INSTITUTE OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES

STARFLEET ACADEMY ORIENTATION COLLEGE Version 2016.2 Clarified Squadron and Staff Award requirements, updated on August 6, 2016

Foreword: This manual was developed from many years of operational practices, those written and those developed out of necessity to approach a variety of situations, some internal to Academy and to meet the needs of our students, the membership of STARFLEET. This manual is intended to familiarize the membership of STARFLEET of the operational practices of Academy at all levels, to facilitate communication among all participants, and to facilitate the efficient administration of exams for our students and faculty. This manual is still in development and will expand to cover Command and Support operations. The content of this manual may change, as operations evolve to meet the needs of the membership of STARFLEET and for the good of Academy. Members of STARFLEET may take courses based on this manual through STARFLEET Academy, within the Institute of Leadership Studies, at http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php .

Credits: This manual was assembled from STARFLEET Academy documents, websites, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) used by STARFLEET Academy. This manual was assembled by: Admiral Glendon Diebold and Admiral Carol Thompson, with contributions by the SAOC Development Team in 2014 and updated by Command in 2016.

Copyright: This manual is a publication of the STARFLEET Academy - A Department of STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. It is intended for the private use of our members. The contents of this publication are Copyright © 2016 STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. and/or the original authors. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be copied or republished in any way or form without the written consent of the Commander, STARFLEET. All materials drawn from sources inside of STARFLEET.

i

Table of Contents STUDENT ORIENTATION ......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 – Rules and Regulations.........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 – How to Take a Course ........................................................................................................................5 Chapter 3 – Student Awards .................................................................................................................................12 DIRECTOR ORIENTATION ..................................................................................................................................15 Chapter 1 – How to Become a Director ...............................................................................................................15 Chapter 2 – Exam Formats & S.O.P.s ..................................................................................................................19 Chapter 3 – Reporting S.O.P.s..............................................................................................................................25 Chapter 4 – Awards ..............................................................................................................................................29 Chapter 5 – STARFLEET Database Entries ........................................................................................................33 DEAN ORIENTATION ...........................................................................................................................................40 Chapter 1 – Duties of a Dean ...............................................................................................................................40 Chapter 2 – Course Approval Process ..................................................................................................................43 Chapter 3 – Personnel Issues ................................................................................................................................47 Chapter 4 – STARFLEET Database Entries ........................................................................................................51 Chapter 5 – The Academy Website ......................................................................................................................57 COMMAND ORIENTATION .................................................................................................................................62 In Development ....................................................................................................................................................62 SUPPORT ORIENTATION ....................................................................................................................................62 In Development ....................................................................................................................................................62

ii

STUDENT ORIENTATION Chapter 1 – Rules and Regulations

BASIC STUDENT REQUIREMENTS 1) You must be a current member of STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. to participate in STARFLEET Academy. Instructions on how to join or renew your membership is provided at www.sfi.org. 2) Courses listed under the Institute of Cadet Studies are designed for Cadet members 17 years old or younger, or for adults with disabilities that prevent them from taking adult-level courses. For the purposes of taking Cadet Academy courses, a Cadet “ages-out” on his/her 18th birthday. 3) Cadets may take Adult level courses, as long as the course does not have a rating of Mature or Adult, with parental permission.

TUITION STARFLEET Academy courses can be taken by email or through The Fully-Automated Course System (FAC) free of charge. If a student needs to take an exam, or receive a printed diploma by postal mail, this can be indicated on either the online application form or in the letter sent to the Director. The student is responsible for costs of postage, printing, and handling of materials sent to him/her. The tuition fees stated on the College pages reflect only these costs to the Director and no one receives any profit from the stated tuition. If a check is returned by STARFLEET’s bank because of insufficient funds, a closed account, or any other reason, the applicant is liable for tuition fees plus any bank charges incurred. Directors will be notified of the return and should send any outstanding course packets to the Commandant rather than sending them to the student. Once the check is made good, the Commandant will forward the packet to the student. The student, whose check has been returned by the bank, will be notified by the Commandant, will be advised of the situation, and will be given a chance to correct the problem. Until the check is made good and bank fees are paid, the applicant’s STARFLEET membership will temporarily be placed on HOLD. Due to the HOLD status, the applicant cannot be counted in the STARFLEET crew compliment of his/her Chapter or participate in Academy. The applicant’s Commanding Officer and/or Regional Coordinator will be notified of the situation.

ACADEMY POLICIES & PROCEDURES 1. Academy courses are for members in good standing of STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. only. Non-members and members not in good standing are prohibited from taking these courses.

1

2.

Although participation in Academy is a basic member right, sharing and/or receiving answers (cheating), or using Academy materials for non-STARFLEET purposes, such as in another organization’s academy, could cause this right to be revoked by due process.

3. If a member does not have Internet/Email access, his/her Commanding Officer/Executive Officer (CO/XO) or designated educational officer may obtain course materials (which include the exams) and any other information contained in STARFLEET Academy. HOWEVER, this does not allow anyone, not even the CO/XO, to give out answers to the student. It will be considered cheating if any person gives or receives answers or assistance beyond that which is allowed in policy #4. Cheating is defined as: a) An individual copying answers from another individual's exam and trying to pass it off as his/her own work; b) An individual giving answers to another individual so he/she can pass it off as his/her own work; and/or c) An individual receiving or giving answers for exams in a public setting, such as a discussion list.

