Courses and organizations can be associated to more than one node in the Institutional Hierarchy, but one of these associations must be designated as the primary association. The primary association determines which node a course looks to for its tool settings: whether a tool is available, and whether guest and observer access is enabled for the tools.
The node may also specify default values for other course settings such as tabs, modules, and tools. The node's settings apply only to those courses associated with the node itself, not courses in general. Default course settings, such as menus, structures, and themes, can't be controlled through nodes.
Select a primary node association for an object
From new or existing objects
- Create or edit an object, such as a course or user.
- Select Find Node.
- Search for a node and select it.
- Select Submit.
If more than one node is associated, select the Primary Node radio button beside the node you want to be primary.
From the hierarchy user interface
When the admin selects objects to add to her node, the system checks to see if each selected object has an existing primary node association. If an object doesn't have a primary node association, the system creates a primary association for that object to the selected node. If an object already has a primary node association, the system creates a secondary association for that object to the selected node.
Missing primary node associations
A course or organization associated to the hierarchy may not have a primary associations if it was deleted. If a primary association is deleted (either directly, or through the deletion of its parent node), and there are two or more other associations for that course/org, then it is the user's responsibility to decide which of those should be the primary association. Until the user does so, they will both remain secondary.
A course or organization lacking a primary association looks to the root-level settings to determine what the settings should be.
