ETHICS OF COURSE WORK (Click on section titles to move to that section)
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Academic Integrity and Other Course-Related Character Problems
Dealing with Late Assignments and Exams
Dealing with Excessive Student Absences and Tardiness
Changing Grades after Submission
Scheduling Assignments and Returning Graded Ones Promptly
Privacy in Returning Assignments & Informing about Grades
Academic Integrity and Other Course-Related Character Problems Students are taught academic integrity during the LP orientation of new student Freshman Intensive Training (FIT) & the Critical Thinking & Writing course, in the Student Handbook and Format Guide, and in the school research methods courses. Instructors should expect academic integrity and hold students accountable.
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Students are also expected to arrive for classes and hand in assignments on time. These are traits that show good personal discipline. Failure to do them shows character flaws that may need development before graduation to help them be more mature in their future ministry.
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On the other hand, some students do exceptional work that clearly shows good thinking and scholarship for their current level of training. Please do not forget to notify LP of exceptionally good work as this record may be needed in assigning appropriate work to academic student assistants and future references for alumni.
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Finally, as academic mentors, instructors must model what they want the students to become. This includes arriving and being prepared for class on time, maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity in course notes and other instructional material consistent with what students have been taught in their FIT LP orientation, research methods course(s), and the Format Guide as appropriate in the information age, and returning graded papers in a timely manner. Failure to model these things properly creates a credibility gap in the minds of students who know what is expected but do not see it as important in the lives of their academic mentors.
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As part of the faculty’s role to mentor IGSL students in the area of academic integrity, all instructors are required to use Turnitin. Instructors are required to use this service for all written assessments assigned in their courses (exegetical, reflection, research, etc. papers). The software has proven to be a beneficial tool to both students and instructors. Students are 20 able to check their papers for proper citation of borrowed sources and make necessary corrections before final submission. Instructors can easily see the sources used to determine if it was summarized or quoted properly in the body text and cited properly.
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A course titled “Faculty Training for Turnitin” is available in Moodle for those that have never used this service or need refresher training. It contains various resources to help you implement the use of Turnitin in your classes. Please avail yourself of this resource first. If further help is required, please contact the LP Administrative Assistant to set up additional training. Concerns and questions regarding maintaining standards of academic integrity should be addressed to the Academic Dean.
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Dealing with Violations The procedures for handling violations are designed to help educate and correct unintentional violators and discipline intentional ones. Where students are teachable and have pure motives, the goal is character transformation. Where they are unteachable and have impure motives, the goal is to avoid empowering them with inappropriate credibility in ministry were they to receive a school diploma.
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During each term, instructors will be given a confidential list of people being monitored for known academic problems from the LP Office. They should check this list to determine the violation level of students in their courses and, based on it, refer to the guidelines outlined in the section entitled “Dealing with Violations” in the Student Handbook when handling new violations.
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Forms to report new violations are available in the boxes above the printer next to the LP Suite. Be sure to fill out the form completely using the name and ID number of the student from the class roster proved by the Registrar at the beginning of the term. The ID number is necessary to avoid confusion between students with different names in the violations database. Forms submitted without full required information will be returned as unprocessed.
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It is important that each instructor take such monitoring seriously and report new violations quickly after a problem is identified since too much grace and mercy by many instructors allows students to take inappropriate advantage of them. The motive in this is not to catch a wrong doer but to correct and develop God’s servant.
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Dealing with Late Assignments and Exams The course syllabus should refer students to the guidelines in the Student Handbook and provide his/her email address for electronic submission. Instructors should show grace and mercy when assignments are submitted late for extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control. However, they should use this option with wisdom to avoid undermining the development of personal discipline with repeat offenders. In addition, they should fill out the “Academic Monitoring Faculty Report Form” to notify LP of any student that has a late submission problem.
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Dealing with Excessive Student Absences and Tardiness Instructors of delinquent students should interact with the student’s ISG mentor as needed and notify the Academic Dean using the academic violations form.
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Students, whether full-time or part-time, are expected to attend all class sessions for which 21 they are registered. Any absence, except in the case of an emergency, needs prior notice and approval from the instructor. In an emergency such as illness or a death in the family, a student may inform the instructor at a later time.
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Please see current Student Handbook for maximum absences permitted per course and penalties for excessive absences.
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Students who, for any reason, miss over thirty percent (30%) of a course may be asked to drop it at the discretion of the instructor the ISG mentor, or the Academic Dean. A student who has had significant absences should discuss whether to drop it with their ISG mentor, instructor, and possibly also the Academic Dean (in this order).