DUE PROCESS PROCEDURE: If an Academy Director suspects that cheating has taken place, he/she will notify the Vice-Commandant and the Commandant of the Academy, and present evidence of said cheating. Evidence may include chat logs, BBS posts, comparison of exam answers, or other evidence that answers have been shared. The Vice-Commandant and Commandant will then investigate the evidence, and if the charge of cheating can be substantiated, the Commandant shall notify the individual(s) involved, as well as their chapter CO, as to the charges and evidence, using the same method that the student had submitted his/her exam. Individuals suspected of cheating will be given the opportunity to explain their actions, that period being no longer than twenty-one (21) days from the date of notification if contacted via email, or no longer than sixty (60) days from the date of notification if contacted by postal mail. If it is proven that cheating did indeed take place, the individual(s), as well as their CO, will be notified that a grade of FAIL will be placed in the DB for those who were cheating. If the exam is OTS/OCC/FOS, then the Regional Coordinator (RC) will also be notified. If any individual accused of cheating wishes to appeal, he/she may do so, starting with the next step in the chain of command: their Commanding Officer. FIRST OFFENSE: The student will be allowed to take an alternate exam for the particular exam he/she cheated on, upon request, and after a 90-day suspension from said exam. The student will receive only a grade of PASS after successful completion of the alternate exam. SECOND OFFENSE: If a 2nd offense of cheating occurs, the individual(s) involved will be suspended from taking academy classes for six (6) months. The individual(s) involved will be permanently ineligible for Boothby awards

2

in the future; however, any and all Boothby awards earned up to this point will remain on the student's permanent record. THIRD OFFENSE: If it is determined that a third incident of cheating occurs, there will be a review among the Director, Dean, Vice-Commandant, Commandant, and the individual's CO to determine an appropriate penalty. If the exam involves the OTS, OCC, or FOS exams, the review will also include the RC and possibly, as necessary, other members of the AB, as OTS, OCC, and FOS are exams that may be required for some leadership positions in STARFLEET. An individual who has already successfully taken and passed an Academy course, and who is proven to have shared answers, will not receive a failing grade on a course they have already successfully completed. However, he/she will still be subject to the same consequences, and have the same opportunities for appeal, in terms of suspensions and Boothby awards as the individual receiving answers and submitting them on an exam as his/her own. Policy item 2 & 3 updated as approved by AB08-06 majority vote on 27 October 2008 4. Assistance given to others in the taking of Academy Courses is limited to help in reading, translating, or data input (person taking the course must supply all answers). 5. The time frame to complete Academy exams is 10 weeks from the date the exam is mailed, reflected by the mailing envelope's postmark or date sent via email. Directors have wide latitude as to how strictly to enforce this deadline. Points are sometimes deducted on late exams if no extension has been requested and granted, and delays have not been the fault of Internet problems. Outstanding exams are invalid after 3 months. A student must reapply, with the stated tuition fee (if applicable), to complete the course. Policy item 4 updated September 30, 2014

Extensions Directors can make provisions for students who, for compelling reasons, find they cannot complete exams on time. To get an extension, a student may submit a request via email or in writing (including a Self-Addressed, stamped Envelope (SASE)), citing the reason the extension is needed. Extensions (usually 2 weeks) are at the Director's discretion. Up to two (2) extensions may be granted per exam.

ACADEMY NIGHTS Your chapter may hold Academy Nights, in which your crew gets together to view an episode, or share Manuals (or other references) in order to take exams. There are a number of procedures that need to be followed: 1) Ask permission of the Director(s) to administer the exams in an Academy Night. He or she might be able to provide more than one version of the exams. 2) There should be someone in charge (acting as Proctor) to administer the exams, collect them, and send the finished exams to the Director(s). As an alternative, you may have each participating crew member send his/her own finished exams to the Director(s). The Proctor should be someone who is not taking the same exams at the Academy Night. 3

3) All test takers should write their own answers on the exams or answer sheets, without discussing the questions or the answers. Care must be taken that answers are not shared among the students.

4

Chapter 2 – How to Take a Course

CHOOSING YOUR COURSE There are two documents where you may “shop” for courses that might interest you. The Course Catalogue PDF is a printed document containing all the open courses in Academy at the time of printing. The PDF is updated approximately once a month, or sooner, if there has been substantial change in either the content or the Faculty. You may find a copy of this document here: http://acad.sfi.org/doc/SFACollegeCatalogue.pdf or www.sfi.org/docs/. This document will allow you or your shipmates who cannot access the Internet to select courses by applying directly to each Director for up to five (5) exams. Because of the size of Academy, there is no printed application form. You may send a request to the Director with a list of what you are interested in taking. Be aware that, as in past years, postal mail should be given 2 – 4 weeks to get to its destination. It may take that long for the exams to get back to you, as well. This document is also a method for you to keep track of your Academy credits by marking the boxes [ ] in front of each Course. The Online Catalogue is located at http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php. Colleges are grouped under Institutes of similar topics. When you click on a College name, you will be taken to that College’s page, where the courses and the Director’s contact information are listed.

APPLYING FOR COURSES There are two ways of applying for courses  

By emailing the Director By postal mail

There is also a way in which to take some courses entirely online, through the Fully-Automated Course system (FAC). Note that as of August 5, 2015, the online course request system has been retired due to its failure to send all applications to the directors, leaving students unserved.

