a table, which might not be very good definition.
Please note: it is good accessibility practice to add a caption to a table and to use the appropriate content tags for headings, paragraphs and lists within tables. This helps screen reader software.

Add a table:

1. Turn editing on
2. Switch to HTML view
3. Add the html code for a table in the position where you want the table to appear in your book page

Standard table of one row and one column

<table width="100%" border="1">

    <tbody>

        <tr>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p>Text here</p>

            </td>

        </tr>

    </tbody>

</table>

Standard table of two rows and two columns

<table width="100%" border="1">

    <tbody>

        <tr>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p>Text here</p>

            </td>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p>Text here</p>

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p>Text here</p>

            </td>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p>Text here</p>

            </td>

        </tr>

    </tbody>

</table>

Standard table with colour background

<table width="100%" border="1" style="background-color: #d9e2f3">

    <tbody>

        <tr>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p>Text here</p>

            </td>

        </tr>

    </tbody>

</table>

1.4. Insert an image in a Moodle book page

You may need to add images into book pages. Please note, images are not readable by screen reader software which makes them inaccessible for some users. Therefore, it is good accessibility practice to provide a long description (alt text) for each image, and if the image is purely decorative, it is helpful to indicate this by checking the box, so screen reader software knows to ignore it.

To add an image:

1. Go to the area of the Moodlebook where you wish to add an image.
2. Select the ‘Insert or edit image’ icon.
3. Select ‘Browse repositories’ if you are uploading a new image. If you are adding an image already uploaded to the site, enter its URL and ignore the next two steps.
4. Under ‘Attachment’, select ‘Choose file’ and find your image.
5. Remove your name from the ‘Author’ box and change the licence information. Then select ‘Upload this file’.
6. Add an image description to the ‘Describe this image…’ box.
   If the image does not need a description, tick ‘This image is decorative only’.
   
7. You can resize the image in the ‘Size’ section.
   Leave ‘Auto size’ ticked to keep the aspect ratio the same.
   
8. Choose ‘Save image’.
   You can re-edit the image at any stage by double-clicking it in the Atto editor.
   

1.5. Embed a video in a Moodle book page

For storage reasons, videos should be embedded from a host site (e.g. a YouTube or Vimeo channel) rather than directly uploaded to the Moodle site. With this in mind, please link to videos to embed them in a book page rather than upload them to OpenLearn Create.

To embed a video in a book page:

You will need to copy the embed code from the video where it is hosted on a video channel.

In a book page, switch on the html editor in the Atto editor, then paste the embed code for the video into the appropriate place in the html view of the page.

If there is any text to go with the video, please remember to put the text in the html editor with the <p> and </p> tags.

When you switch back from html mode in the Atto editor for the page, you should be able to see the video embedded in the page.

It is good accessibility practice to add a transcript of the video just below the embedded video in your book page.

1.6. Uploading and embedding an audio clip in book

You may need to add an audio file to a page in book.

Add an audio file:

1. Go to the topic tab where you wish to add the audio file and click ‘Add an activity or resource’.
2. Select ‘File’.
3. Name the resource, e.g. Audio clip 1 (this is just for your reference as the name will be hidden to learners).
4. Drag and drop the audio clip into the ‘Select files’ area.
5. Open the ‘Appearance’ tab and change Display to 'In pop-up (do not use)'.
6. Open the ‘Common module settings’ tab and change Availability to 'Make available but not shown on course page'.
7. Open the ‘Activity completion’ tab and change ‘Completion tracking’ to ‘Do not indicate activity completion’.
   Note: If you do not see an ‘Activity completion’ tab, this will be because completion tracking is switched off on your course. 
8. Choose ‘Save and display’.
9. You should then be taken to a page with a pop-up link to your audio file. Open the pop-up and copy the link in the address bar, which should end in the file format of your audio.
10. Go to the page of the Moodle book where you wish to embed the audio clip and switch to HTML mode.
11. Copy/paste the code below, then swap the placeholder with the audio clip address.
12. Click ‘Save changes’ and check that the audio is working on the page.
    

<audio controls>

    <source src="LINK HERE" type="audio/mpeg">

</audio>

It is good accessibility practice to add a transcript of the audio just below the audio player in your book page.

1.7. Adding a transcript

It is good accessibility practice to provide a transcript of video and audio material in your course. Many learners find transcripts helpful, even if the audio or video file is fully accessible to them.

