Setting up your Norton course in Blackboard through VitalSource

Setting up your Norton course:

  1.  The deep linking tool is accessed from any Content area in Blackboard. If you don't have any Content areas yet, first add one.

       2. Launch the deep linking tool

 a. In Blackboard Classic/Original View, from any content area click Build Content, and select VitalSource deep link selector (note that the name for the VitalSource Deep Linking tool might vary slightly. b.    In Blackboard Ultra View, from any content area click the plus (+) icon, and choose the Content Market. From the Institution Tools section, select VitalSource deep link selector to access VitalSource deep linking.

 b. In Blackboard Ultra View, from any content area click the plus (+) icon, and choose the Content Market. From the Institution Tools section, select VitalSource deep link selector to access VitalSource deep linking.


        3. You will see the Norton text and courseware that have been paired with your course. Click Open Publisher Tool. If your course pairing is not complete, reach out to your bookstore.

        4. Log in using the email and password tied to your Norton account. If you don’t have a Norton account yet, reach out to your Norton rep for help.

        5. Follow the steps in the wizard to create a Norton course, which is matched to your Blackboard course. You’ll need to set this up just once per Blackboard course.

 a. Step 1. This step confirms that you’re connected with your Blackboard course. 

b. Step 2Confirm that the course material paired to your course is correct. If this is not correct, please contact your bookstore to get it updated to the correct material before proceeding.

c. If applicable, confirm whether your course is participating in your school’s inclusive or equitable access program. Note that this program can be called different names.


     d. Step 3. Enter some required course details. 


 e. Step 4. Confirm all your course information and create the course. (Or, to correct anything, use the “Previous” button to go back and edit it.) 


Adding deep links to course material:

Choose your integration type

For graded assignments, you may choose to send individual assignment links (most popular), or product homepage links.

  • Choose individual assignment links if you want your students to access separate links for each assignment in Canvas. This will create separate grade columns in the Blackboard gradebook for each assignment per student.
  • Choose product homepage links if you want your student to have one link in Blackboard for each Norton product. This will create one grade column for each Norton product in the Blackboard gradebook per student. This grade is a cumulative average of all assignments for that product.   

      Add Links

      1.  Choose course material to add to your Blackboard course

              a. Resource links such as Videos, Documents, or unassignable Ebooks, will be sent to Blackboard as ungraded External Tool links.    b. Assignable activities like Norton Illumine Ebook, InQuizitive, Smartwork, Tutorials, etc. will be sent to Blackboard as Graded External Tool links, with a corresponding Gradebook column

       i. For assignments, you may set a due date, and adjust the LMS point value

      2.   Click the Review & Send to LMS button at the bottom of the screen. You’ll see a summary of the links you selected. Confirm, and Send to LMS. 


      3.  When complete, the modal will close, and you will see the content in your Blackboard course.  You can reorganize or regroup your content in Blackboard so that your course is laid out the way you want.

                  Classic View:



                Ultra View:


      Relaunching deep linking tool:

      You don’t have to select all your links at once. You can launch this tool from your Blackboard course to add additional links throughout the semester.

      1. From Blackboard Modules, relaunch the deep linking tool.
        1. In Blackboard Classic/Original View, from any content area click Build Content, and select VitalSource deep link selector (note that the name for the VitalSource Deep Linking tool might vary slightly.)


      b. In Blackboard Ultra View, from any content area click the plus (+) icon, and choose the Content Market. From the Institution Tools section, select VitalSource deep link selector to access VitalSource deep linking.

             2.  Click Open Publisher Tool

           3.  Follow the steps listed here: Adding deep links to course material

      a. Note that the tool will indicate which links you have already added to your course