A) DIRECT EMAIL If you have access to this URL http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php you can click on any College to browse the list of available courses and to find the email of the Director. You would email the Director, and include: 1) Your name as it appears in the Database 2) Your SCC number 3) Your age 4) The date of application 5

5) A list of what course(s) (up to 5) you want to take from that College 6) Whether you need Large Print materials 7) Whether you need to conduct the course via postal mail, in which case, also include your full mailing address. TIP: Create a master document that has all the information you need to send to the Director and save it on your desktop. You can then copy n paste that info into the email to the Director. You will only have to add the list of courses you want to take and the date of application. Each Director handles his/her own email traffic, so you will need one email per Director. There is no central clearing house for directly emailed applications. International students may have difficulties emailing directors in the USA, especially if their email addresses end in .au, .nz or .uk. Some of the USA’s servers outright reject such addresses. If you find yourself in this situation, it is recommended that you obtain a free Gmail account to use for Academy business. B) POSTAL MAIL Applying by postal mail is for members without access to the Internet. The member will need to borrow a hard-copy of the Course Catalogue PDF from another member who can download and print it from the Academy or SFI page. The Catalogue is approximately 60 pages long, so it is no small task. A check made out to STARFLEET ACADEMY for $3.00 to cover the cost of materials and two First Class postage stamps should be included in the envelope you send to the Director, along with a list of courses you want to take from that College. The student is responsible for tuition, materials, and handling costs. No one makes a profit from the tuition, and it is, therefore, quite low, just covering Director expenses. If you are unable to afford the tuition, let the Director know. “There are always possibilities”. Members who need to use a public or work computer, but cannot use the printer for personal documents, can request a printed diploma, and state that they need to conduct the Course by postal mail. Be sure to put in your complete mailing address. You will still need to send the tuition and two First Class stamps to cover the materials and postage.

C) FULLY-AUTOMATED COURSE SYSTEM (FAC) The current list of Colleges (as of 11-2014) on the FAC is: Officer Training School College of Security College of Security in Trek Starfleet Officer's Radio School College of Intelligence in Media

There are two ways to access the FAC program: 6

1) Go directly to this site: http://www.starfleetacademy.co/starfleetacademy/fac.asp and follow the directions. 2) Through the Academy menu system at http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php. a) Go to any of the College webpages linked on this page. b) Click on the (FAC) link in the title of the course you want to take. Example: OTS-101 or (FAC) - Officer Training School. THE FAC PROGRAM A) This is the first screen you will see:

Enter your SCC (STARFLEET membership number), then click Check my Membership. B) The second screen you will see is an index of courses and instructions on how to proceed. You might want to print out the instructions for later use. (Link to print the list is at the very bottom) There will be hyperlinks to the course exam you want to take. The list looks like this: ********************************************************************************************* STARFLEET ACADEMY Fully Automated Course Program by Admiral Greg Staylor Please read All of the System Requirements and Academy Rules before using the FAC Program ***click here*** For FAC Courses Diplomas for exams taken after JULY 15, 2012, CLICK HERE For FAC Courses Diplomas for exams taken before JULY 15, 2012, CLICK HERE Note: Diplomas for FAC exams taken after JANUARY 1, 2014 are not currently available as a new interface must be coded for the new FAC program. When using the new FAC program, you should Download your Diploma from the link presented

7

immediately after taking the course. Click the FAC Program Course you would like to take from the list below. Use the Quick Jumps to move to specific College course lists. Officer Training School - Quick Jump College of Security - Quick Jump College of Security in Trek - Quick Jump Starfleet Officer's Radio School - Quick Jump College of Intelligence in Media - Quick Jump Officer's Training School - back to TOP OTS101 - Officer's Training School - learn about real world Starfleet and prepare to become a commissioned officer College of Security - back to top (list of courses) College of Security in Trek - back to top (list of courses) Starfleet Officer's Radio School - back to top (list of courses) College of Intelligence In Media - back to top (list of courses) System Requirements and STARFLEET Academy Rules and Policies (link to Academy rules and regulations) ***click here*** Return to FAC Program Course List ***click here*** I.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: If any of these requirements are not enabled, your work will not be sent to the ACADEMY and you will not receive credit for the course: 1. A reliable internet connection, 2. A reasonably current browser, such as Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.,

II. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: (copyright and disclaimer statement) III. FAC POLICIES, RULES AND GRADING SCALE: (rules and scoring scale) IV. RETAKING COURSES IF YOU DID NOT PASS OR FOR BETTER GRADES: (rules about retaking courses) V. FAC DIPLOMA AND COPIES OF PREVIOUS FAC DIPLOMAS: (Info about retrieving your diplomas) Click Here to Send this Page to the Printer

C) Once you click on a course title, you will see a page that tells you a bit about the exam, its difficulty level, and the links to the manual (if applicable) and to the exam itself. D) When you click on the link for the exam, you will get an introductory page that asks for your name, 8

SCC and email. This information will label and direct your results to the Director and yourself. E) Once you fill the form out and click START, the first question will appear. As you answer each question and click CONTINUE, the next question will appear, and so forth to the end of the exam. You have the option of skipping a question and coming back to it later. F) After the last question, all your answers will be displayed so you can make final changes before you click SUBMIT MY FINAL ANSWERS. G) You will then be directed to the page that contains final instructions, your diploma with instructions on how to download it, and a summary of your answers. GENERAL FAC POINTERS The FAC resides on a separate server and is not connected to the STARFLEET databases in any way. Your grade will be entered on your record by hand, by the Director of the College. If the grade isn’t recorded a week after you (and the Director) receive your result by email, email the Director with a copy of your FAC results. Very occasionally, the Director does not get a copy. Should the FAC site be down or doesn’t work for you for any reason, apply for the exam by directly emailing the Director.