Add a transcript:

1. Go to the area of the Moodle book where you wish to add a transcript, and switch to HTML mode.
2. Copy and paste the following code, after swapping the placeholder with the transcript. If your transcript has more than one paragraph, you will need to put these within separate <p> tags.

<script type="text/javascript">

    function toggle(obj) {

        var obj = document.getElementById(obj);

        if (obj.style.display == "block") obj.style.display = "none";

        else obj.style.display = "block";

        }

</script>

<p><a href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="toggle('transcript')">View transcript</a></p>

<div id="transcript" style="display:none;">

    <p>Transcript</p>

    <hr>

</div>

Tip: If your transcript has many paragraphs, here is an easy workaround.

1. Paste the transcript somewhere on the page, with the editor in standard, non-HTML mode.
2. Then switch to HTML mode – you will find it has been automatically tagged up.
3. Underneath, copy and paste the transcript code.
4. Copy and cut the tagged-up transcript, then paste this into the <p>Transcript</p> placeholder.

1.8. Add a click-to-reveal activity to a Moodle book page

Click-to-reveal is the type of activity useful for posing a question or scenario for learners to think about and possibly write about before they click to see a discussion piece of further perspectives.

Moodle book is Javascript-friendly, so you can experiment with JS functionality to add click-to-reveal activities. 

The following Javascript code can be added into the book page html for a click-to-reveal activity (there are a couple of appearance choices below):

Javascript: click-to-reveal

<script type="text/javascript">

    function toggle(obj) {

        var obj = document.getElementById(obj);

        if (obj.style.display == "block") obj.style.display = "none";

        else obj.style.display = "block";

    }

</script>

<p><a href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="toggle('reveal')">Click here to read more</a>.</p>

<div id="reveal" style="display:none;">

    <hr>

    <p>Reveal text here</p>

    <hr>

</div>

The above code produces the following click-to-reveal format:

Click here to read more.

Note: If you are including more than one click-to-reveal per page, please give the highlighted div id attribute a different name for each, e.g. "reveal1", "reveal2" etc.

Activity with comment (Javascript)

<table width="100%" border="1" style="background-color: #d9e2f3">

    <tbody>

        <tr>

            <td width="" valign="top">

                <p><img src="https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/pluginfile.php/687993/mod_book/chapter/28050/reflection_icon_35.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" class="img-responsive atto_image_button_text-bottom"></p>

                <p><strong>Activity name</strong></p>

                <p>Text here</p>

                <script type="text/javascript">

                    function toggle(obj) {

                        var obj = document.getElementById(obj);

                        if (obj.style.display == "block") obj.style.display = "none";

                        else obj.style.display = "block";

                    }

                </script>

                <p><a href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="toggle('comment')">View comment</a></p>

                <div id="comment" style="display:none;">

                    <p>Comment</p>

                </div>

            </td>

        </tr>

    </tbody>

</table>

The above code produces the following click-to-reveal activity:

Note: If you are including more than one activity-with-comment per page, please give the highlighted div id attribute a different name for each, e.g. "comment1", "comment2" etc.

1.9. Insert an HTML5 interactive in a Moodle book page

You can insert an HTML5 activity in a Moodle book page. 

The HTML5 file will need to be uploaded to your course before you embed it in a book page. The process of uploading the HTML5 to OpenLearn Create can be a bit lengthy. If the HTML5 is in a zip file, you cannot upload the zip file to your course and expect the HTML5 interactive to work (if you click on the uploaded zip file, you’ll just be prompted to download the zip file), as the zip is just a container for the interactive rather than the interactive itself. So instead, you need to extract the zip file and copy across everything inside it which makes up the HTML5 interactive.

Note: When embedding the HTML5, it’s very helpful to already know the interactive’s width and height. This will save you time tweaking the HTML5 to be the right size.