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Grading An average IGSL student working diligently should receive a GPA of between 3 and 3.3 (B to B+). If the majority of students in a class do not reach this grade level, it may indicate that either class requirements for this level of education are too difficult or that the means of instruction needs to be strengthened. Instructors are expected to make necessary changes so that the majority of students receive this average grade level. Instructors unsure of how to make acceptable changes without compromising academic excellence should ask their Discipline Chair for assistance.
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Submission of Final Grades Grades must be submitted to the Registrar by the date designated on the faculty edition of the school year schedule (usually two weeks after the last day of final exams plus intervening holidays or other work days requiring faculty attendance that keeps them from grading and grade compilation). If the grades cannot be completed within that period, the instructor should contact the LP Director to request an extension.
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Anticipated submission of late grades may suggest the need to change the nature of the assignments, the time taken in grading, the date for submission of the assignments, or the need for courses to be divided into multiple sections under different instructors with fewer students in each section (this last option needs approval by the Discipline Chair ). It is important that the deadline for submission of grades is met in order to inform the financial sponsors of the grades of their students so students do not forfeit their scholarships, and for LP to deal with GPA academic violations in a timely manner.
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Instructors will provide the Registrar with course roster that shows each student’s final letter grade, the percentage equivalent of the final grade, the breakdown of each final grade showing the score for each assignment, quiz, exam, or extra credit item used in the grading equation. Upon request, the Registrar can provide instructors with a Microsoft Excel document, and training on how to use it, for each course to aid in calculating grades.
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Changing Grades after Submission Unless an error was made in computation or original recording of a grade, grades may not be changed by an instructor after submission to the Registrar without approval of a Grade Review Committee (GRC). The committee meets when a student has petitioned the Registrar for grade reconsideration. It is composed of the LP Director (who officiates the meeting), Registrar, related Program Director, and affected instructor. It will evaluate the circumstances behind the request and overturn the instructor’s assigned grade only when the committee agrees there have been either extenuating circumstances in the student’s life that could not result in an extension being filed by the required deadline or grading impropriety committed by the instructor.
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Non Letter Grade Notations Instructor should use the following abbreviations to indicate grade status when no letter grade is submitted:
WA (Withdraw Audit): Indicates the audit student withdrew from the course by the required deadline.
WC (Withdraw Credit): Indicates the student withdrew from the credited course before the end of the initial drop/add deadline.
WP (Withdraw Passing): Indicates the student had a passing grade when withdrawing from the credited course after the end of the initial drop/add deadline but before the end of the final drop/add deadline.
WF (Withdraw Failing): Indicates the student had a failing grade when withdrawing from the credited course after the end of the initial drop/add deadline but before the end of the final drop/add deadline.
AA (Attended Audit): Indicates the audit student regularly attended the course.
TA (Truancy Audit): Indicates the audit student did not regularly attend the course.
CR (Credit): Indicates the student successfully completed the course approved for Credit/No credit status rather than for a letter grade.
NC (No Credit): Indicates the student has failed to successfully complete the course approved for Credit/No credit status rather than for a letter grade.
EX (Extension): Indicates the student has been granted an official course extension. “EX” changes to an “F” when a grade is not received by the assigned deadline.
IG (Incomplete Grade): Indicates the student’s grade was submitted as incomplete due to unfulfilled requirements. The instructor should contact the student to inform him or her about the missing requirements and discuss completion if an extension is granted. “IG” changes to an “F” if a subsequent extension is not granted or a grade received two weeks after grade reports are released from the previous term.
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Scheduling Assignments and Returning Graded Ones Promptly Instructors are expected to return assignments to students so they can effectively learn from what they have done and monitor their own progress, especially where it is needed in deciding whether to drop or withdraw from a course. This requires instructors to effectively plan the necessary time for grading into their schedules and pacing assignments effectively.
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Assignments that do not directly impact one another are to be returned no later than two weeks after the due date. Assignments that impact and build on one another are to be returned so that no assignment is submitted without feedback from the previous assignment and with adequate time given for students to utilize that information in preparing the new assignment.
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Privacy in Returning Assignments & Informing about Grades Exercise caution in the manner of informing students of their grades. Do not announce or post grades nor allow students to sort through course assignments. Return graded papers and exams personally to the student in such a way that the grade cannot be seen by others, or by placing them in the student’s mailbox. Write the grade and appropriate comments on the last page of the paper to ensure privacy; or ask students to include, between the title page and the first page of body text, a blank page on which comments can be written.