DIRECTOR TIMEFRAMES Directors are volunteers with lives and jobs outside of Academy. Therefore, it is requested that a student allows the Director the following timeframes before sending a follow-up inquiry.   

Receipt of Exam: 1 week if by email, 3 – 4 weeks if by post. Grading, posting, and Diploma received: 2 weeks by email, 4 weeks by post. Note that postal mail or email may be delayed in situations beyond Academy’s control.

FAILURE TO RECEIVE MATERIALS - INQUIRIES There is a real possibility that the Internet may fail to send your application to the Director, or send your exam or diploma to you. Another possibility is that your ISP blocked the Director’s email address or placed the Director’s email in your spam folder. So please do not wait months to notify the Director, the Dean, or the Academic Coordinator of your missing materials. All inquiries need to have the following information, so the Director and those up the chain of command can find your application or exam: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Your NAME Your SCC COURSE TITLE The relevant date(s) you APPLIED or SENT YOUR ANSWERS Dates of previous inquires to the Director

The proper timeframe to inquire about missing exams or diplomas is:

9

1) If after one (1) week by email your exam has not been emailed to you: email the Director. 2) If the Director has not responded after one (1) week by email, send a second inquiry to the Director, with a CC to the Dean of that Institute in which your course is offered and to the Academic Coordinator at [email protected] or [email protected]. This procedure will allow each person in the chain of command to figure out where communications between you and the Director have broken down, and to make certain your exam is processed. Students without Internet Access may ask their CO or other command crewmember to inquire for them, as it is much faster to get a hold of someone by email than by postal mail.

STUDENT TIMEFRAMES AND ANSWER FORMAT Completed exams should be returned in a standard format: Word, rtf, or txt file. Text files may be inserted into the body of the reply email, if you cannot attach files to your email. Other formats cannot be opened and marked by most Directors, as not all of them keep up with the latest technology or have alternate programs. Completed exams should be returned to the Director no later than ten (10) weeks. If you need an extension, contact the Director. Some Directors do not adhere to the 10-week rule, but if they do, this will be noted on the exams. ALL EXAMS EXPIRE AFTER THREE (3) MONTHS, because they might be updated, revised, reformatted, or retired in that timeframe.

GRADING SCALE Exams are graded on a percentage system. Each point on an exam will be assigned a percentage based on a total of 100 percent. The percentage scale is converted to one of three grades (Distinction, Honors, Pass) that will be recorded on your record. The grading scale is below. 100% - Distinction 90% - 99% - Honors 70% - 89% - Pass If you score below 70%, you will be given the opportunity to retake the test to correct the answers you missed. You will be notified by the Director as to which answers you missed. If you have to retake the test, you will not be able to earn a grade of “Distinction.” You may NOT retake a test to get a better grade if you have already passed the test. This also applies to the FAC. Your first passing grade (Distinction, Honors, Pass) is the grade that will be posted on your record, with the exception described in FAILS AND RETAKES.

FAILS AND RETAKES If you should fail the exam, the Director will contact you about retaking the exam. You will not be able to earn a Distinction upon retaking the exam, however, since you will be told which questions you missed. In some cases, an alternate exam may be provided. 10

Fail grades are not recorded in the Database, mainly because the addition of ANY grade affects the Boothby count (See BOOTHBY AWARDS, in Chapter 3). Fails cannot be used to raise the Boothby count. Also, it is the policy of Academy not to embarrass a student by posting a Fail to the student’s record.

CHALLENGING ANSWERS Once you receive your grade you may request to know the answer to a specific question, or which questions you missed. You may request the source used by the director, if it is not posted at the top of the exam. If you believe the grade is incorrect, and you disagree with the answers of the Director, you may submit a challenge to the specific question(s). Please include your NAME, COURSE TITLE, and SCC so the Director and those up the chain of command can find your exam. This challenge is first presented to the Director and should include the source for the answer that was marked as incorrect. If the answer is derived from a provided manual, specify where you got the answer in that manual. Outside sources used for a challenge must be stated in the challenge. Remember that scientific knowledge in some colleges may become outdated. So, please give your source so that the exam may be updated. If you feel the Director has not agreed with your challenge and/or believes your source to be outdated/wrong, you may submit the challenge to the Dean of the Institute for review. If you still believe you were improperly graded after a Dean’s review, you may take the challenge to the Commandant of the Academy. The Commandant will review the challenge and has the final ruling on the challenge.

CROSS-CREDIT There are a few courses that are identical between the STARFLEET Marine Corps Academy (SFMCA) and STARFLEET Academy (SFA). Currently, there are only a few SFMCA/SFA Colleges that still offer cross-credit. Permission to seek cross-credit will be stated in the description of the course. If you take such a course in one campus, you may petition the Director of the course in the other campus for cross-credit. Include your name, SCC number, Course taken, and Date. Make sure the grade is posted on your records in the SFI database before you seek cross-credit. You will receive a grade of PASS for the cross-credit. This will count towards your Boothby count (explained in CHAPTER 3 – STUDENT AWARDS).

