School of Divinity Faculty Policies

Transcription

1 School of Divinity Faculty Policies [last updated 8/21/2014] Overview I. Introduction to Online: Extending the Reach and Fostering the Brand II. Online Policies III. Hybrid Policies IV. Degree Completion Writing Standards V. Master of Religion Writing Standards The instructor should be familiar with and follow all policies. For numerous helps and resources for faculty see I. Introduction to Online: Extending the Reach and Fostering the Brand Like everything at Cairn University, Cairn s online programs must be designed and executed in accord with the mission statement of the university. While the online programs are designed to extend the reach and influence of Cairn s educational mission, they must also remain true to the Cairn brand of education. Not only must these new programs preserve, they must also foster the integrity of the Cairn brand not only initially, but over the long term. Cairn University exists to educate students to serve Christ in the church, society, and the world as biblically minded, well-educated, and professionally competent men and women of character. A. Fostering the Integrity of the Cairn Brand: Design The programs and courses are designed so that faculty instruct students with regular and substantial academic interaction. In the case of the divinity program, for example, this requires designing the courses with robust instructional sessions, while also designing dynamic facultystudent interaction. Cairn s online programs are designed by faculty, deans, and their academic departments under the provost, just as in any other academic program. The distance learning department plays a critical supporting role. B. Fostering the Integrity of the Cairn Brand: Long-Term Implementation Because the incarnational element is such a critical part of our educational model, instructors need to invest in substantial interaction with students, built around student learning. Each course has this substantive interaction built into it from the outset. Student difficulties should

2 primarily be handled as personally as possible in one-on-one dialogue between teacher and student through , or either video or audio calls. This approach most closely approximates the incarnational element that characterizes our on-campus education. Online courses and the programs are designed to offer online students numerous opportunities to participate in Cairn s academic community. This will include links and digital media to as many of University s co-curricular activities as possible chapel services, concerts, and other student events. While some online students may not take advantage of these, it is important for us to show that when we offer a Cairn degree opportunity it involves more than just classes. We will need to reimagine the boundaries of our community to include its digital dimensions. Faculty and staff need to be vigilant in serving online students well, in keeping with our commitment to any of our other students. The vehicles for serving offsite students differ, but the needs are as important and pressing as those of students who stand before us every day. We must provide advice, writing labs, and personal attention to help students succeed in the same way we do every day on campus. A. General Faculty Responsibilities II. Online Policies All faculty must complete the required Divinity online training course in the University s class page system before teaching online. The course will provide guidance for weekly and daily class page management and communication with students, grading exams, grading papers, grading forums, final grades, connecting students who need academic and/or other kinds help with the appropriate University resources, and handling difficult situations. Instructors are to handle themselves professionally and maintain a friendly, courteous, and dignified spirit in all student interactions. Instructors need to keep helping students in the forefront of their work. The goal of the instructor needs to be about quality delivery of the University s education in accord with the mission of the University. Class lectures, discussions, assignments, and so on, need to be designed in a rigorous and dynamic way in accord with firstrate university instruction. Faculty are expected to provide regular and substantive academic interaction with students. What does regular and substantive academic interaction mean? First, it especially applies to providing timely and substantive feedback on student work. Faculty are the experts who offer guidance and constructive feedback on each individual student s work. Most online divinity courses will include elements of subjective grading for each student every week. Second, every online divinity course will include opportunity for students to participate in quasi-direct interaction with the instructor during live instruction session(s). Third, instructors must be committed to responding to student ideally within 24 hours while the course is in session. B. Preparing to Teach an Online Course 2

3 Each divinity course will contain certain parts which need to be prepared by the instructors themselves before the course begins. The specifics will be spelled out in the syllabus template provided by the chair of the program. Typical elements which the instructor will need to create include contested issue forum assignments. To maintain lively and dynamic forum interact assignments need to be focused on challenging academic issues which motivate string student involvement. Instructors need to submit course syllabi for approval according to agreed upon dates (typically at least three months before the course is to begin). Instructors should spend time working through all elements of the course on the course page in order to help students. Students will expect instructors to have thorough knowledge of every element of the class page. Instructors should create weekly announcements before the course begins. These should be clear, specific, and short, designed to help students succeed in their studies during the class week in question. Every paper for the course needs to be submitted through the class page plagiarism device as well as submitted for grading (students will turn in papers twice, or three times in the case of some forums). The instructor needs to set up the plagiarism detection submissions for each paper (i.e., Turnitin, or the like). C. Daily and Weekly Faculty Responsibilities during an Online Course Online course weeks begin on Monday at 12:00 am and end on Sunday 11:59 pm. Instructors post the weekly announcement ideally on the Friday before the class week begins, to give students a chance to work ahead. The instructor needs to open the next week of the course at the time the weekly announcement is posted. Instructors need strive to respond to student within 24 hours while a course is in session. When an instructor will be unable to respond to student with 48 hours advance arrangements need to be made with the program chair. Instructor course contracts include commitment to consistent and prompt response to student s. Instructor should check class open discussion forum daily (this forum is for students to post prayer requests, and ask fellow students questions, and the like). Instructors need to provide prompt turn around in marking student work. Student work should be marked within one week of submission, though faster turnaround is ideal. D. Live Online Instruction 3

