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Frequently Asked Questions
"What are GenEds?"
GenEd is short for General Education. GenEds are classifications of courses that all students are required to take. BingBuilder allows you to browse courses by their GenEd classification by selecting the "GenEd" button inside of the "Schedule Info" panel. The default browsing classification is by department. There are several kinds of GenEds, 14 in total, that intend to give students a broad, well-rounded background in various concentrations. For BU's page on GenEds, see gened.binghamton.edu. Excerpted below are some frequently asked questions regarding GenEds:
How do I know if a course meets a GenEd requirement? GenEd courses are identified in the Schedule of Classes. To receive GenEd credit, a course must be identified with a GenEd letter (A, C, etc.) in the semester in which you take it. GenEd designations are finalized by the add deadline for each semester.
Can a course fulfill more than one GenEd requirement? Some GenEd courses may carry more than one GenEd tag (for example, CHP). However, except for C, O, J or Foreign Language classes, GenEd courses may be used to fulfill only one GenEd category. C, O, J or Foreign Language courses may double-count with one other GenEd requirement. Your DARS report will use double-tagged courses in the category in which they are needed; for example, if you take a course designated CNP, you will receive either the CP or the CN, whichever DARS decides you need most.See this form, the latest GenEd planning sheet designed for Freshmen and transfer students. With this sheet, you will be able to see the different GenEds and begin planning with which courses you would like to fulfill them.
"Why do I need to register an account?"
An account is not required to create a schedule or to browse courses, but to save your current schedule or to load an existing one, the program needs to know whose information to look up. This is why registration is not required but recommended. Additionally, if there are any significant changes to either Binghamton's course registration process or BingBuilder's, you will be notified by email. The email address provided at registration will need to be verified in order to log in and receive email notifications. The purpose of this is to make sure that the person at the email address is the same person who registered. To use the Course WaitList you must have an account because you receive an email when that course has a free seat. Register an account »
"How can I help spread the word about BingBuilder?"
The best way to get the BingBuilder name out is word of mouth. We are currently looking into all facets of media on campus; radio, newspaper, magazines, television, but the best way to reach out to students are with the students themselves. Tell your friends, your RA, and even your classmates about BingBuilder and get the word out. Print out a BingBuilder flyer and ask your RA to post it around your residence hall.
"What's with the clock thing when I click on a section?"
When you select a section, BingBuilder makes a request to the BU BRAIN server and parses through the data to get the up-to-the-second enrollment information for the selected section. While this is going on, you see a little clock icon and in place of the current enrollment you will see an ellipsis. You don't have to wait for the enrollment information, you can go ahead and add the course or select another section. If you do add the course, selecting it on the schedule grid will reconnect to BU BRAIN and finish getting the enrollment data.
"Why does it take so long to load sometimes?"
It is normal to encounter the clock thing sometimes when using BingBuilder's schedule builder. If you find yourself seeing too much of the clock thing, the problem may actually be with your internet connection. In high-usage areas such as residence halls and the computer PODS, the internet connection may be slow to compensate for the volume of people trying to use it. Consequently, it could take longer to process a request such as loading a schedule or initializing the schedule builder. Unfortunately, the speed of the on-campus internet is far beyond BingBuilder's control.
"Why are the days laid out horizontally on the schedule?"
The main reason why the grid is designed this way is to fit the entire application in the browser without having to scroll up, down, or sideways to view the rest of the content. For people with high resolution, this is not a problem and there may even be blank space. However, most people are using medium resolution and the schedule grid should fit snugly even if the bookmark sidebar is open. The problem with using the traditional vertical layout is that people would have to scroll up and down to use the course browser and the schedule grid concurrently. One of the main advantages of BingBuilder over other sites of its kind is the ability to select a course or section in the course browser and immediately see its placement in the schedule. If laid out vertically, most people would have to be scrolling up and down to see these changes. Perhaps in the future, the option to view the grid vertically could be added. If you feel it is necessary to add this feature, tell us and we will seriously consider it.
"Why are there Schedules A, B, and C? What are they?"
When you choose to load or save a schedule, you are given the option to select Fall 2008 Schedule A, B, or C. All BingBuilder users are given three slots to store schedules. When BingBuilder serves more than just the Fall 2008 schedule, users will get three more slots for every additional semester. To take advantage of these extra slots, one might save back-up schedules in case a course closes or save multiple permutations of course configurations. We settled on three slots because it seemed reasonable, but if people say that they need more, we are amenable to increasing the allotment.
If you cannot find the answer to your question, ask it via the feedback form.
