Add Willo eBooks to myCourses

Willo is a service which consolidates access to multiple digital textbooks from multiple publishers into one consistent, secure interface. Purchases can be made online or in person. Purchases made through myCourses are handled by Le James. Willo also offers a free trial period for the first 14 days of each term.

In this article:

Add a Willo eBook

Phase 1: Connect Willo and Add Course Materials

Log in to myCourses, and go to the course you are adding an eBook to.
Go to the Content tab.
1. Click New Unit.
2. Name the new unit “Willo Connection.”
Click the Willo Connection unit and then click Add Existing.
1. Click Willo Lab DeepLink.
2. In the popup window that appears, select "Open in a new window".
3. Review the suggested course materials and click "Select" folowed by "Review Details".
4. Select "Confirm Selection" and then click on "Course Management".
5. Select the eText option, followed by "Return link(s) to LMS".
6. Return to the Content section of your MyCourses course and select the eText link you just added. Upon launching the link, select the appropriate Academic Term, and access your eText.

Phase 2: Verify and organize

Scroll to the bottom of the Content tab. You should now see a new unit named “Willo Reader Links.”
In the Willo Reader Links unit, click on Instructor Self-Service and hide it.
1. Click Continue in a new window to verify the link works, and then return to myCourses.
Click Course Support and then click Continue in a new window to verify the link works, and return to myCourses.
Finally, click eText, and again on Continue in a new window.
1. You should now see a window that offers you three choices: Free trial, Purchase, and Verify my purchase.
2. Click Purchase and make sure it takes you to the correct text’s page in the Le James site, then return to the previous window.
3. Click on Free trial and wait for the text to load to ensure that it is the correct file.
4. If there are any issues with the text, please contact Le James or TLS.
If the text has been correctly loaded, return to Content and delete the Willo Connection unit.
1. Leave the default setting in the popup window set to delete the unit but not any files or connections.
Drag the Willo Reader Links unit up the sidebar of the Content tab until it appears in a contextually appropriate location near the top of the sidebar.
Rename the Willo Reader Links unit to “Course eBook” or something equally appropriate.
1. You may also rename the eText topic to the name of the textbook or anything that will also be very obvious to your students.

Back to top

Add additional Willo eBooks

Check your email to see if you received a product URL from Le James for the item (e.g., https://ca2.willolabs.com/launch/[randomANsequence]). Contact Le James if there are any issues.
Go to the Course eBook unit under the Content, and rename the existing eText topic with the author’s last name and a short form of the title (e.g., Collins - Hunger Games).
Click Course eBook, click Add Existing, and select External Learning Tool.
Select Create new LTI link.
1. Input a Title (e.g., the author’s name and a short form of the title).
2. Input the LTI URL. This is the product URL you received from Le James (e.g., https://ca2.willolabs.com/launch/[randomANsequence]).
Make sure the Tool changes to “Willo Lab.” This should happen automatically. If it does not, then:
1. Verify that no characters were missed when you copy-pasted the URL.
2. Double-check the URL with Le James.
3. Contact TLS if the issue remains unresolved.
Click Create and Insert.
The additional text should now appear as a topic in the Course eBook unit.
Select the new text topic in the Course eBook unit.
1. Click Open link.
2. Review the Purchase and Free Trial options (instructions under Phase 3 of "Add a Willo eBook").
Ensure that the text is visible to students (instructions under "General Tips").
1. If there are any issues, please hide the text and follow up with Le James.

Back to top

General tips

If you are planning to have your course crosslisted, please do that before you start this process. Crosslisting courses deletes all content and external tools from a course.
Request the correct edition of the book from Le James as early as possible, and double-check that the correct edition is listed in the confirmation you get from Le James.
If you are using multiple eBooks in your course inform Le James and request product URLs (i.e., https://ca2.willolabs.com/launch/[randomANsequence]). Detailed instructions on how to load multiple Willo texts into one course are in the tab above ("Add additional Willo eBooks").
Use View as student to verify that students can see and access the eText unit. View as student can be accessed by clicking on your name in the upper right corner in myCourses.
1. When you view a Willo eBook in View as student, you may still see your instructor version of the text on the Willo site. This is normal, and your students will see only their own access pages.
Post an Announcement for students with the following information:
1. Link to access the course eBook.
2. Purchase details including how payment can be done the first time students click on the link to the eBook, and that transactions are processed via the bookstore. 
3. Students can enter a code if they have already purchased the book. Instructions are available to help students access online course materials.
4. A free trial option is available for the first 14 days of the term. 
5. A screen shot of where in myCourses students will find the eBook, particularly if you have chosen to rename the Willo Reader Links unit or the eText topic.
If you have TAs who will need access to the eBook, please send TLS their name and email address as soon as possible. TAs must click the link in your course and use the Free Trial option right away. This will establish a connection between the book and their myCourses user ID, which is needed in order for full access to be granted.

