Holon Links

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Current course: —

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Total Links

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📋 Table of Contents

⚡ Quick Start — Build Your Resource Library

New to Holon Links? These six steps take you from an empty course to a polished, categorized link library in a few minutes. Each step links to the full details further down.

1. Add your first links

Open Links from the sidebar, then click + Add Link to enter a URL, title, and category by hand. To pull in resources you already have in Canvas, open Check Links and click Scan Canvas — Holon Links harvests URLs from your modules, pages, syllabus, and assignments automatically. (See Adding & Managing Links and Canvas Course Scanner.)

2. Organize with categories

Group links by week, topic, or type. Click the New Category dashed card to add one, or use Templates in the Links sub-header to auto-create a whole set at once — Weeks 1–16, Modules 1–8, or a custom range. (See Categories.)

3. Customize a category

Hover any category card and click the ✎ pencil to rename it and choose a color, or the 🗑 trash to delete it. Name and color changes apply to every link inside. (See Categories.)

4. Import from a file or another course

Click Import to pull links from another course you teach that already uses Holon Links, or to upload an Excel, Word, or text file. You pick exactly which links to bring in, and duplicates are skipped automatically. (See Adding & Managing Links.)

5. Connect links to Canvas

Push any link straight into a Canvas module, page, syllabus, or assignment, or copy your whole library to another course. (See Adding Links to Canvas and Copying Links Across Courses.)

6. Keep it healthy

Run Check Links to flag broken URLs and redirects, and open the Inbox to approve or reject the links your students suggest. (See Check Links and Instructor Inbox.)

💡 Tip: Students get a read-only card view where they can vote on links and suggest new ones — nothing they submit goes live until you approve it in the Inbox.

1. Overview & Key Capabilities

Holon Links is a Canvas LTI tool that gives instructors a curated, searchable resource library inside any Canvas course — organized by category, voteable by students, and directly connected to Canvas modules, pages, and assignments.

Holon Links runs entirely within Canvas as an embedded LTI 1.1 tool. No separate login is required — your Canvas identity is used automatically via Holon Hub.

Key Capabilities

Organize course resources into named, color-coded categories
Add links manually or import them automatically by scanning Canvas modules, pages, syllabi, and assignments
Students browse links as cards, vote on them, and suggest new ones
Push any link directly into a Canvas module, page, syllabus, or assignment
Copy entire link libraries from one course to another
Check all links for broken URLs, redirects, and auth-required pages
Approve or reject student link suggestions via the Instructor Inbox
Pin priority links to the top of any category
Paginated card grid view (10 per page) for clean browsing
Works with Holon Hub daisy-chain: no manual Canvas token needed

Individual License: Supports up to 10 courses. Contact Holon Technology for institutional licensing.

2. Navigation & Interface

Topbar

☰ Hamburger

Collapses or expands the left sidebar.

● Holon LINKS badge

Confirms the tool is active. Click the Holon pill to return to Holon Hub if installed.

Avatar & Name

Shows your Canvas display name, pulled from the LTI launch. Confirms which Canvas account is active.

A / A+ / A++

Accessibility font-size zoom controls. Preference is saved per-session.

Sidebar Navigation

Menu Item	Who Sees It	Description
Holon Hub	Everyone	Returns to Holon Hub (pinned, not draggable)
Dashboard	Everyone	Stats overview, recent links, quick actions
Links	Everyone	Category card grid and link browser
Check Links	Instructors only	Run a health check on all course links
Inbox	Instructors only	Review and approve student link suggestions
Product Manual	Everyone	This manual

Sidebar items (except Holon Hub) are draggable — drag to reorder them to your preference. Order is saved in your browser.

3. Dashboard

The Dashboard is the default landing screen. It gives a quick health-check of your course link library at a glance.

Stat Cards

Card	What It Shows
Total Links	All approved links in this course
Pinned	Links marked as priority by the instructor
Categories	Number of link categories in this course
Votes	Total upvotes cast by all students

Recent Links Panel

Shows the 5 most recently added links with their category. Click any link to jump directly into its category view.

Quick Actions

Instructors see: Add Link, Check Links, Inbox (with pending count badge).

Students see: Browse Links, Suggest a Link.