CHAPTER LIBRARIES Chapters are strongly discouraged from keeping a library of Academy exams, because exams become obsolete for a number of reasons. There are no keys for obsolete exams, and so grading those exams 11

is difficult, if not impossible. 1) An exam may be rewritten or reformatted and questions swapped out. 2) There may have been a director change and the return address on the exams will be wrong. A Director who leaves Academy and/or STARFLEET might not be able to forward outdated exams to the new Director. 3) The exam may have been retired due to loss of answer sources, copyright violations, or lack of student interest in the particular exam. 4) The exam may be older than 3 months, and, therefore, expired.

Chapter 3 – Student Awards The Chief of Recognition Services issues the certificates for the various awards earned by the students and staff of STARFLEET Academy.

BOOTHBY AWARDS Named after the ever-lovable caretaker of the SFA Grounds, George Edwards Boothby, and close confidant of many famous Starfleet Captains, Boothby Awards are given to STARFLEET members in good standing, on the basis of how many courses a member has passed at both the STARFLEET Academy and the STARFLEET Marine Corps Academy throughout his or her tenure with STARFLEET. The Boothby Awards are administered directly by the Academy’s Chief of Recognition Services. Boothby Awards are given approximately weekly, based on the total number of courses passed, in 50credit increments, and listed in the member's Academy Award record. Should you reach a 50-credit milestone and have not received a Boothby certificate by email within two (2) weeks, email the Chief of Recognition Services at [email protected] .

COMMANDANT AWARDS The Commandant of the Academy may create forms of recognition for both Staff and Students that are outside of the usual Boothby Awards and Annual awards, such as the Squad and Staff awards. Those created for students are described below. The Most Outstanding Student of the Month Award is given monthly to the student who was chosen the most by the directors as an Outstanding Student. An Outstanding Student is one who has, within the month, completed college exams with Honors and or Distinctions more than other students within said college. Students tend to take college exams within several colleges; therefore, they have numerous opportunities to be selected by the directors as an Outstanding Student. The Commandant keeps track of these special students when the directors send in their reports, and at the end of the month tabulates who has been considered the Outstanding Student the most times during said month, and a special certificate is sent to that student. 12

The Cadet Star Award is considered very special in that it is awarded to a Cadet (under the age of 18) for completing all exams in a College within the Institute of Cadet Studies with Honors and/or Distinctions. If a cadet so wishes, he/she may attempt to take some of the college exams that are more geared toward the adults. If they complete all the exams in one of these colleges with Honors and or Distinctions (they are allowed no more than one Pass) they will also have the opportunity to earn this special award. The award is given out by the Commandant as a special certificate and a pin that the Cadet can wear on his/her costume, uniform, or whatever way he/she would like to display to show how well they are doing at the academy. There is no set time that this award is given out. As soon as the Cadet completes all exams of a college with said requirements, the Director will notify the Commandant and the award will be sent out. This Award is listed in the respective student's ACADEMY AWARDS record.

SQUADRON AWARDS The following Squadron Awards recognize academic achievement. The best students are selected from each College covering the previous calendar year. This cutoff date allows Directors to get all their nominations up the chain of command, and allows time to produce the many certificates needed, in time for the International Conference. The Chief of Recognition Services will announce the cut off dates and when nominations need to be entered. To be eligible for a Squadron Award, the member must have earned a grade of DISTINCTION or HONORS. In the event of a tie, total courses taken will be used to determine the winner. All Squadron Awards will be listed in the respective student's record under ACADEMY AWARDS after they are announced at the International Conference (IC).

RED SQUAD In 1993, with the help of Denise Dugan (former Director of the College of History), the Academy established the Honors Graduates Awards to recognize outstanding achievement within a 12-month period covering the previous calendar year. These awards have been renamed "Red Squad" or "Red Squadron", and consist of the "Best" students who have taken adult-level STARFLEET Academy courses during the previous calendar year. Each year at IC, the top Adult student from each College is awarded a Red Squad Award. Only nonCadet Colleges issue Red Squad Awards. Each Director nominates the top student from his or her respective College. All College nominees are tallied, and the student with the most nominees becomes Red Squad Leader, with the second-place nominee receiving Assistant Red Squad Leader, and the remaining nominees becoming Red Squad Members.

BLUE SQUAD Blue Squad Awards are given to the "Best" Cadet students under the age of 18 who have attended 13

STARFLEET Academy. The procedure is the same as for Red Squad, except that only Cadets are eligible for this award across Academy.

GOLD SQUAD Gold Squad Awards are given for family involvement at the College level. The family that achieves the "best of the best" status, as a family, within a respective College, shall receive a Gold Squad Award for that College. Unlike the procedure for Red and Blue Squads, the Gold Squad Leaders and Assistant Leaders will be determined by a combination of number of nominations and the average number of courses each family member took. This is to provide a balance due to the various sizes of families. All remaining families will receive Gold Squad Member awards. In addition to Director nominations for Gold Squad, the Awards Director and Academic Coordinator shall check the DB for other family members not nominated, so that all family members are counted. At least two family members must participate in order to be eligible for this award. Family members may be Adults, Cadets, or both. *A family in which the Adults take the adult version of a particular College and the Cadets take the cadet version of the same College will be eligible for the Gold Squad Award. It is possible for a Director to nominate for the Red Squad, the Blue Squad, and the Gold Squad awards if eligible students have taken courses in his/her College.