Back to top

Troubleshooting & FAQs

“My TA / co-instructor did not know what this was and deleted it from myCourses”

Repeat the steps outlined above to add one (or more) texts to myCourses. It is most likely that you will not need to re-enter the product token, but everything is otherwise the same.

“My TA can’t access the book without paying”

Please ask the TA to click the Free trial option, and to confirm to you when that is done. At that point, send their name and email address along with the course and text info to Le James or TLS and ask them to turn on TA access. Please note: this is a manual process that may take a few days to complete.

“I requested the new edition of the book, but the old edition got loaded in myCourses”

Hide the Course eBook unit right away so that students do not purchase the wrong file. Follow up with Le James to be sure the appropriate edition was requested. Le James will follow up with Willo from there, and will let you know when the book edition has been updated. The turnaround time is relatively quick (i.e., 1-2 weeks) but may vary depending on whether the publisher has released the appropriate files. Submit request(s) to Le James and load eBook(s) into myCourses well before the start of the semester to allow time to resolve any issues.

“This is not a McGill-branded page. How do I know it’s safe?”

When students click Purchase, they will be redirected to the Le James website to purchase the eBook, and Le James will process the transaction. At no point will Willo gain access to students’ credit card information. Students who prefer to buy in-person at Le James are welcome to do so, and use the Verify my purchase option through the eText link in myCourses.

“This tool uses language I’m unfamiliar with and that doesn’t correspond to my course outline. Should I change my course outline?”

This is entirely up to instructors! We use “Course eBook” in our documentation for the sake of being able to explain the process in a standardized way, and “eText” is the term Willo uses. Instructors are free to rename the unit and its topics as they see fit.

“What is the point of this tool?”

We are transitioning our eBooks to the Willo platform as much as possible. By processing purchase transactions through Le James, we are protecting students’ personal and credit card information. Willo also offers a 14-day free trial period at the beginning of each term. Students who opt to create a free Willo account via the Course Support unit will also be able to access their books directly on the Willo site.

“What about my coursepack?”

Coursepacks can be organized with Le James and / or the library. Coursepacks are unrelated to any textbooks available through Willo. We strongly discourage the use of third-party platforms that have not been vetted and approved by McGill’s IT department, that require students to pay in USD or other foreign currencies, and / or that only accept credit card payments.

“Why didn’t this tool work in my other course?”

You can only add eBooks that were requested via Le James, and whose digital versions are available through Willo. We hope that there will be more titles available through Willo going forward, but for now, it’s a good opportunity for us all to compare Willo with other eBook platforms and providers.

“Does this have to be in Content? Can I add it to the Navbar?”

Yes, and yes. For the integration with myCourses to work, Willo needs to be added via Content. It is possible to add a shortcut to the Navbar though. Instructions are available here.

“My students tell me they can’t see the book in myCourses”

Verify if the Course eBook and /or eText are hidden.

If both are visible...

... verify that students are looking in the correct place. The View as Student feature can be helpful with this (instructions under "General tips"). Also, students who made an in-person purchase at Le James will need to choose Verify my purchase and enter the receipt number to access the book in myCourses.

If the eBook just isn't there at all...

... Was your course crosslisted after the book was added?

If yes...

... the book (and probably all other content) got deleted when the course was crosslisted. Please re-add the book following the instructions outlined above, and check for any other missing content, and contact TLS if you need additional support.

If no...

... is it possible that a colleague with Instructor, Facilitator, or other higher-level permissions in your course may have accidentally deleted it?

If yes, please re-add the book (following the instructions outlined above), and let your colleague know that it is the course textbook. Please contact TLS if you need additional support.

If no, please contact TLS for additional support. Please be sure to include the course number and section, the title and author of the text, and any other information you think might be helpful.

Back to top

Quick links

Have a question that was not answered in this article? Visit our FAQs.

While this resource is accessible worldwide, McGill University is on land which has served and continues to serve as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. Teaching and Learning Services acknowledges and thanks the diverse Indigenous peoples whose footsteps mark this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. This land acknowledgment is shared as a starting point to provide context for further learning and action.

McLennan Library Building 3415 McTavish Street Suite MS-12 (ground level), Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C8 | Tel.: 514-398-6648 | Fax: 514-398-8465 | Email: tls@mcgill.ca