CTEL External Links

After the recent upgrade, CTEL noticed that there was a red notice bar warning visible to all users who were accessing external links that reside outside of Blackboard.  Blackboard establishes internal links for any document or file uploaded to the Blackboard course, but this isn't always feasible or recommended due to course quota restrictions; therefore the creation of an external link is necessary.  

External links include URLs to YouTube videos and videos housed on the USM Media Server.  

The only way to prevent this error message from displaying in your course, is by setting the link to open in a new window or tab.  To set the link to open in this manner, you will have to go into the 'Edit' settings of the link and check the box for 'Open link in a new window'.

When creating an external link for a YouTube video, you MUST set the link to open in a new window.  If you do not, students will not be able to access the video.

**NOTE** - by setting the link to open in a new window or tab, it is possible that users who utilize a screen reader MIGHT lose their back history.  Most of these softwares have advanced enough to forego this warning, but please keep this in mind should an issue come up.

CTEL recommends that you post "this will open in a new window" under the video link description, so that all students are aware.