LEADERSHIP AWARDS The top students among the Red Squadron, Blue Squadron, and Gold Squadron members are chosen as Leaders of their respective Squadron, which reflects their leadership skills while in attendance at the Academy. Assistant Red, Blue, and Gold Squadron Leaders are chosen from the students who came in second in their respective category. Winners receive certificates at IC (usually held in July or August), if they are present, or by mail or email as soon as possible after IC.

14

DIRECTOR ORIENTATION Chapter 1 – How to Become a Director DIRECTORS There are three ways to become a director. 1) Be appointed to the position. 2) As an Assistant Director, you can rise to the position if the Director resigns. 3) With permission from the Course Development Committee, you can create your own new College.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS Because a Directorship is a fleet-level position, in that you serve the entire STARFLEET membership on a one-to-one basis, all Directors must meet the following requirements. 1) Officers’ Training School (OTS) 2) STARFLEET Academy Orientation College (SAOC) 3) Complete the required number of courses (called testing-out) from the College you seek to direct. 4) Have access to the Internet, since all but a very few STARFLEET members prefer to take courses by email.

TESTING OUT Because some of our Colleges are getting very large, the CDC has approved an addendum to the testing-out procedures. The exam ratios shall be as following: EXAMS IN COLLEGE - % EXAMS TO BE TAKEN – NUMBER OF EXAMS 1- 35 36– 60 61 or more

100% 75% 50%

ALL EXAMS 27 – 45 31 – MAX 50

In the case of an emergency, where personnel are unavailable to fill a number of vacancies, testing-out regulations may be waived or adjusted downward for the good of the Academy.

15

DIRECTOR DUTIES 1) Accept applications through the Request Course system, direct email, or postal mail. 2) Send requested exams within a week of receiving a request to the applicant. 3) Grade returned exams, post grades in the SFI Database, and issue the student a certificate within two (2) weeks of receiving the completed exam. 4) Keep a permanent record of graduates using MS Access, Excel, or some other electronic program of all graduating students. 5) Submit a Director Report (MSR) on the form provided by the 10th of the month (following the month being reported) to the people listed here: A. B. B. C. D.

The Vice Commandant The Academic Coordinator Your Dean Your Assistant Dean Your Assistant Director

Each person on the recipient list needs some part of the Monthly Report for his/her documents, and provides them a backup copy, in case your Dean does not submit a Dean report to Command. The other contingency is that sometimes an MSR does not arrive to one of the recipients due to ISP attempts to reduce spam. Usually, if a Dean does not receive a Director’s MSR by the due date, he/she will contact the Coordinator to see if the MSR was received. (More about reporting details in Chapter 3 – REPORT SOPs)

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS In most cases, the Director chooses his/her assistant director, and presents the candidate to the Academic Coordinator for approval. Sometimes, Command may suggest a candidate to the Director, but the Director has the final say as to who will be Assistant, unless the Commandant feels a candidate is unsuited for the position. The Director is responsible for testing out the Assistant and training that person in how to be a Director, should the need arise.

Basic Requirements Because an Assistant Director could at any time be called up on to fill the Director’s position, the Assistant must also meet the following requirements. 1) Officers’ Training School (OTS) 2) STARFLEET Academy Orientation College (SAOC) 3) Complete the required number of courses (called testing-out) from the College you seek to assist. 4) Have access to the Internet, since all but a very few STARFLEET members prefer to take courses by email.

16

Assistant Director Duties The Assistant may serve as the Director’s advisor, beta-tester, and/or co-creator of new exams. It is expected that the Director and Assistant work as a team to maintain and improve the College, when needed. Should the Director need to be away for any reason, for at least a week, the Assistant Director will step in to administer the College until the Director returns. Should the Director leave the position permanently, the Assistant Director has the choice to become the Director or to hold the position temporarily until another candidate can be tested out. The Assistant then may express his/her desire to remain as Assistant, or vacate the Assistant position. However, the new Director may choose his/her own assistant. The Academic Coordinator will redirect the applications to the Assistant’s email, and, if the Leave of Absence is going to be lengthy, the Assistant will be given access to the Director tools in the SFI Database. Should the Assistant Director not want the Director’s position, it will be offered to other STARFLEET members who have satisfied, or are close to satisfying the requirements, for the position. Directors and Assistants receive “Created” or “Beta-tester” credits for new material they either create or beta-test, respectively, for Academy. These grades count towards the Boothby awards.

PENDING DIRECTORS A Pending Director is a STARFLEET member who wishes to write and direct a College for Academy. The Pending Director works with the Dean of the Institute, who mentors him/her through the development and approval process. The procedure for writing and directing a new College in Academy is outlined in Chapter 2: EXAM FORMATS AND S.O.P.s.

