diff --git a/lms/templates/courseware/course_about_sidebar_header.html b/lms/templates/courseware/course_about_sidebar_header.html
index 027587ef3a..0d6b1345af 100644
--- a/lms/templates/courseware/course_about_sidebar_header.html
+++ b/lms/templates/courseware/course_about_sidebar_header.html
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 <%namespace name='static' file='../static_content.html'/>
 <%!
+import urllib
+
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.conf import settings
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ from django.conf import settings
     ##       want here (and on this whole page, really).
       <%
         site_domain = static.get_value('site_domain', settings.SITE_NAME)
+        site_protocol = 'https' if settings.HTTPS == 'on' else 'http'
         platform_name = static.get_platform_name()
 
         ## Translators: This text will be automatically posted to the student's
@@ -22,9 +25,12 @@ from django.conf import settings
             number=course.number,
             title=course.display_name_with_default_escaped,
             account=static.get_value('course_about_twitter_account', settings.PLATFORM_TWITTER_ACCOUNT),
-            url=u"http://{domain}{path}".format(
+            url=u"{protocol}://{domain}{path}".format(
+                protocol=site_protocol,
                 domain=site_domain,
-                path=reverse('about_course', args=[course.id.to_deprecated_string()])
+                path=urllib.quote_plus(
+                    reverse('about_course', args=[course.id.to_deprecated_string()])
+                )
             )
         ).replace(u" ", u"+")
         tweet_action = u"http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text={tweet_text}".format(tweet_text=tweet_text)
@@ -37,9 +43,12 @@ from django.conf import settings
                 number=course.number,
                 title=course.display_name_with_default_escaped,
                 platform=platform_name,
-                url=u"http://{domain}{path}".format(
+                url=u"{protocol}://{domain}{path}".format(
+                    protocol=site_protocol,
                     domain=site_domain,
-                    path=reverse('about_course', args=[course.id.to_deprecated_string()]),
+                    path=urllib.quote_plus(
+                        reverse('about_course', args=[course.id.to_deprecated_string()]),
+                    )
                 )
             )
         ).replace(u" ", u"%20")