diff --git a/admin/settings/appearance.php b/admin/settings/appearance.php
index dc2ba27ca43..6b251fba81d 100644
--- a/admin/settings/appearance.php
+++ b/admin/settings/appearance.php
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ if ($hassiteconfig) { // speedup for non-admins, add all caps used on this page
     $temp->add(new admin_setting_configcheckbox('navshowcategories', get_string('navshowcategories', 'admin'), get_string('confignavshowcategories', 'admin'), 1));
     $temp->add(new admin_setting_configcheckbox('navshowallcourses', get_string('navshowallcourses', 'admin'), get_string('confignavshowallcourses', 'admin'), 0));
     $temp->add(new admin_setting_configtext('navcourselimit',get_string('navcourselimit','admin'),get_string('confignavcourselimit', 'admin'),20,PARAM_INT));
+    $temp->add(new admin_setting_configcheckbox('navlinkcoursesections', get_string('navlinkcoursesections', 'admin'), get_string('navlinkcoursesections_help', 'admin'), 0));
 
     $ADMIN->add('appearance', $temp);
 
diff --git a/course/format/topics/lib.php b/course/format/topics/lib.php
index c80b5180a1c..9bd94d4a153 100644
--- a/course/format/topics/lib.php
+++ b/course/format/topics/lib.php
@@ -90,3 +90,14 @@ function callback_topics_ajax_support() {
     $ajaxsupport->testedbrowsers = array('MSIE' => 6.0, 'Gecko' => 20061111, 'Safari' => 531, 'Chrome' => 6.0);
     return $ajaxsupport;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns a URL to arrive directly at a section
+ *
+ * @param int $courseid The id of the course to get the link for
+ * @param int $sectionnum The section number to jump to
+ * @return moodle_url
+ */
+function callback_topics_get_section_url($courseid, $sectionnum) {
+    return new moodle_url('/course/view.php', array('id' => $courseid, 'topic' => $sectionnum));
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/course/format/weeks/lib.php b/course/format/weeks/lib.php
index e37454f38ff..34fd5010ed6 100644
--- a/course/format/weeks/lib.php
+++ b/course/format/weeks/lib.php
@@ -112,3 +112,14 @@ function callback_weeks_ajax_support() {
     $ajaxsupport->testedbrowsers = array('MSIE' => 6.0, 'Gecko' => 20061111, 'Safari' => 531, 'Chrome' => 6.0);
     return $ajaxsupport;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns a URL to arrive directly at a section
+ *
+ * @param int $courseid The id of the course to get the link for
+ * @param int $sectionnum The section number to jump to
+ * @return moodle_url
+ */
+function callback_weeks_get_section_url($courseid, $sectionnum) {
+    return new moodle_url('/course/view.php', array('id' => $courseid, 'week' => $sectionnum));
+}
diff --git a/lang/en/admin.php b/lang/en/admin.php
index bf5b8b05a92..77021d920fb 100644
--- a/lang/en/admin.php
+++ b/lang/en/admin.php
@@ -732,6 +732,8 @@ $string['mysql416bypassed'] = 'However, if your site is using iso-8859-1 (latin)
 $string['mysql416required'] = 'MySQL 4.1.16 is the minimum version required for Moodle 1.6 in order to guarantee that all data can be converted to UTF-8 in the future.';
 $string['navigationupgrade'] = 'This upgrade introduces two new navigation blocks that will replace these blocks: Administration, Courses, Activities and Participants.  If you had set any special permissions on those blocks you should check to make sure everything is behaving as you want it.';
 $string['navcourselimit'] = 'Course limit';
+$string['navlinkcoursesections'] = 'Link course sections';
+$string['navlinkcoursesections_help'] = 'If enabled course sections will be shown as links within the navigation.';
 $string['navshowallcourses'] = 'Show all courses';
 $string['navshowcategories'] = 'Show course categories';
 $string['neverdeleteruns'] = 'Never delete runs';
diff --git a/lib/navigationlib.php b/lib/navigationlib.php
index c76963bb50b..69dd5a9f97d 100644
--- a/lib/navigationlib.php
+++ b/lib/navigationlib.php
@@ -1635,9 +1635,20 @@ class global_navigation extends navigation_node {
 
         $namingfunction = 'callback_'.$courseformat.'_get_section_name';
         $namingfunctionexists = (function_exists($namingfunction));
-        $activesection = course_get_display($course->id);
+
         $viewhiddensections = has_capability('moodle/course:viewhiddensections', $this->page->context);
 
+        $urlfunction = 'callback_'.$courseformat.'_get_section_url';
+        if (empty($CFG->navlinkcoursesections) || !function_exists($urlfunction)) {
+            $urlfunction = null;
+        }
+
+        $keyfunction = 'callback_'.$courseformat.'_request_key';
+        $key = course_get_display($course->id);
+        if (defined('AJAX_SCRIPT') && AJAX_SCRIPT == '0' && function_exists($keyfunction) && $this->page->url->compare(new moodle_url('/course/view.php'), URL_MATCH_BASE)) {
+            $key = optional_param($keyfunction(), $key, PARAM_INT);
+        }
+
         $navigationsections = array();
         foreach ($sections as $sectionid => $section) {
             $section = clone($section);
@@ -1652,13 +1663,16 @@ class global_navigation extends navigation_node {
                 } else {
                     $sectionname = get_string('section').' '.$section->section;
                 }
-                //$url = new moodle_url('/course/view.php', array('id'=>$course->id));
+
                 $url = null;
+                if (!empty($urlfunction)) {
+                    $url = $urlfunction($course->id, $section->section);
+                }
                 $sectionnode = $coursenode->add($sectionname, $url, navigation_node::TYPE_SECTION, null, $section->id);
                 $sectionnode->nodetype = navigation_node::NODETYPE_BRANCH;
                 $sectionnode->hidden = (!$section->visible);
-                if ($this->page->context->contextlevel != CONTEXT_MODULE && $section->hasactivites && ($sectionnode->isactive || ($activesection && $section->section == $activesection))) {
-                    $sectionnode->force_open();
+                if ($key != '0' && $section->section != '0' && $section->section == $key && $this->page->context->contextlevel != CONTEXT_MODULE && $section->hasactivites) {
+                    $sectionnode->make_active();
                     $this->load_section_activities($sectionnode, $section->section, $activities);
                 }
                 $section->sectionnode = $sectionnode;