Updates to sources
How do you deal with updates to a resource in your online content when, for example, the URL is changed or the content is updated?
We're encountering this question for our online courses which are redeveloped annually but updated (to address broken links etc) continuously.
Given my librarian side (MLS, and ID) it would be a no-no to "update" sources cited as references for any particular development. But one might add an annotation to the references with a date indicating when it was revised?
On the other hand, if the resource is part of the content, itself, then its a no-brainer to update the resource if one can determine the change isn't substantial (e.g. new link, updated content on same subject) and fits with the surrounding course content.
Thoughts? Other practices? Do you distinguish between sources that are references for a produced work (e.g. course) and ones that are part of the content of said work (e.g. webquest, "for more information" link for an activity or enrichment links?)
Answers
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Hi @Lynda.W.602
This is a really interesting question and I think there are likely different approaches depending on your own place of teaching and learning.
In our D2L Brightspace Learning Center, we take a similar approach to annual review.
However, while most of our courses tend to reference our own documentation via links - we don't tend to keep a separate page of references per module/course that uses an MLA style of citation which might include date of publication of the resource and date of access.
For us, the rationale here tends to be that we know our documentation is updated monthly with each release cycle. So, while we'll do a deeper level review of links etc. each year to ensure folks don't see broken links, we hope the link itself helps to connect folks to the most recent version of a doc vs. something that might be hard coded and then become out of date quickly.
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