Uploading the HTML5 to Moodle

1. If not done already, extract the zip folder for your HTML5.
2. Make sure the extracted folder contains a file called ‘index’ (if it’s a Storyline interactive, this file may be called ‘story’, in which case please rename it).
3. In your draft course on OpenLearn Create, go to the topic tab where you wish to upload the HTML5 and select ‘Add an activity or resource’.
4. Select ‘File’
5. Name the resource (this is just for your reference as the name will be hidden from learners).
6. In the ‘Select files’ area, copy across everything within the extracted zip folder.
7. This will include manually creating the subfolders and copying across everything inside of those. You can create these subfolders by clicking the folder icon at the top of the section.
8. Once everything has been transferred, it will probably display several folders and files in the Select files screen, for example folder for html5, mobile, story_content and some other files including one called ‘index.html’.
9. Select the file ‘index.html’ and choose ‘set main file’.
10. Open the ‘Appearance’ tab and change Display to ‘In pop-up (do not use)’.
11. Open the ‘common module settings’ tab and change ‘Availability’ to ‘make available but not shown on course page’.
12. Open the ‘activity completion’ tab and change ‘completion tracking’ to ‘do not indicate activity completion’.
    Note: if you do not see the activity completion tab, this will be because you have not yet switched on completion tracking for your course.
13. Choose ‘Save and display’.
14. A page with an index.html link should display. Open the link (it should open the HTML5 in a pop-up) and check that it works.
15. Copy the link in the pop-up’s address bar and paste this into a text document to keep it in readiness for the next step.

Embedding the HTML5 in the Moodle book page

1. Go to the page in the Moodle book where you wish to embed the interactive and switch to HTML mode.
2. Copy and paste the code below into the text document, then swap the placeholder text in it (where it says ‘LINK HERE’) with the HTML5 address you had previously pasted into the text document. You will need to add the correct width and height attributes. Then copy the code and HTML5 address into the correct place in the book page.
3. Click ‘Save changes’ and check how the interactive looks in the book page.

<iframe class="responsive-iframe" width="600" height="600" frameborder="0" src="LINK HERE"></iframe>

1.10. Importing from Microsoft Word

Importing from Microsoft Word is another way to add content to your Moodle book. With this function, Moodle book automatically tags up your Word doc into HTML. 

New chapters are created based on ‘Heading 1’ styles.

Subchapters can be created based on ‘Heading 2’ styles.

This means you need to ensure the Word document you want to upload is using styles consistently, otherwise you might get content in the book on the wrong pages.

To import from Microsoft Word into a Moodle book:

1. In the book administration menu, click on the ‘import from Microsoft Word’ option.
2. The adding resources file upload screen will appear. 
3. You can check the box ‘create subchapters based on subheadings’ if appropriate and if you have content with the heading 2 style in the file you are importing.
4. Click on choose a file button. The file picker screen will appear where you select the file of content you want import into the Moodle book. Click on ‘upload this file’.
5. Click on the import button
6. The importing screen will appear, you can click on the continue button and the imported content will appear in your book.

1.11. Export book to Microsoft Word

The export function gives you a Word version of the Moodle book (obviously without the interactive or video content which won’t play in Word). This can be useful for the following purposes:

• Providing Word versions of the content to those who cannot access it in a draft course, for example people you are working with on a project who need to help with amendments to the content
• Learners cannot see the export to Word function. However you can use it to provide learners with a downloadable ALT format of the course content as follows: you download the content as a Word file then upload that Word file to the course clearly labelling it as a version which learners could download to read offline. You could also convert the downloaded Word version to a PDF version for upload to the course.

To export your Moodle book to Word:

1. In the book administration menu, click on the ‘export book to Microsoft Word’ option. Alternatively, you could click on ‘export chapter to Microsoft Word’ if you only want to export a chapter, not the whole book.
2. The file will download.
3. Please note, the formatting in the file will probably revert to Arial for the headings and Times New Roman for the paragraphs, you could reformat the Word file to another font if you wish.

2. Add a file

The file module enables you to provide a file as a course resource for learners. Where possible, the file will be displayed within the course interface; otherwise learners will be prompted to download it. The file may include supporting files, for example an HTML page may have embedded images.

Note that learners need to have the appropriate software on their computers in order to open the file.

A file may be used

• To share presentations given in class
• To include a mini website as a course resource
• To provide draft files of certain software programs so learners can edit and submit them for assessment

To add a file

1. In the course space switch editing on.
2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.
3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.
4. Under Resources select ‘File’.
5. Click on the ‘Add’ button
6. The ‘Adding a new File’ screen will appear.
7. Enter a name for the file.  You could also add a short description in the Description box.  This can be displayed below the file name on the course page if you choose.
8. In the ‘select files’ box click on the add files icon
9. The file picker screen will appear
10. Click on the ‘browse’ button to find the file
11. Update the author information and the licence. Click on ‘upload this file’
12. The file will appear in the ‘adding a new file’ screen
13. In Appearance, decide how the file will be displayed (the default is 'automatic'). The display setting, together with the file type and whether the browser allows embedding, determines how the file is displayed. Options may include:
    Automatic - The best display option for the file type is selected automatically
    Embed - The file is displayed within the page below the navigation bar together with the file description and any blocks
    Force download - The user is prompted to download the file
    Open - Only the file is displayed in the browser window
    In pop-up - The file is displayed in a new browser window without menus or an address bar
    In frame - The file is displayed within a frame below the navigation bar and file description
    New window - The file is displayed in a new browser window with menus and an address bar

