Introduction to connexions

Overview

Connexions is a web-based document creation and management system for education and research materials. There are two parts toConnexions: a Content Commons that contains these materials and the software tools necessary to create, manage, and access thesematerials. A tour of the workings of Connexions and its parts appears on the Connexionsweb page, under the "About" tab.

From its inception, Connexions was designed to allow the collaborative development and free availability of material.Instructors and authors can modify this material for any educational purpose. Connexions offers Free/Open Source softwaretools to help students, instructors, and authors manage these information assets for sharing and advancing knowledge tobenefit the global educational community. All of this is accomplished through the use of the Creative Commons Attribution license .

There are three general categories of Connexions users:

• Students - who use Connexions to access information on-line, to prepare for their classes.
• Authors - who enter content into Connexions in document files called modules.
• Instructors - who build courses, which are documents created by linking related modules together in a specific order.

Connexions knowledge factory

Before you begin using the Connexions system, you should verify that you have all of the necessary software. Visit the Connexions Quick Start Guide for a listing of the software that you will need and the links to help you download it.

The connexions home page

The Connexions home page is the starting point for your use of Connexions. It contains thefollowing items:

• Home, About, Content, Software, and Help tabs
• Breadcrumb Navigation Bar
• Search
• Quick Start
• Courses
• Personal toolbar
• Navigation Sidebar
• Login Sidebar
• Spotlight Sidebar
• e-Mailbag Sidebar
• What's New Sidebar
• Workspaces Sidebar

Home, about, content, software, and help tabs

On the upper left of the Connexions home page are tabs labeled "Home", "About", "Content", "Software", and "Help". Clicking onthese tabs display the following Connexions pages:

• Home returns to the Connexions home page.
• About displays the "About" page that contains a general descriptionof Connexions and links to more detailed information about Connexions, how it works, the people behind it, and a listof contacts.
• Content displays a set of tabs that will list modulesby title, author, or keywords, and list the courses.
• Software displays the "Connexions Technology" page that containslinks to Connexions software and tools.
• Help displays the "Help" page that contains links to installation,reference, and other information to answer your questions about Connexions.