Ares is a web-based electronic reserves system administered and maintained by the University Library. Electronic reserves provides students limited, password protected access to copyrighted materials for use in on-ground and online courses.
When to Use Ares
Ares is used in online course development when students are required to interact with copyrighted materials, most often journal articles in PDF file format. When uploading PDF documents directly to Canvas, keep the following in mind:
- PDF documents that are "safe" to upload are materials created by either the course developer or development team.
- For journal articles or other published materials, best practice is to link to them via the Kent State Library, their source on the web, or other publicly available site.
- When linking to a library resource, use a Permalink whenever possible (see screenshot below)
- If the only option available is a PDF file of a journal article (linking to an alternate source is not possible) then the article should be added to Ares.
- For consistency, ease of navigation, and findability if Ares is being used in a course ALL PDFs should be accessible via Ares.
Note: Links to websites, embedded videos from third party sites, and materials (e.g. assignment sheets, presentations) created by the developer are not subject to copyright concerns and can be added to the course directly.
Permalink for library journal article listing.
Working with Course Materials in Ares
Similar to Canvas, each course and section of a course can have a corresponding Ares course section. And just like course learning materials in Canvas, the copyrighted materials in Ares require regular review and maintenance to ensure everything is correct and up-to-date for students accessing the Ares course, and it's materials, via their online course.
Note: Whenever Ares is being used as part of new development or course revision of a Base course, a corresponding Base Ares should be requested from University Library.
In order to work with course materials in Ares, the following is required:
- Ares course section (or Base course, if applicable).
- User MUST be enrolled in the Ares course as a proxy (contact sgaskin1@kent.edu to request being added as a proxy).
Once logged into an Ares course in the proxy role:
- Check all PDF journal articles are present.
- Check Ares item information matches information in Canvas content items, syllabus, and course schedule.
- Click through Ares entries to make sure they are linked to the correct article.
- Add a "Module" tag to each entry (see screenshot instructions below).
Note: If item information such as title, source, or author needs to be updated, contact sgaskin1@kent.edu DO NOT edit the item information.
Adding Tags to Ares Entries
Best practice is to use 'Module+number'. Make sure the title of the tags is consistent throughout the Ares course, e.g. Module 1 or Module 01. Do not use symbols (#, _ , - , etc.) in tag names as Ares will recognize them as different groups.
Step 1. Select Show Details.
Step 2. Locate Instructor Tags, add a tag, then click Modify Tags to submit.
Deploying Ares in a Canvas Course
Ares can be deployed to a Canvas course by either:
- inserting a web link directly to the University Library Ares electronic reserves or
- adding a link to the Library Course Reserves in the course navigation menu (see screenshot below)
Ares Course Reserves tool link.
In content items that contain Ares materials, insert some direction in the description of the item such as "Readings are available through the Library Course Reserves link in the left-hand navigation" so students can easily find their materials.