    You can choose to display the file size, such as '3.1 MB', beside links to the file.  If there are multiple files in this resource, the total size of all files is displayed.
    You can also show the type of the file, such as 'Word document', beside links to the file.  If there are multiple files in this resource (i.e. if you have uploaded a whole folder of files), the start file type is displayed.  If the file type is not known to the system, it will not display.

14. Click on ‘Save and return to course’
    

15. The file will appear on the course page.

3. Adding Headings and Labels

Heading

A heading enables text and optional icons to be inserted among the activity links on the course page.

1. In the course space switch editing on.
2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.
3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.
4. Under Resources select ‘Heading’.
5. Click on the ‘Add’ button
6. The ‘Adding a new Heading’ screen will appear.
7. Enter a name for the heading and click on Save and return to course.
8. If you need to edit the heading, click on the ‘edit’ button alongside the heading title and click on ‘edit settings’.
   

Label

The label module enables text and multimedia to be inserted into the course page in between links to other resources and activities. Labels are very versatile and can help to improve the appearance of a course if used thoughtfully.  Labels may be used

• To split up a long list of activities with a subheading or an image
• To display an embedded sound file or video directly on the course page
• To add a short description to a course section

Add a label

1. In the course space switch editing on.
2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.
3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.
4. Under Resources select ‘Label’.
5. Click on the ‘Add’ button
6. The ‘Adding a new Label’ screen will appear.
7. Enter some text in the label text box and click on Save and return to course.
8. If you need to edit the label to update the text, click on the ‘edit’ button alongside the label and click on ‘edit settings’.

Add an image in a label

In a label, you can add images to the text when you are editing the text.

1. Place the curser in the position where you want the image to appear.
2. Click on the image icon (in the second row of icons)
3. The image properties box will appear.
4. Click on the ‘browse repositories’ button to find the image on your computer.
5. The file picker screen will appear.
6. Click on the ‘browse’ button to find the image file
7. Find the image
8. Update the author information and the licence.
9. Click on ‘upload this file’
10. The ‘Image properties’ screen will appear
11. This is where you provide a short single sentence description of the image (good practice for people who might use screen reader software), resize the image and decide on the alignment (top, bottom, left, right, middle).
12. Ideally, the image should be no wider than 512 pixels.
13. Click on ‘save image’
14. The image will appear in the label along with any text you have already placed in the label.
15. If you want to update the image, in the edit screen for the label (Updating label) click on the image then click on the image button and the image properties box will re-appear.
16. Click on ‘save and return to course’ when you have finished editing the contents of the label.

Add a video in a label

In a label, you can embed a video in the text when you are editing the text. The video is not hosted in the course, it needs to be hosted on another platform, such as Youtube.

1. Place the curser in the position where you want the video to appear.
2. Click on the Embed media icon (in the second row of icons)
3. The content properties screen will appear
4. Enter the URL of the video you want to share and describe the video.  You can also adjust the size and alignment of the video.
5. Click on ‘save content’.  The video will appear in the label.
6. If you want to update the video, in the edit screen for the label (Updating label) click on the video then click on the Embed media button and the content properties box will re-appear.
7. Click on ‘save and return to course’ when you have finished editing the contents of the label.  The label will now show all the text, images and videos it contains.

4. Adding pages

The page module enables a course author to create a web page resource using the text editor. A page can display text, images, sound, video, web links and embedded code, such as Google maps.  Advantages of using the page module rather than the file module include the resource being more accessible (for example to users of mobile devices) and easier to update as a page can be edited in the course and doesn't involve having to re-upload a revised file.

For large amounts of content, it is recommended that the book module is used rather than a page.  

A page may be used:

• To present the terms and conditions of a course or a summary of the course syllabus
• To embed several videos or sound files together with some explanatory text

To add a page

1. In the course space switch editing on.
2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.
3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.
4. Under Resources select ‘Page’.
5. Click on the ‘Add’ button
6. The ‘Adding a new File’ screen will appear.
7. Complete the Name and Page content fields (you can update the page content field at any time, but to create the page you need to put something in this field).
8. You can choose to put a short description in the description box and display this on the course page. Or you can choose not to display this description on the course page by not checking the box.
   