4 All course need to include live online instruction, in which students have an opportunity to learn directly from the instructor. This may take many forms. Here is an example of a typical format for online divinity courses. In a course which includes two contested issue discussion board forums created by instructors themselves, the instructor should plan a session at the beginning of the class week to introduce the forum, and provide question and answer. The instructor should announce and plan to host a group video session, often mid-evening (e.g., 7:00 pm EST) on the Monday when the new forum begins. Students are to attend unless they have legitimate conflict (determined at the instructor s discretion). The instructor should take up to ten minutes to frame the contested issue at the center of the discussion board forum, and then take questions. The entire session should be limited to 30 minutes, to insure student schedules are respected. The technology options used as a vehicle for the live session will be provided in the training course. Many of the forums will provide opportunity to interact with difficult issues. Handling thorny issues well is an important part of being well-educated and a person of character. Acquiring knowledge and competency with the content of the scriptures, theology, and ministry needs to be applying to serious challenges our students will face every week. E. Grading All assignments are to be submitted and returned within the University s class page system. The first assignment of the course should be marked with constructive feedback and returned within a couple of days so students understand how to improve their work before they need to complete the next assignment(s). Other assignments should be marked and returned within one week, always with some kind of constructive rationale for the grade, and other feedback which will help students. Every paper must be submitted through the integrated plagiarism detection device on the class page system (see in addition to being submitted for grading. Final grades must be posted on SelfService within two weeks of the final class session ( The only exception is if the faculty member submits an Incomplete Grade Contract form, in which case the student is given and I ; for Incomplete Grade Contract form with instructions posted therein see Incomplete Contracts should be reserved for true emergencies and typically provide an additional couple of weeks to finish the work, though up to 12 weeks may be granted. Download the gradebook in a spreadsheet file. Instructors are expected to keep gradebooks on file indefinitely. 4

5 When final grades are submitted close eyes for each week of course on class page, leaving only top box revealed. If a student has an Incomplete Grade Contract leave open those weeks the student needs, and then close these when the student has finished or the time granted for the contract has expired. We are required to make the materials unavailable after the course has ended to honor copyright regulations. For program specifics see DC or MAR grading standards below. F. Late Work Late work is penalized at 10% daily. Discussion board forums are an exception, they may not be made up late. Discussions require group participation which must be completed in the set time. Students should be encouraged to begin participation early to avoid end of the week difficulties. Exceptions are made for true emergencies like death in the family, power failures due to severe weather, serious illness, unexpected military deployment, and the like. Students are expected to make arrangements with instructors in advance (whenever feasible) and provide appropriate documentation. Students may scan or take a cell phone picture of the documentation and it to the instructor. Determining what constitutes a legitimate emergency is at the instructor s discretion. The instructor should contact the student who does not complete an assignment as soon as possible ideally each week on the first day an assignment is late (typically Mondays for online courses). This helps students by providing accountability, and also keeping late work from snowballing. The instructor is encouraged to design a typical to notify the student that an assignment is late. [sample courtesy for late work] This is a courtesy notice because the homework for last week is not complete. Please note there is a 10% daily penalty for late work. See syllabus for further details. Please complete the work quickly to avoid further penalties. Please contact me if you are not planning to complete the course or if you have any questions. G. Academic integrity The instructor is expected to adhere to University guidelines regarding student academic honesty. For academic integrity policies and procedures see CUAh79ihqR4MFvgCKI2W1w0/edit?pli=1 H. Additional Faculty Responsibilities 5

6 Maintain competency in the University s class page system and other programs, including any necessary training (e.g., elearning, SelfService). This will include required faculty training sessions every year. When the course is finished instructors are expected to download the attendance spreadsheet and the gradebook spreadsheet. The instructor needs to keep these in a digital file indefinitely. Adhere to all other University academic policies, like plagiarism, etc.; carefully read the program handbook, for MAR see for DC see As instructors learn to deal with matters like grade changes, incomplete grade contract, midsemester warning grades, final grades on SelfService, technology services work orders, and the like, please follow University guidelines. The divinity administrative assistant is happy to help ( ). It is hoped that the regular adjunct professor will learn to handle matters according to University policies and procedures. A. Taking Attendance in elearning III. Hybrid Policies: Degree Completion Instructors are required to take attendance on the University s class page system at the beginning of each class session. This attendance to provide real time, accurate information to business services and financial aid so that the University abides by the laws and regulations relative to student aid programs. On setting up attendance see Below is an example of how to track class time missed (use late for partial missed class whether late arrival or leaving early). 6

