Linking to an External Program

Note: Depending on your institution's installation of WebCT and the settings applied by your WebCT administrator, this option may not be available.

About linking to external programs

You, and your students and teaching assistants, may be able to directly access some external programs by clicking a link in your WebCT course. Once you are logged in to WebCT, you do not need to log in again to access these external programs.

You can only link to external programs that have been activated by your WebCT administrator on the WebCT server. Once activated, these external programs appear on the Add Page or Tool screen. From this screen, you can add them to your course. An external program can appear under any of the tool category headings. Note: Depending on program settings, the external program may also appear in a generic category, Other.

You can add a link to an external program on:

  • the Course Menu
  • the Homepage
  • an Organizer Page

As with other tools in WebCT, once an external program is added to your course, it is also displayed on the Course Map and in Edit Page or Tool.

Note: As you and your students and teaching assistants access these external programs, content files may be added to the My-Files folder in Manage Files, and data may be added or modified in Manage Students. This depends on the type of program you have added to your course.

What do you want do?

Adding a link to an external program| Top

A link to an external program can be added to your course multiple times, in multiple locations, and with different settings.

  1. From the Control Panel, click Add Page or Tool. The Add Page or Tool screen appears.
  2. Click the external program that you want to add. The Add screen appears.
  3. In the Enter a title for this item text box, enter the title for the link.
  4. Depending on program settings, you may have to complete one or more fields that are specific to the external program. Do one of the following:
    • If no specific fields are displayed, go to step 5.
    • If specific fields are displayed, complete each field as required. If you need assistance, contact your WebCT administrator.
  5. Under Decide where to show the link to this item, select where you want the link to be displayed. Note: You can select both options.
    • To add the link to the Course Menu, select On the Course Menu.
    • To add the link to an Organizer Page, select On an Organizer Page. From the drop-down list, select an existing Organizer Page.
  6. If you selected to display the item on an Organizer Page, select the appearance of the link:
    • To have the link appear as text only, select Link shows item title.
    • To have the link appear as an icon only, select Link shows icon.
    • To have the link appear as an icon with a text title, select both Link shows item title and Link shows icon.
  7. If you selected to display an icon, select an icon image file:
    • To use the default icon, select Use default icon.
    • To use a custom icon:
      1. Select Use custom icon.
      2. Next to the Choose icon text box, click Browse. The WebCT Browser appears.
      3. Select the icon file. The Add screen appears, and the filename you selected appears in the Choose icon text box.
  8. Click Add. The external program is added to your course.

Editing a link to an external program | Top

You can edit a link to an external program that appears:

If the link to the external program appears on an Organizer Page or on both an Organizer Page and the Course Menu, edit the link as described below:

  1. Click the Designer Options tab.
  2. From the Homepage or an Organizer Page, click the external program link that you want to modify. The Update PowerLink screen appears.
  3. Under Basic Settings, in the Title text box, enter a new title for the link.
  4. Depending on program settings, you may have to modify one or more fields that are specific to the external program. Do one of the following:
    • If no specific fields are displayed, go to step 5.
    • If specific fields are displayed, edit each field as required. If you need assistance, contact your WebCT administrator.
  5. Under Link Appearance, select your link appearance preferences.
    • In the Icon filename text box, enter the path and filename of a new icon file, or to select or upload a file using the WebCT Browser, click Browse.
  6. Specify your link for selective release.
  7. Under Associated link, specify if an associated link should be updated. Note: This option is only available if the link appears in more than one location; for example, the Homepage and the Course Menu.
    • If you want to update an associated link, ensure that the check box next to Apply changes to associated link is selected.
    • If you do not want to update an associated link, clear the check box next to Apply changes to associated link.
  8. Click Update. The link to the external program is updated.

If the link appears only on the Course Menu, edit the link as described below:

  1. Click the Designer Options tab.
  2. From the Course Menu, click the external program link that you want to modify. The Update PowerLink screen appears.
  3. Under Basic Settings, in the Title text box, enter a new title for the link.
  4. Depending on program settings, you may have to modify one or more fields that are specific to the external program. Do one of the following:
    • If no specific fields are displayed, go to step 5.
    • If specific fields are displayed, edit each field as required. If you need assistance, contact your WebCT administrator.
  5. Specify your link for selective release.
  6. Click Update. The Course Menu link to the external program is updated.

Using an external program | Top

To use an external program that you have added to your course, you must be in View.

  1. Click the View tab.
  2. From the Course Menu, Homepage, or Organizer Page, click the external program link. The external program appears. Note: Depending on program settings, the external program may open in the main frame within your course, the same browser window as your course, or a new browser window.

Resolving a link to an unavailable external program

You may discover when you click a link to an external program that the program is unavailable. This can occur if your WebCT administrator deactivated the program or if you uploaded a course backup from a different server. For more information, contact your WebCT administrator.

You can do one of the following:

To hide or delete the link on the Homepage or an Organizer page

You can hide the link to the unavailable external program from your students, or delete the link from the course.

  1. From the Homepage or Organizer page, select the link.
  2. Under Options: Links, do one of the following:
    • To hide the link, click Hide. The screen refreshes and (Hidden) appears below the link. The link is now hidden from your students.
    • To delete the link:
      1. Click Delete. A warning message appears.
      2. Click OK. The screen refreshes and the link is deleted from the course.

If the link also appears on the Course Menu, and you want to hide or delete that link also, see To hide or delete the link on the Course Menu.

To hide or delete the link on the Course Menu

You can hide the link to the unavailable external program from your students, or delete the link from the course.

  1. From the Control Panel, click Course Settings. The Course Settings screen appears.
  2. Under Edit Course Menu, click Edit Course Menu. The Edit Course Menu screen appears.
  3. Under Course menu links, select the link.
  4. Under Options, do one of the following:
    • To hide the link, click Hide link. The screen refreshes and H appears next to the link. The link is now hidden from your students.
    • To delete the link:
      1. Click Delete link. A warning message appears.
      2. Click OK. The screen refreshes and the link is deleted from the course.

If the link also appears on the Homepage or an Organizer Page, and you want to hide or delete that link also, see To hide or delete the link on the Homepage or an Organizer Page.

To activate the external program link

Depending on circumstances, you may be able to request that the external program be reactivated. For more information, contact your WebCT administrator.

 

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