9. Click on Save and return to course and the new page will now appear on the course page.

Links between pages

You can do this either by setting up a text or button link to the next page or previous page.

To set up a text link to the next page

1. Copy the URL link for the page you want the text link to use. For example I want Page 1 to link to Page 2, so I click on the title link for Page 2 and copy the URL for Page 2 from the browser.
2. Click on the edit page button for Page 1 (the page you want the link text to appear) and scroll down to the content box.
3. In the content box, decide where you want your link to the next page to appear (at the top of bottom of the page, on left or right of the page).
4. Type in the text which describes the link to the next page - a usual convention is to write 'next: [page title]' in other words for a link from page 1 to page 2 the link text would be 'next: page 2'.
5. Highlight the text you have typed in for the next page link
   
6. On the expanded text formatting menu, click on the hyperlink button 
7. The Create link screen will appear
8. Paste in the copied URL for page 2 into the URL box (where it says 'enter a URL') and click on 'Create link'
9. The Page content box will now show that the link to the next page is a hyperlink.
10. Click on Save and return to unit
11. Now if you click on Page 1 you will see the link to the next page

5. Adding subpages

A subpage is a smaller version of the main course page. Subpages were used to create sections and add activities to group activities together. Please note, we have withdrawn add subpage function as it is no longer compatible with core Moodle. Existing subpages are still visible in courses on the site.

PLEASE NOTE: the old subpage function is no longer compatible with core Moodle, especially as adding a subpage means the Add topics option disappears. For this reason we have withdrawn the ability to add subpages to courses as of 16 March 2023 and are investigating the functionality of the new generation version of subpages which are being used on the OU student VLE.

Add a subpage

1. In the course space switch editing on.
2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.
   
3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.
4. Under Resources select ‘Subpage’.

5. Click on the ‘Add’ button

6. The ‘Adding a new Subpage’ screen will appear.

7. Give the subpage a name and you can add a short description.
8. Then click on Save and display.
9. The empty subpage will appear

Unlike a page, you can add activities and resources to the subpage and can rearrange their order. You can also move other activities and resources from elsewhere in the course to the subpage.

6. Add a URL

The URL module enables a course author to provide a web link as a course resource. Anything that is freely available online, such as documents or images, can be linked to; the URL doesn't have to be the home page of a website. The URL of a particular web page may be copied and pasted or an author can use the file picker and choose a link from a repository such as Flickr, YouTube or Wikimedia (depending upon which repositories are enabled for the site).

There are a number of display options for the URL, such as embedded or opening in a new window and advanced options for passing information, such as a student's name, to the URL if required.

Note that URLs can also be added to any other resource or activity type through the text editor.

To add a URL

1. In the course space switch editing on.

2. Click on Add an activity or resource under the main course home page or below an existing heading.

3. The ‘add an activity or resource’ screen will appear.

4. Under Resources select ‘URL’.

5. Click on the ‘Add’ button

6. The ‘Adding a new URL’ screen will appear.

7. Enter a name for the URL and a short description into the relevant boxes, then paste the URL in the external URL box.

8. Appearance - you need to click on the arrow beside 'Appearance' to display further options for how the link is displayed.
   The display dropdown box has three options you can use - Automatic, Embed or Open (there is also an option for a pop-up which you must not use because it is generally considered user-hostile).
   Generally you would choose Open for a normal link.
   Automatic - An intermediate page displays. Users can click through to the actual link.
   Embed - The linked site will appear in a tiny scrolling area within the page.This means that the learner won't be navigating away from your course and will also be able to see the content of the other website.
   Open - The link opens directly in the user's browser in the same window which means that unless the learner uses the back button they will be navigating away from your course. (An intermediate page may display in some cases).It is therefore a good idea to put some help text near the URL link suggesting that the learner holds the Ctrl key while clicking on the link which will open the link in a new tab.
   In pop-up - The link pops up in a new browser window. In general, pop-up windows are considered user-hostile because they don't always work well with Accessiblity software used by people with special needs. It is only appropriate to use a pop-up window if the page you are linking to is specially designed to be used as a pop-up tool and has no navigation of its own except a 'close this window' button.
   Select the appropriate option.
9. Click on 'save and display' and you will see your URL in its own page. 
   

Please note, if you want to embed a video in the course, it is better to do it in a label or page rather than a direct URL link, as the embed function doesn’t display properly in OpenLearn Create with a direct URL link.