Add the Bison Ready Course Materials Link to Your Bb Ultra Course

This past fall, NDSU’s Inclusive Access program expanded into the Bison Ready program. Among many benefits, Bison Ready gives undergraduate students the choice between paying a flat rate for their required course materials or paying per-item as they have in the past. Graduate students are also saving money through reduced prices for digital course materials. Visit the Bison Ready page for program details. Your students are also receiving program details via email leading up to, and through, the start of the semester, and can contact the NDSU Bookstore with any questions!

To help students gain access to their Bison Ready portal, we recommend that faculty post the Bison Ready Course Materials link in all Bb courses, regardless of whether you are using digital materials linked to your Bb course. Making the link is easy! See instructions below.

Before you start:

• This past fall, the VitalSource and Pearson LTI tools were updated from 1.1 to 1.3. If you copied a VitalSource or Pearson link from your fall Bb course, it may need to be redone.
• If you copied over a Bb course from a previous semester, we recommend deleting the Course Materials link from the old course and redoing it
• If you are merging Bb courses, we recommend that you delete any links in the child courses before merging and add the link to your merged course. 
• If you are using any of the publisher-delivered homework items below, these instructions will provide access to the Bison Ready student portal, but will not provide access to the homework item itself:
  • Achieve
  • ALEKs
  • Aktiv
  • Connect
  • inQuizitive
  • Lippincott CoursePoint
  • MindTap
  • Novela
  • OWL
  • Packback
  • Top Hat eBooks
  • Vantage
  • WebAssign
  • WileyPlus
  • and a few others not delivered by VitalSource

Contact our publisher representatives for assistance in integrating links for the homework items above. The NDSU Bookstore can provide contact information if needed!

• If you are using any of the VitalSource-delivered eBook or homework items below, these instructions will provide access to the Bison Ready student portal and will provide access to the eBook or homework item itself:
  • eBook-only items
  • Pearson homework items (MyLab, Mastering, Modified Mastering, Pearson+, Revel)
  • LabFlow
  • Cloud Labs
  • Minitab
  • Navigate
  • Oxford Insight
  • Stukent Simternships
  • Top Hat Classroom (clicker app)

Link instructions:

1. Log into your Bb course and click the "+" sign on the line under "Course Content," then click Content Market:
   
   
   
   
2. Scroll down the Content Market and click the "+" sign on the "VitalSource 1.3 - NDSU" tile:
   
   
   
   
3. Click the three dots, then "Edit."
   
   
   
   
4. Hover your mouse next to “VitalSource 1.3–NDSU” and a pencil symbol will appear:
   
   
   
   Click the pencil to edit the link name and rename it "Course Materials". You can name it what you would like, but we recommend “Course Materials” as students can access their booklist for all their courses via the link.
   
   
5. Update the visibility to students, add a Description as desired, then click Save:
   
   
   
   • If you have multiple VitalSource-delivered digital materials, you only need to make one link for students to access them.
     
     
6. Click on your link to test it:
   
   
   
   • A couple of things to note:
     • It may take up to three hours after you test-click the link for Bb to resync, for the “0 Course Materials” message to disappear, and for the steps below to work correctly
     • Make sure we are aware of all of your sections using the item(s). If we are not aware of all sections using an item, and the Bb courses are merged together, the link will not provide access to VitalSource-delivered items for students in the sections that we are unaware of.
       
       
   • Your link should bring you to an Instructor Portal/My Courses Home page, where you can view your current courses and access instructor resources. If you are using a Bb-embedded eBook, an instructor copy of it will be accessible here:
     
     
     
     
     • My Courses = your items for the current semester
     • My Library = your items from past semesters
     • Instructor Analytics = you can view students' usage of VitalSource-delivered items
       
       
   • When students click on your link, they are forwarded to a similar page that lists all of their course materials that the Bookstore is aware of, for all of their classes.
     • If you are using a Bb-embedded eBook, students can access it by going to their MyCourses area and clicking “Read Now” next to the eBook.
     • If you are using a Bb-embedded homework item from the VitalSource-delivered list above, students can access it by clicking “Launch Courseware” next to the item. 
     • If the homework item is from the publisher-delivered list above, students will use the integrated link the publisher has provided you to access it. The integrated link should not ask students to pay or enter an access code.
   • If you are not using a Bb-embedded item for your course, students will still be able to see and shop for all of their course materials that the Bookstore is aware of, for all of their classes. Students make Bison Ready participation decisions and access any Library or OER resources in the portal
     
     
   If, after three hours, your link does not bring you to the Instructor Portal/My Courses Home page or gives you an error message, contact Alicia at alicia.laferriere@ndsu.edu with your Bb Course ID(s). This can be found in the Properties area and typically follows this format: NDSU1 - Term Code - Department/Course - Section # etc…
   
   
7. Post information in your Bb course, syllabus, and/or email your students regarding how to find the Bison Ready Course Materials link in your Bb course.
   • Remind students to watch for emails from the NDSU Bookstore regarding Bison Ready program details and the deadline to finalize participation level.
   • Informational emails begin going out to enrolled students approximately two weeks prior to the start of the course.
   • If you do not receive your copy of this email, email or call Alicia at 1-9478.
     
     
8. If you are using VitalSource-delivered eBooks and would like to link to specific parts of the eBook in your Bb course, that feature is currently in progress! We hope to be able to provide additional instructions on Deep Linking later this spring.