7 B. Attendance & Late Work Absence. The student will be excused 30 minutes of attendance total in a 3 credit course, and 60 minutes total in a 6 credit course. The student who is absent beyond this will receive a penalty of 1 point per every half hour of absence (whether by arriving late or leaving early). Exceptions are made only in the case of emergencies cleared in advance along with make-up work equal to the time missed. Excused absences. The instructor should prepare in advance makeup work for those students who may have emergencies which cause absence (see syllabus statement below). For example, to compensate for missing one week of class attendance because of an emergency or family death the student may read one or two academic level journal article(s) of forty pages total, give or take, and write a summary of and response to the reading(s). The makeup assignment should be approximately the same amount of time as the missed class (e.g., four hours for one evening of class sessions). It is best to have these materials scanned and available in a folder on the class page entitled handouts and other materials or the like (contact administrative assistant of degree completion for assistance scanning materials). Here is a typical to the student who is eligible for a makeup assignment based on absence for emergency reasons (simply replace the asterisk with the appropriate information). Any student who misses class for an emergency or the like one time is eligible to make up the class time so that they are not counted absent, but converted to excused absence. To make up for the missed class time please read the essay by * in the folder called handouts and other materials near the top of our class page. Please write a two or three page response. Be sure to state at the beginning or end that you have read this essay completely. Please the response to me. When an acceptable response paper has been submitted your absence will be excused. The reading and response needs to be completed by the last class session. 7

8 For a MicrosoftWord version of the above note to cut and paste into an go to Instructors are free to use the above as is, or modify it according to their needs. Once a student has submitted an acceptable makeup assignment, the instructor should change the attendance the class page from A to E for the missed class and type a note saying the makeup work has been satisfied with a date, or the like. Judging the viability of emergencies and the like is at the instructor s discretion. In no case may a student miss more than 30% of class attendance and pass the course. Late work. Late work will receive a daily academic penalty of ten percent. Exceptions for emergencies and the like at the instructor s discretion. C. Classroom Class lectures, discussions, assignments, and so on, need to be designed in a rigorous and dynamic way in accord with first-rate university instruction. Instructors are to dress professionally, business casual is fine, and maintain a friendly, courteous, and professional spirit in all student interactions. Instructors need to keep helping students in the forefront of their work. The goal of the instructor needs to be about quality delivery of the University s education in accord with the mission of the University and the stated design of the degree completion program (see University web pages). All handouts should be delivered to students on the class page system unless there is some reason why hard copies need to be distributed in class. D. Academic Maintain competency in the University s class page system and other programs, including any necessary training (e.g., elearning, SelfService). All assignments are to be submitted and returned within the University s class page system. The first assignment of the course should be marked with constructive feedback and returned within a couple of days so students understand how to improve their work before they need to complete the next assignment(s). Other assignments should be marked and returned within one week, always with some kind of constructive rationale for the grade. Instructors are expected to use the gradebook in the University s class page system. 8

9 The instructor should have students submit papers through the integrated plagiarism detection device on the class page system (see All papers need to be graded by the standard rubric and in accord with standard paper guidelines. The following link needs to be placed on class page to remind students of the writing standards ( When preparing syllabi, note that all assignments for a course need to be completed within one week of the last class session. That is, all course work needs to be completed before the student begins the next module. Also, whenever possible, please avoid pre-course assignments. Final grades must be posted on SelfService within two weeks of the final class session ( The only exception is if the faculty member submits an incomplete grade contract form, in which case the student is given and I (for incomplete grade contract form see When the course is finished instructors are expected to download the attendance spreadsheet and the gradebook spreadsheet. The instructor needs to keep these in a digital file indefinitely. E. Classroom Visitors Students who wish to bring guests, visitors, or family of any age to class must obtain permission from the Degree Completion office before the beginning of class. Minors on campus must be accompanied at all times by the legal parent or guardian. IV. Degree Completion Writing Standards Degree Completion (DC) writing style is MLA (in conjunction with the University s undergraduate standard). All papers need to be graded by the standard rubric and in accord with standard paper guidelines. The following link needs to be placed on class page to remind students of the writing standards, see student page The student page is embedded in every class page and available to students. Other DC faculty helps, including tips and guidelines for grading, forms, and so on, see V. Master of Religion Writing Standards Master of Religion (MAR) writing style is SBL (in conjunction with the Divinity School s graduate level standard). All MAR papers need to be graded by the standard rubric and in accord with standard paper guidelines. The following link needs to be placed on class page to remind students of the writing 9

10 standards, see student page The student page is embedded in every class page and available to students. Other MAR faculty helps available at 10