If you do not see an Access Links option in your course Settings page, your Administrator may have disabled Access links to sections. Contact your system administrator if necessary. If your Access Links have only "Public" and "Private" options for them, refer to Creating and Managing SSO-Enabled Section Access Links.
As an instructor in a course, you have the option to create and distribute links to your courses, that can be posted outside of EchoVideo and allow for easy access via the URL.
Typically these links are posted to allow student access to the course, and for students, there are three "types" of access links:
- For existing EchoVideo (registered) users,
- For non-registered users who can create an EchoVideo account for course access,
- For unauthenticated public access to the course and its materials (anonymous users).
The TYPE of link you create depends on how or who you want to access your course.
Anonymous users cannot respond to polling slides or view interactive media. If your EchoVideo course uses Public links to allow anonymous users to view course materials, they will NOT be able to see interactive media classes. Anonymous users cannot respond to polls, making media gated on those polls not viewable to anonymous viewers. The same is true for polling slides in presentations, however non-polling slides in a deck are not gated. Anonymous users simply cannot see or respond to the polling slide questions.
To create a course access link
- Log into EchoVideo as an instructor.
- Navigate to the course you want to create a link for.
- Click Settings.
- Click Access Links on the left.
- Click the ADD LINK button.
- The link is created and appears as shown in the figure at the top of this page. The default settings for all new links are as follows:
- The link is Active at creation. Toggle the switch to disable course access via the link but retain the link for later re-activation.
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Role: By default, the link provides course access at the Student level; all users who access this link will see the student view of the course and classes.
If you select Instructor as the role, note that Public permission access is not available. Only users who are already EchoVideo users, or who select to register for an EchoVideo account can be provided with Instructor-role access via a course Access link. -
Permissions: The link is set for Open Registration by default. This is described below along with the other options which include:
- Registered users only: This provides course access only to existing EchoVideo users in the institution. Users will be asked to log in.
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Open Registration: This means that existing EchoVideo users can log into the system, OR users can create an EchoVideo account with a username (email address) and password.
NOTE: This option does not appear if your institution uses SSO (institution single-sign-on login) authentication.
Either of the above access methods will enroll the user into the course. Click the Students tab in the Settings page to see the list of enrolled students. -
Public: This provides anonymous access to the course for anyone who has the link. Users can view all of the classes and course materials but cannot take notes, participate in Q&A, or respond to Activity slides (because there is no way to distinguish or identify individual users).
This permission option is NOT available for Instructor-role access links.
- Provide a Description for the link if necessary. You may find this helpful to know why the link was created or where it is posted for access, etc.
- When the configuration is complete, click in the Link box to copy the link to your clipboard. You can now paste it wherever necessary to provide course access.
When you no longer need the link, you can Delete it. This removes any relationship between the original link and the course. Any instances of the posted link will no longer work (and will never work again).
If you want to keep the link for later use but suspend access to the course via the link, turn the Active toggle OFF instead. This retains the relationship between the link and the course but does not allow users to access the course via the link while it is inactive.
If a user has already accessed the link using (or creating) a registered EchoVideo account, they can log into EchoVideo and access the course directly.