External content - course criteria

1. Partner has reviewed exercise steps other than Padlet/Typeform against additional QA criteria.

Exercise steps must meet our technical and accessibility criteria. 

Use them sparingly and only if the functionality is essential to course delivery and cannot be presented using an existing step type. Fallbacks must be provided (see accessibility criteria). 

They must add significant value and offer an immersive experience, helping learners ‘explore’ a concept or topic in some depth. 

Instructions about how to use the exercise step must be very clear. 

2 - All external links work as expected.

Broken links create a bad learning experience. Learners end up needing to ask support for help. 

Follow our guide on how to check all your external links ahead of QA. 

Also consider if external links and videos or webpages will be accessible in all countries.

3 - External tools/links that are required for completion of the course do not require login.

If a learner is going to be required to log in to an external site to take part in core content this must be clearly explained on the Course Description Page before they enrol. They will not have been expecting to share personal identifiable data with another organisation. A suitable disclaimer must also be added to the step. For example: 

"Note that several points in this course contain external content not managed by FutureLearn. Interacting with the content may require or result in personal data transfer to this external website; FutureLearn advises you to check the external website’s privacy policy before use."

Linked readings must be open access or available via authentication given to all learners. Sites must be free.

4. External tools/links do not recreate platform functionality.

External tools must meet our purpose and function criteria. 

Use them sparingly and only if the functionality is essential to course delivery and cannot be presented using an existing step type. Fallbacks must be provided (see accessibility criteria). 

They must add significant value and offer an immersive experience, helping learners ‘explore’ a concept or topic in some depth. 

Instructions about how to use the external tool must be very clear. 

5. Core content sits within the course steps and is not provided via external sites.

When learners are taken off-site, they often do not return to the course. We also cannot control the accessibility standard and content of other sites. 

Being constantly redirected to another platform also creates a bad learning experience. 

Check if you can re-create the information within steps, maintaining Copyright. 

Content off-platform should clearly be labeled as optional.