URL Library

[lyons]

  Idea open for vote Wed. December 2, 2015 - Wed. March 2, 2016  Learn more about voting...

It would be wonderful to be able to add URLs to Folders on the "Files" page just as you add documents.

  Comments from Instructure

November 2016 update

Again, we thank you for this submission and your votes.  This idea will not be moving to Product Radar, and will remain in archive.  The conversation thread above provides many high quality solutions.  There are no plans to create our own version of a URL Library at this time.

[biray]

Thank you for your submission,  @lyons ​. It sounds like you want to have quick access to a list of URLs to embed in your course. Is there a solution that you are currently using now? For example, you could create a Content page or a Module with a list of links and add them to various parts of the course that way?

Looking forward to your feedback.

[lyons]

Sometimes I add links in modules as I go. However, it would be nice to have a separate space that serves as a resource library for parents and students to access more resources regarding topics.

Right now I store a bunch of URL resources on an online site called Symbaloo. It is possible to embed a Symbaloo into Canvas, but I still have to go to Symbaloo and add my sites. Being able to do all of this in Canvas without having to access another site would be great!

[biray]

Thank you for your clarification,  @lyons ​. This idea will be open for voting on December 2.

[kmeeusen]

Sterling:

I typically put everything I want students to access into modules, then hide the other related content areas like Files, Pages, Quizzes, Assignments, and Discussions. In this way, when a student is working on Module One, everything they need is in Module One.

If I have additional resources, I create a separate module to contain those. Often I have content, links, etc. that are valuable for more than one module, and that is the kind of stuff I add to my additional resources module. Then I add a link to that module on my course home page, but that link could also be added anywhere it might be handy for students.

This structure greatly simplifies student navigation in Canvas, which can be pedagogically very important.

[Chris_Hofer]

Before we made the switch to Canvas, we used Pearson eCollege's LearningStudio.  In it, they have something called the Webliography.  Here is a screen that shows the fields we could add to any website added to the Webliography:

The result is something that looks like this:

It was nice for our instructors who used this to keep additional websites related to their course in a central location...and organized by category (in our case, typically Learning Plans).

[kmeeusen]

Yah groovy, Chris, but you are not in Kansas anymore:smileysilly:

Sorry, I could not resist the opportunity!

Yes, that could be a handy feature, but I really prefer just adding an external resources module. Just as easy, just as available to the students, and perhaps even less clicks of the old mouse.

[scottdennis]

This idea is now open for voting.

[rdeyoung]

It is, to me, astonishing that a URL, a very foundation of the internet, cannot be added to the Files folder. I have many publications on other sites (e.g., ResearchGate, personal file collections, our University's deep/long-term archive) that I need to send my students to. Yet there is not simple, straightforward, single-step way to do this. I know the workarounds, but none work as a simple URL to a file.

Truly astonishing that a new teaching tool would not include something that older systems had.  Furthermore, when I've asked, no one has been able to explain why this was left out. Can anyone provide an answer?

[Chris_Hofer]

I voted for this, but I think that adding URLs to the "Files" area of a course would be confusing.  If there was a separate area to add URLs (similar to my screen shot from 11/25), that would be nice.  URLs generally are not "files".  They are websites, webpages, etc. ... much more than just "files", IMHO.

[rdeyoung]

The URLs that I use are links to PDF or DOCX files that are held elsewhere (not on Canvas). They might be at one of the archives that my university maintains, or from ResearchGate (or another similar site). 

I think that it might be more confusing to have the readings for a course in two different places in Canvas (inside-Canvas PDFs and DOCXs in Files, and the URLs to offsite documents in another tab).

[dperpich]

The current tool set (Modules, specifically, but others too) allows for wonderful instructor control of of the context around a link. I can describe why this linked-thing is important, present linked-things in order or sequence, etc.  But with the distributed nature of content (stored at Canvas, stored elsewhere on the web), instructors are looking for a single ~~repository/tool/filing cabinet.

