Using Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities (FBCU)
View answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff.
Defining Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities (FBCU)
Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities (FBCU) is a web-based request form for use at NIU. Faculty can make a variety of requests using the FBCU form including:
- Create a New Course in which student enrollment is automatically uploaded and refreshed daily.
- Create a New Shell for course development long before a course is to be offered.
- Remove a Shell to purge unwanted development courses.
All requests to the FBCU go through the processing server, which runs twice daily every week day throughout the semester. This means that changes will not appear immediately. Requests will be processed by mid-morning of the next business day. If you do not see the result of your request by noon of the following work day, please contact the ITS Call Center at 753-8100 for assistance.
Logging Into FBCU
- Log into Blackboard using your AccountID
- Click the Services tab.
- Click Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities.
- Enter your AccountID and Password.
- Click the Signon
button.
Explanation of Menu Options and Request Procedures
The FBCU menu, pictured below, will appear after the Novell login process. Below the image is an explanation of the various requests and when they will be useful.
Request a New Course
This process creates a teaching course populated with student enrollment. This step provides the faculty member with a course containing only the student roster. When the option is selected, a copyright and non-commercial use notice will appear. Users' must accept the terms before begin allowed to proceed.
- Select the department, course number and semester from the options provided.
Note: The faculty member AccounID is already listed, a result of officially logging into the FBCU.
- Click the Submit button in the next several screens to verify the request.
- Return to the Main Menu to make additional requests.
- After the scheduled section is created and the faculty member has copied any needed materials into the course, she will need to make the course available to students through the course Control Panel. Instructions for setting course availability are here.
- Materials can be copied from a current course, an old course or a shell into the new course.
Create a New Shell
- Request a "shell" for a course you have never taught in Blackboard but wish to begin developing ahead of time.
- Request a different shell for each course number.
- Shells should always be "unavailable," meaning they are not accessible to students.
- No student names should be added to a shell.
- Shells remain intact on the Blackboard server until faculty members request their removal.
- To request a new shell, login to Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities
- Click Create New Shell.
- Select appropriate department from pull-down menu and add course number in text box.
Note: Do not add section numbers or letters to the course number.
- Click the Submit button.
- System will list ShellID and ask for verification.
- Submit request.
Remove a Shell
After using Blackboard for several semesters, faculty members may have duplicate shells. The request will not be processed immediately (see note at top of page). This process is permanent! Be certain to remove only nonessential shells. See FAQ for hints.
To request removal of a shell, login to Faculty Blackboard Course Utilities.
- Select Remove Shell.
- Select appropriate shell from provided list.
- Click the Submit button and verify request.
Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to getting started teaching with Blackboard? Review the answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff regarding getting started teaching with Blackboard. Also, consider attending an upcoming Blackboard workshop.
Last Updated: 05/15/2008
