Faculty Resources: Vista Project Sites
IMPORTANT: The instructions on this page are related only to special Vista Projects and not to regular Vista courses. Faculty who wish to manage a regular R&R section in Vista should do so through the Section Management Tool.
- Courses and Sections in Blackboard Vista
- How to create a section
- How to make yourself the Instructor/Designer of a section
- How to add other users to a section
Courses and Sections in Blackboard Vista
Most users of Blackboard Vista only see sites at the SECTION level. Your Vista project site resides at the COURSE level. In order to make a space for people to use, you must create a SECTION within that course.
Course Instructor/Designers have access to the two additional tabs on the My Courses page: the Administration tab, where you can create sections within your project site, and modify the sections' rosters, and the Content Manager tab, where you can work with course templates.
How to create a section
- Log in at http://vista.ncsu.edu
- From the My Courses screen, click the Administration tab (see illustration).
- Using the panel on the left side of the screen, navigate to "NCSU -- Default Division -- _VISTA PROJECTS". Your project site's name should appear beneath "_VISTA PROJECTS". Click your project's name.
- In the main screen area, click the Create Section button. The Create Section screen will appear (see illustration below).
- Enter a Title for the new section. This is the title that will appear after the hyphen in the listing on users' My Courses page. The other fields on this page are optional, and if you wish, you may leave them all blank. For more information about these settings, click the Help link in the upper right of the page.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
You have created a new section and you should now see the section listed on the course's page on the Administration tab. You will not yet see it listed on your My Courses page, however. In order to gain access to the section, you must enroll users (including yourself) into the section.
How to make yourself the Instructor/Designer of a section
For an explanation of Vista user roles, see the additional Roles info here.
- If you're not already logged in to Vista, log in at http://vista.ncsu.edu (link opens new window).
- From the My Courses screen, click the Administration tab, and navigate to "NCSU -- Default Division -- _VISTA PROJECTS" using the folder display on the left side of the screen.
- Click the name of the Section to which you want to add yourself as Instructor/Designer. Then, click the Enrollment tab if it's not automatically active.
- Check the boxes next to Section Instructor AND Section Designer, and then click the Enroll into Selected Roles button. The Enrollment - Query User screen will appear.
- Enter your Unity ID in the field marked "Value", and then click the Run Query button (see diagram below).
- A new screen will show the results of your query. Verify that the user is the person you wish to add. Check the box next to the user name, and then click the Enroll button. On the next screen, click OK.
Once you have added yourself as Section Instructor/Designer, you will see the section listed on your My Courses page, and you can add content and tools to the section, just as you would any section.
How to add other users to your section
Important: These instructions are for non-course-related uses of Vista only. NCSU instructors who wish to add users to an actual R&R section should use the Section Management Tool.
For an explanation of Vista user roles, see the additional Roles info here.
- If you're not already logged in to Vista, log in at http://vista.ncsu.edu (link opens new window).
- From the My Courses screen, click the Administration tab, and navigate to "NCSU -- Default Division -- _VISTA PROJECTS" using the folder display on the left side of the screen.
- Click the name of the Section to which you want to add the user. Then, click the Enrollment tab if it's not automatically active.
- Check the boxes next to the role(s) you wish to assign, and then click the Enroll into Selected Roles button. The Enrollment - Query User screen will appear.
- Enter the user's Unity ID in the field marked "Value", and then click the Run Query button (see diagram below).
- A new screen will show the results of your query. Verify that the user is the person you wish to add. Check the box next to the user name, and then click the Enroll button. On the next screen, click OK.
Once you have added a user with this process, the user will see your section listed on his or her My Courses page, and will be able to access the section.