At present, if a unit includes some content stored at Canvas (Files) and some stored elsewhere, I have to use at least two tools (Files and Pages) to present a unified view.  If one option for "Files" is to link to a remote FILE, then I get to keep all my eggs (brown, white, blue) in one basket.  I don't have to go digging around Pages at the end of the term to determine whether I linked to articleX on two, or three separate Pages.  If the link breaks, or I want to change to articleY, I know exactly where to go -- the Files area is where I store and/or link to files.

The term Files will indeed confuse people.  Wait! That's not a file, it's a link to a simulation!!  It's not a file, it's a webpage/movie/survey/etc.  That's why in Sakai the tool was called "Resources."  Sort of an enhanced directory.  It was a core feature in response to a core need. But, we're not in Michigan anymore :^P

[cholling]

I like the idea of a location of some sort for URLs. In our instance of Sakai as Diana mentioned, it was called Resources. I know that I can add URLs to Pages or to Modules, but in migrations from Sakai to Canvas, URLs are stuck in Files and I need to move them. Also as mentioned previously URLs are very often links to specific documents rather than to websites. Those make sense to be stored in Files. A few of our courses do not have the Modules tool exposed and it would be helpful to have the ability to link to specific URLs. I don't want to have to remember whether I used URL:x in a single page or on multiple pages and where they were in order to update the information; if they were stored in Files and could be linked to from various locations, I could make the update once and have it filter through everywhere it needed to be.

[emily]

Sakai (our previous system) simply had a section called "Resources," which could have file uploads, URLs, or html pages.  This grouped those documents by their function - "Resources" - rather than by their format - "Pages" vs. "Files" vs. "URLs" vs. "Media". This has been a surprisingly hard thing to explain to faculty!

I know that "modules" is supposed to be the format-agnostic way to bring materials together, but almost none of our faculty use them.  And Modules is the only way to put a simple URL link into Canvas, unless you paste it on a Page.  So yes, I, too, would like a way to just include a URL in Files. (And, frankly, going to a one-stop repository for resource materials would be great, too.)

[katie_hoffman]

I want this feature too! I create folders under the Files section that include all the relevant resources for each major unit in our course and it is frustrating that I can't place links to external sites right along my handouts, slides, etc.

[shawnkim]

This a much needed feature. Many of our faculty request this feature!

[kmeeusen]

OK, I'll be the pedagogical thorn in everybody's side and open by saying that modules are a pedagogically sound feature, and we should be both encouraging and training our faculty to use them. Nuff said on that.

Why not create a module called "Resources" and use the ReDirect LTI tool to create a left-side navigation menu item to take you to the first page of that module. On that first page, create a TOC with active links to the content of that module.

Just a thought.

KLM

[cholling]

I agree, but have found in working with our 200+ courses that there are a few that simply don't conform easily to the module format and I choose to design them using the Files tool. In those limited situations, it doesn't seem pedagogically sound to enable the Module tool simply for access to a single TOC with active links. I want to keep all of the course focus on the single tool.

[lyons]

That is our issue- way too many modules and so it is difficult to find the resources among the learning modules.

[kmeeusen]

cholling​ and  @lyons ​

Could you elaborate on the types of course use scenarios that do not work well with modules.

This is in no way an argument! As a life-long learner of online pedagogy, I always want to adapt my understanding to as broad a range of possibilities as is possible. This very much helps me to better help my own faculty.

Thanks.

[cholling]

Here's one scenario. Doctoral level course has 15 PDF articles in a folder in Files, one folder for each of the 16 weeks in a semester. The discussion assignment tells the student to choose and read three of the articles each week then discuss how the article relates to their research. The entire course is based on reading and discussing. There is no content to work through. Rather than using modules and linking to every file, I expose only Files and Discussions in this course.

Does that help? Do you have a better solution? I'm all ears!!