Create an external link in your D2L course

D2L provides the ability to add links to other websites. In this example, we’ll add a link to the Pikes Peak Library District. (http://ppld.org)

Note that links can be added in one of two ways; either as a standalone link that will appear on the Content page under a module, or a link that is placed inside the text of an assignment, discussion, quiz, etc.

Adding a standalone link to appear in the Content page #

First, go to the Content page, and then select the Module in which you’d like the link to appear. Then click on Upload/Create, and select Create a Link:

screenshot of upload and create button and Create a Link link

A pop-in window will appear with three areas to look at. First is the title of the link which is the text that will appear in blue to be clicked on. Second is the URL of the link. Paste the URL here. Finally, it asks if you want to make this an external resource, which means it will pop into a new tab rather than opening in the current tab. When you’ve filled in this information, click “Create”.

New Link title, url and open as external resource checkbox

You’ll then be taken to the D2L page for the link you just created. To see where it is in your course, click on the Content tab, and navigate to the Module folder you created your link in.

screenshot of newly created link on the content module page

Adding a link inside the content of an existing assignment, quiz, etc. #

First, go to the assignment/quiz/discussion you would like to add a link to. Then select the text you would like to convert into a link. Once you’ve done so, a little popup should appear with the link icon. Alternatively, you can click the same link icon in the tool bar above:

If you click the link icon in the popup, all you have to do is paste your link URL and hit Enter. If you click the toolbar button, a list of potential link categories will appear. In this case, we want to link an external website, so scroll down a bit and select URL.

In the window that appears, fill out the necessary information, and click Insert. Note that if you change the Title box, the text you highlighted will change to this Title. We also recommend leaving the Target set to open in a New Window.