4. Categories

Categories group links by topic, week, type, or any organizational scheme you choose. Each category gets a color accent used throughout the interface.

Creating a Category

In the Links view, click the New Category dashed card at the end of the grid. Enter a name and click Create. New categories appear immediately, even before they contain any links.

Category Templates

To build a full set in one click, choose Templates in the Links sub-header. Presets include Weeks 1–16, Weeks 1–8, Weeks 1–4, Modules 1–16, Modules 1–8, Modules 1–4, and Units 1–10. The Custom range builder generates any prefix and number range (e.g. “Lesson 1” through “Lesson 20”). Categories that already exist are skipped, so a template is safe to run at any time.

Editing & Deleting Categories

Hover over any category card to reveal two buttons in its top-right corner:

✎ (Edit) — Opens the Edit Category panel where you change the name and color together. Renaming cascades to every link in the category. The panel also includes a red Delete action.
🗑 (Delete) — One-click delete with a confirmation prompt. Links in the category are moved to General rather than deleted.

Categories are course-scoped. Each course has its own independent set of categories.

5. Adding & Managing Links

Adding a Link Manually

From the Links sub-header, click + Add Link. An inline panel opens with the following fields:

Field	Required	Notes
URL	Yes	Must begin with https://
Title	Yes	Displayed as the card heading
Description	No	Shown below the title on the card
Category	No	Start typing to select or create; defaults to General
Tags	No	Comma-separated; used for search
Pin to top	No	Pinned links always appear first in their category

Editing a Link

Hover over any link card to reveal instructor action buttons. Click ✎ to open the edit panel with all fields pre-filled.

Pinning a Link

Click 📌 on a link card to pin it to the top of its category. Pinned links show a yellow Pinned badge and always sort first regardless of date or votes.

Deleting a Link

Click ✕ on a link card. The link is immediately removed from the course.

Importing Links

Click Import in the Links sub-header. There are two ways to import:

From another course — At the top of the panel, pick another course you teach that already uses Holon Links. Its links load into a checklist; select the ones you want and import them into the current course.
From a file — Upload an Excel (.xlsx), Word (.docx), or text (.txt) file, or drag it onto the drop zone. Use Download Excel Template or Download Word Template for a correctly formatted starting file. Required columns: title, url; optional: description, category, tags.

Either way, a preview list appears with a checkbox per link, so you choose exactly what to bring in. Duplicate URLs already in the course are skipped automatically.

Note: Imported links are added as approved and immediately visible to students.

6. Voting & Popularity

Students and instructors can upvote or downvote any link. Votes are per-user and per-link — each person can vote once, and can change or retract their vote.

The vote score (upvotes minus downvotes) is shown on each card. Sort by Popular in the category view to surface the most-voted links first.

Voting data persists across sessions and is scoped to the course.

7. Student Link Suggestions

Students can suggest links for the instructor to review. Suggestions are held in a pending queue and do not appear in the course until an instructor approves them.

Student Flow

Student clicks Suggest a Link (in the Links sub-header or Dashboard quick actions)
Student fills in URL, title, and optional description and category
Submission goes to the instructor’s Inbox with status Pending

Instructor Flow

A red badge on Inbox in the sidebar shows the pending count
Click Inbox to see all pending suggestions
Each suggestion shows the URL, title, description, and who submitted it
Select or change the category using the dropdown, then click Approve to add it as a live link, or Reject to dismiss it

Approved suggestions are marked with source = student_suggestion internally and are treated identically to manually-added links.

8. Adding Links to Canvas

Any link in Holon Links can be pushed directly into Canvas content — no need to leave the tool or open a separate Canvas tab.

Hover over a link card and click 📤 (Add to Canvas). An inline panel opens with the following destination options:

Destination	What Happens
Add to a Module	Creates an External URL module item in the selected module
Append to an existing Page	Adds a link at the bottom of the selected wiki page
Create a new Page	Creates a new wiki page with the link embedded
Append to Front Page	Adds the link to the course front page
Append to Syllabus	Adds the link to the course syllabus body
Append to an Assignment	Adds the link to an assignment’s description
Post as Announcement	Creates a Canvas announcement containing the link

This feature requires a valid Canvas API token stored via Holon Hub or entered manually on first use.

9. Copying Links Across Courses

Copy one or more links from the current course into other courses where Holon Links is installed.

