Academic Resources for Instructors

SPS Master Syllabus and Standard Couse Syllabus Template

The School of Professional Studies has a Master Syllabus for each course. A Master Syllabus serves as the guide to develop a standard course syllabus. It outlines all items REQUIRED in the course and are not subject to alteration(i.e., course description from the catalog, credit hours, textbook, student learning outcomes, common graded assessments/assignments and common grading rubrics and other policies that might be required by the Department for a particular course). You can obtain the Master Syllabus for the course(s) you will teach from the Office of the SPS Dean and/or the Program Chairs. The Master Syllabus is not to be used as the course syllabus. It serves as the instructional guide for the course. A course syllabus is a contract between you and the student that outlines your expectations, a schedule of learning activities and exam/quiz dates and another course pertinent information. It is disseminated to students on the first day of class and also placed on Moodle for online access. All instructors are required to place their course syllabus on Moodle at least one week before the class starts. The current SPS course syllabus template is located below.

SPS Syllabus Template 2017

SPS Midterm Grade Policy

The School of Professional Studies requires that all students receive a midterm grade assessing their progress to date.  Midterm grades are a key indicator to students that they are or are not performing to the expectations of Good Academic Standing, which is essential to student success.  Midterm grades for Weekly (semester) courses are published on the Trinity Academic Calendar and the SPS important Dates document, which is updated and posted to the SPS Teaching and Learning page in Moodle each semester.  SPS Term and Summer semester course midterm dates are generally set to the first day of the 6th Week, which gives the student and the advising team 3 weeks to help a student recover a passing grade in the accelerated courses.  The SPS Term and Summer semester midterm deadlines are posted in the SPS important Dates document and updated and posted to the SPS Teaching and Learning page in Moodle each semester.

In the School of Professional Studies (SPS) the faculty, adjuncts, and instructors are REQUIRED to submit midterm grade assessments for all students in all courses in the university learning management system, currently Moodle.  There are no expected exceptions.  All graded items must be in the course grade book in Moodle.  This ensures students know where they stand in the course at a critical time and motivates them to put forth more effort.  It is also prior to the withdraw date.  Students are assured that she or he are making satisfactory progress and have a choice in their success.

Steps for submitting midterm grades in Moodle,

1. In your course in Moodle, click on the More.. link in your Settings Icon (located at the top right, it looks like a little gray gear).
2. You will see two tabs and on the left tab (the default) you will see the link to Grades.
3. This takes you to the Grade Report screen, choose Mid-Term/Final Grade Entry from the drop-down menu at the top.
4. Assign the appropriate letter grades from the drop-down menus in the Mid-Term Grade column.
   1. double check that all are complete, leave blank only if you have a signed incomplete contract from the student, or there is an Academic Honesty Hearing requested.
5. Scroll down to the bottom and click the Save Mid-Term Grades button to submit your grades.
   1. Be sure to click the correct button!
6. NOTE: You cannot change the Mid-Term Grade submission from within Moodle once it has been submitted.  You must use the University Change of Grade form (submit these to the Dean of SPS).
7. For detailed instructions with screenshots, visit the Moodle How-To page.