Referencing content on atingi

This guide provides practical recommendations for referencing all types of content used in courses on the atingi platform, including images, graphics, videos, audio, and text sources such as PDFs.

Content plays a crucial role in digital learning: it helps explain key concepts, organizes information, and enhances the learning experience. Whether created internally by the course developer or sourced from third parties, all content must be properly referenced to comply with copyright and licensing requirements.

Just as in any scientific or journalistic publication, courses on atingi must include proper citations and references. This should be considered from the beginning of course development, not added only at the end. Doing so helps prevent copyright or licensing issues and ensures that learning content remains transparent, professional, and legally compliant.

To avoid confusion, it is helpful to clarify these terms at the beginning:

• Citation: A short in-text mention that points to the source (e.g., Clarke, 2018).
• Reference: The full details of the source, including the license (e.g., Sir Tim Berners-Lee [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0).
• Caption: A brief description placed near an image or other visual element. It can include a reference or provide additional context to support the visual element, helping learners understand its relevance within the course content. (e.g., This diagram demonstrates the relationship between key factors in disaster management, including risk assessment, resource allocation, and community preparedness).
• Alt Text: Describes the meaning of an image for users with vision impairments, providing context for all users in certain cases. It ensures that the image’s purpose is conveyed when it cannot be seen (e.g., Three people collaborating around a table, with a tropical landscape and global trade icons in the background, illustrating sustainable supply chains and agricultural practices). Adding alt text for images is not obligatory for atingi courses but highly recommended to ensure inclusivity of course content for all learners. 
• External content/assets: Any material sourced from outside the course, such as stock photos, infographics, gifs, or YouTube videos.
• Internal content/assets: Materials created specifically for the course by the project team or service provider and owned by GIZ.

In this guide, the focus is on proper referencing of all content/assets on atingi.

Kindly ensure that you have checked and aligned on referencing, citation, and licensing requirements from your project’s organisation. These may differ from the support guidelines described below.

Why is proper referencing required

Referencing content is not optional on atingi. It is a core requirement for publishing courses.

Proper referencing ensures:

• Compliance with copyright and licensing requirements.  The lack of proper referencing may lead to legal consequences for GIZ as the publishing legal organisation.
• Transparency about the origin of course material
• Clarity for learners and anyone that might reuse courses
• Enabling learners to research and learn more
• A smoother approval process

Missing or unclear references are one of the most common reasons for revisions during the course quality assurance process. 

What a reference must include

On atingi, all content used must be properly referenced. While full academic referencing formats are not required, the applied approach should follow clear and consistent principles aligned with the American Psychological Association (APA) Style.

At minimum, a reference should include:

• Creator (author, organisation, or source owner)
• Title or short description
• Source
• License

How to implement references in common authoring tools

Articulate Rise

• Use the caption field for image blocks
• For blocks that contain images but do not provide a caption field (e.g. accordion, tabs, process, or flip cards), place the reference in the nearest text block. The connection to the image must remain clear.

H5P

• Use visible text fields, captions, or descriptions depending on the content type
• Ensure the reference is visible within the learning content, not only in metadata

How to integrate references without disrupting design

References should be clearly visible but should not distract from the learning experience.

Recommended approach:

• Use short, concise reference lines
• Place them close to the relevant content
• Use a slightly smaller font size than the main body text (e.g., 12-14pt)
• Use a subtle but readable colour, such as dark grey

References must always remain readable. They should not be hidden or reduced to a size that affects accessibility.

If a course includes a lot of sources that need to be referenced, it’s also possible to include a separate references section at the end of the course. In this case, a short reference can be placed near the relevant content, while the full reference is listed in the dedicated section. Please take a look at this course for inspiration. Referencing is added in the first introductory tile under "Tutorial and Glossary" as "image credits"

Important note: Hover text that only appears when a user moves the mouse over an image is not recommended for captions or references. Hover interactions do not work reliably on mobile devices, may not be accessible for keyboard or screen-reader users, and the text can disappear too quickly or remain unnoticed.

A clickable info button can be a suitable alternative. However, a short reference (such as a number, title, or brief description) should still be placed directly below the image. The info button can then provide the full reference details, such as author, licence, or source information. In this case, include a clear text instruction explaining what information will appear when the button is selected.

References for multiple images on one slide can generally be combined into a shared text block, for example under flip cards or image sets. However, this only works well when all images have the same author/creator and the same licence.

The author is a mandatory part of every image reference. Therefore, a caption such as “pictures from multiple authors” is not sufficient because the individual creators are not identified.

Option A:

• Add short captions under each image (e.g. image number and title).
• Provide full references in a seperate reference section or downloadable pdf document at the end of the course.

Option B:

• Use one shared reference block below the image set.
• List all authors/creators and licences clearly in that block.

This ensures that all images are properly attributed while keeping slides clear and easy to read.

Reference Examples

Here are some clear and concise reference examples that are easy to read and fit well into course layouts. These examples can be integrated into your atingi content, regardless of the authoring tool you're using:

If your course includes AI-generated or AI-supported materials, additional requirements apply. Please refer to the article: AI Content Citation.