Hover over a link card and click 📋 (Copy to course). An inline panel lists all your other Canvas courses. Check the ones you want to copy to, then click Copy Links.

Important: The destination course must also have Holon Links installed for the copied links to be visible. Copying does not push links into Canvas content — it only adds them to the Holon Links library in those courses.

Your Canvas token must have teacher access to the destination courses for them to appear in the list.

10. Canvas Course Scanner

The scanner automatically finds all URLs embedded in your Canvas course and imports them into Holon Links as approved links.

Running a Scan

Open the Check Links view and click Scan Canvas in the header. The scan runs on demand — there is no background polling or pop-up prompt — and a toast reports how many new links were found and added.

The scanner searches:

Module items (External URL type)
Wiki pages (all hyperlinks in the page body)
The course syllabus
Assignment descriptions
Announcements

Each imported link records its source location (e.g. Canvas Module, Canvas Page: Week 1 Reading) so you always know where it came from. This source appears in Check Links results.

Run the scanner once when setting up Holon Links in an existing course to instantly populate your library from existing content.

Duplicate URLs are detected and skipped automatically.

11. Check Links

Check Links runs a live health check on every URL in your course library and reports the status of each one.

Click Check Links in the sidebar, then click Run Check. The tool checks all links concurrently (5 at a time) and shows results sorted by severity — dead links first, then redirects, then auth-required, then OK.

Status Types

Status	Meaning
OK	Link loaded successfully (2xx response)
REDIRECT	Link redirects to another URL (3xx) — may still work for students
AUTH	Link requires login (401/403) — may be intentional
DEAD	Link returned an error (4xx/5xx) or could not be reached
TIMEOUT	Link did not respond within 8 seconds

Each result shows the link title, category, source location (if scanned from Canvas), the URL, response time in ms, and a Remove button for dead links.

The summary bar at the top shows counts for each status type at a glance.

12. Instructor Inbox

The Inbox collects all pending student link suggestions waiting for your review.

A red badge on the Inbox sidebar item shows how many suggestions are waiting. The same badge appears on the Dashboard quick actions.

For each suggestion you can:

Review the title, URL, description, and who submitted it
Change the category using the dropdown before approving
Click Approve to add it as a live link visible to all students
Click Reject to dismiss it without adding it

13. Student Experience

Students see a simplified, read-focused version of Holon Links with no instructor controls.

What Students Can Do

Browse the Dashboard with stats and recent links
Navigate to the Links view and browse categories
Click into a category to see link cards
Click any link card to open it in a new tab
Upvote or downvote any link
Suggest a new link for instructor review

What Students Cannot Do

Add, edit, delete, or pin links
Create or rename categories
Push links to Canvas or copy across courses
See Check Links or Inbox
See other students’ suggestions

Students do not need a Canvas API token. They access Holon Links through the standard LTI launch with no additional setup.

14. FAQ & Troubleshooting

Links aren’t loading — I see a spinner

Your session may have expired. Relaunch Holon Links from Canvas by clicking the tool in the course navigation. Sessions last 24 hours.

The “Add to Canvas” panel shows “Failed to load Canvas content”

Your Canvas API token may have expired or been revoked. Click your name in the topbar and reconnect your Canvas token, or relaunch via Holon Hub to refresh the daisy-chain token.

“Copy to Course” shows no other courses

The course list comes from your Canvas token. Ensure your token has teacher access to other courses and that those courses have Holon Links installed.

A student says they can’t see links I just added

Links added manually or via import are immediately visible to students. If they still don’t appear, ask the student to reload the page (their browser may be caching the old session).

The Canvas scanner didn’t find all my links

The scanner searches External URL module items, page bodies, the syllabus, assignment descriptions, and announcements. Links embedded as images, in iframes, or in Canvas file previews are not detected.

Check Links shows a link as DEAD but it works in my browser

Some sites block automated HEAD requests even though they serve pages fine in a browser. This is especially common with university portals that use SSO. AUTH status is more likely in this case. Use your judgment before removing these links.

Student suggestions aren’t appearing in my Inbox

Check that the student submitted via the Suggest a Link panel (not just sent you a message). The red badge on Inbox updates in real time — if it shows 0, no pending suggestions exist yet.