Hyperlinking, a critical feature of the internet, is frequently used in online educational content. Typically, the hyperlinks can be identified by text that is in a different colour or underlined.
Online learning content often utilizes hyperlinking to make connections to other online information and website outside the course content. From a student perspective it can be confusing to distinguish which hyperlinks are critical to review as part of the course and which ones are included as optional course links. Course designers can use a number of approaches to minimize or eliminate that confusion.
One method, often used by course designers, is to include heading titles to identify the optional readings. Some course designers use different formatting, or different styles to make sure the two categories of links are distinguishable.
Another way to set apart the links which are important for the course and to make them more prominent visually is to use Embedly cards to create free “card” links in order “to engage your audience through rich media embeds. ” The “cards” are eye catching, allow easy sharing via social media channels, and very easy to create by copying the code into an HTML page or WordPress, Tumblr, or Blogger websites using their plugins.
Here are a couple of examples of Embedly cards.
Embedly makes your content more engaging and easier to share | Embedly
As you can see these “cards” include generated text and visual cues to provide more information about the linked web pages.