GHOST WRITERS AND DEVELOPMENT TEAMS A Ghost Writer is a STARFLEET member who wants to write for Academy, but who does not want to be a Director. He/she can approach a Director with ideas on how to expand the College, or might want to write a whole College for a future Director. Ghost Writers may also include any member of the Academy staff or faculty. New ideas and topics for an existing College must be approved by the Course Development Committee and the Director. Ghost Writers receive Creator credit in the SFA Database for their work, regardless of how much of the material the Director uses. Ghost Writers work with the Directors and may become part of a Director’s Development Team. The Ghost Writer’s work is submitted to the Director, and becomes the Director’s responsibility. The Director then adjusts the material received to fit in with the College, finds beta-testers, and then submits the finished product(s) to the Dean for Approval.

17

Ghost Writers may belong to any number of Directors’ Development Teams, as the need arises. This gives a person a creative outlet, without taking on the responsibilities of Directorship. Directors often create unofficial working relationships with other members of the Faculty or members of their chapters in order to create and beta-test new materials. The Director and his support group may be referred to as a “Development Team”. There is nothing official about these teams, but it does provide an opportunity for a chapter to become involved in Academy, as support for the crewmember who is a Director. Development Teams can be as few as 2 people working together, or a whole chapter. Members of the Development Team should be noted after the copyright and disclaimer chapters on the materials, as well as in the Director Reports. They will also earn Creator or Betacredits on their records.

REMOVAL OF DIRECTORS There are a number of ways that Directors may leave or be removed from their positions: 1) A Director may resign. When a Director decides to resign from Academy service, he or she should give the Commandant a minimum of two (2) months written notice, if at all possible, so the position can be offered to the assistant or to other STARFLEET members, and there can be a smooth transition for students. All materials pertaining to College, School, or Program activity, including, but not limited to, graded exams, manuals, applications, diplomas, and graduate records are the property of the Academy. Emailed files, printed copies, and/or disks with computer records should be shipped to the Commandant or to the replacement Director within two (2) weeks of resignation. 2) A Director may be removed for cause. The following list describes a few possible reasons: A) Failure to report (or late) for three (3) months B) No communication with the Dean or Command for three (3) months C) Failure to serve the students in a timely manner If a Director is not actively fulfilling his/her Academy duties, the Commandant has the authority to remove and replace this person as an Academy Director. This is usually done as a last resort, after all other avenues of help have been used. When a Director is replaced, he or she is required to send all materials pertaining to Institute, College, School, or Program activity, including, but not limited to, graded exams, manuals, applications, diplomas, and graduate records to the Commandant or his/her designated receiver within two weeks of the announced removal. 3) The Director has a medical emergency. If Command has been made aware that a Director has suffered a medical emergency, the assistant or another faculty member will immediately assume the Acting Director position, and the College will remain open. Depending on the prognosis of the Director on medical LOA, arrangements will be made to cover the College for the good of the Academy.

REMOVAL OF ASSISTANT DIRECTORS The Assistant Director serves at the pleasure of the Director. 18

Ideally, both can work together as a team. However, sometimes the partnership does not work out, for any number of reasons. The Assistant Director position exists to back up the Director and keep the College running, if the Director has to be away for any reason. An unresponsive assistant, or one who will not cover the College when the Director is on LOA, will be replaced with one who will, on recommendation of the Director and/or Command.

Chapter 2 – Exam Formats & S.O.P.s GRADING SCALE The grading scale for all courses is as follows, and is posted on every exam: 100% -------- Distinction 90% - 99% - Honors 70% - 89% - Pass If you score below 70%, you will be given the opportunity to retake the test to correct the answers you missed. You will be notified by the instructor as to which answers you missed. If you have to retake the test, you will not be able to earn a result of “Distinction.”

CROSS-CREDITS Cross credits are given for certain courses that are identical in both STARFLEET Academy (SFA) and STARFLEET Marine Corps Academy (SFMCA). As these courses are tweaked over the years, they may no longer be eligible for Cross-credit. So it is your responsibility as Director to do a little bit of research. 1) If a student requests a Cross Credit for a course he/she took in the SFMCA, check his/her record, using your Member Eligibility Tool in the SFA DB. 2) If he/she has the credit, check the SFMCA course listings on their website at http://sfmca.sfi-sfmc.org/ for a statement in the course description, that the course is eligible for cross-credit with one from our Academy. Currently, cross credits are given for some courses in Alien Studies and Medicine. 3) If both sites check out, issue the grade of PASS for the Academy course.

CHALLENGES TO ANSWERS There is a proper way for a student to address challenges, if he/she thinks the answer you marked wrong is correct. If the student doesn’t follow protocol or becomes argumentative, we still are obliged to revisit the exam in question. There are some points you need to consider before denying the challenge outright or sending it up the chain of command: 1) The source you used could be wrong or has become outdated.

19

2) The key you inherited may have a mistake, a typo, or missed numbering system. 3) The student may have interpreted the question from his/her cultural point of view. Whenever reasonable, try to review the material or source to see if it is possible that the student might have just come at the question and the answer from a different point of view. With the diversity in our students’ background, culture, and education, they can interpret the question or the answer in an entirely different light than you do. 4) It doesn't happen often, but if the material is readily available, you can find the time, and they still believe that they are correct after having gone over the answer with them, there is another step you can take. Go over the question and see if there is a way that you could get to their answer. If you don't have the time or the resources (some directors have inherited exams a number of years old), contact your Dean and see if they can help. It might take some time, especially if it’s a film and your Dean has to request it from an outside source, watch it on YouTube, or find it in their DVD collection. The idea is that if the student won't take your word that their answer isn't correct, let them know it will take some time to bounce it upstairs to another level. 5) If you should find that the student could be correct, from his/her point of view, then add his alternate answer to your key, thank him/her for pointing out the confusion, then count the answer correct. If this changes the grade, change the grade in the Database and issue a new Certificate. Remember, we are not giving out real-life certificates. These grades mean nothing outside Academy, but may mean a lot to the student’s enjoyment of STARFLEET. If you become defensive and harsh with the student (even if they are belligerent), word gets around that you are difficult to deal with, and that reflects badly on Academy. Bottom line: If a challenge escalates into an emotional situation, pass it up to your Dean.

COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERS Every exam and manual needs to have a copyright and disclaimer to protect our rights, the author’s rights, and the rights of the source. These will appear in smaller font either on the title page or at the end of an exam. There are two versions of these statements. Words in red will be changed to suit the source and year created:

For Licensed Material: (both paragraphs required) This document is a publication of STARFLEET Academy - A department of STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. It is intended for the private use of our members. STARFLEET holds no claims to any trademarks, copyrights, or properties held by CBS Paramount Television, any of its subsidiaries, or any other company's or person's intellectual properties which may or may not be contained within. The contents of this publication are copyright © 2016 STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. and the original authors. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be

20

copied or republished in any form without the written consent of the Commandant, STARFLEET Academy or the original author(s). All materials drawn in from sources outside of STARFLEET are used per Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use, of the United States code. The material as used is for educational purposes only and no profit is made from the use of the material. STARFLEET and STARFLEET Academy are granted irrevocable rights of usage of this material by the original author.

For Original Material (only second paragraph is required) The contents of this publication are copyright © 2016 STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. and the original authors. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be copied or republished in any form without the written consent of the Commandant, STARFLEET Academy or the original author(s). All materials drawn in from sources outside of STARFLEET are used per Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use, of the United States code. The material as used is for educational purposes only and no profit is made from the use of the material. STARFLEET and STARFLEET Academy are granted irrevocable rights of usage of this material by the original author. NOTE: NO copyright sources may be used without express written permission as stated on the Source’s website. It is better to find non-copyrighted sources, such as the Wikipedias, open educational sites, or special sites dedicated to the fans of the topic. In some cases, it might be easier to create a Director-produced manual with material drawn from several sources. Exams, certificates, and Manuals shall be created in a common program, such as Word, Word-Perfect, rtf, or Open Office so that an editable copy may be placed in the Master Archives for future Directors. These documents may be converted to PDF to send to students, so that formatting does not change when being emailed.

COURSE DEVELOPMENT All inquiries for new courses and colleges should be directed to the Course Development Committee Director, at [email protected] , whether the proposal comes from the Director or a Ghost Writer. The Course Development Committee (CDC) gives preliminary Approval to Proceed on a new College and gives Final Approval for completed Colleges and new exams. The CDC is composed of the Commandant, Vice-Commandant, Coordinator of Academic Services, and one Director.

COURSE OR COLLEGE APPROVAL This is the established procedure for the approval of new exams and Colleges.

Adding a Course(s) to an Existing College: 1. Director creates or receives new course(s) from the Ghost Writer - doing a first check on the course(s) themselves (content, disclaimer and copyright, coding, spelling, grammar, etc.). 2. Director has 2 to 3 other Directors beta-test the course(s). Director makes corrections and clarifies any confusing questions.

21

3. Dean gets course and reviews it. Once the final edits are made, the Dean approves it and sends the manual(s), exam(s), and key(s) to the Director of the CDC (the CDC Contact) for Final Approval. 4. The Course Development Committee has final review (checks for duplication, proper coding, and that the course(s) falls under proper College/Institute [more than content, grammar, spelling, etc.] and ensures that an electronic file of manual(s), exam(s), and key(s) are submitted. 5. Course is either approved, by majority vote of the CDC, sent back to the Dean for revision, or disapproved. 6. If approved, the Dean sends the Course list to the Webmaster (at [email protected]) for inclusion on a College website.

Creating a New College: 1. Member goes to Director of Course Development with idea/proposed exams. Contact the Course Development Committee Contact at [email protected] or [email protected] with your idea to see if it is already covered elsewhere, and if the subject matter is suitable for the Cadet or Adult members of Academy. NOTE: Exams that cover movies, books, games, or other media that are rated Adult, have excessively foul language, graphic violence for violence’s sake, rape, and graphic torture will not be allowed in Academy. PG-17 or rated M media will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Acceptable references will handle these subjects in passing or in a less graphic way and not overshadow the storylines. 2. Director of Course Development notifies Course Development Committee of proposal. If the proposal merits a new College, the CDC can "fit" College within the appropriate Institute. If the proposal is for a new course(s) within an existing College, the CDC can merge the course(s) into the existing College, with the author (Ghost Writer) assisting the current Director with the course development. When the Director of the CDC approves of the College, you need to submit the below listed documents so that the Course Development Committee can look them over, give Approval to Proceed, and decide which Institute will host the College: 

A preliminary outline of courses and what they will cover. A statement of what your goals are for future development should be included. We know that the outline and scope will change as you develop your College.



A sample exam with key, and a statement whether there will be manuals or, if the exams will have references posted, where the students can find the answers.

Although a number of exam formats are accepted, experience has shown that essays are unpopular among the members, and those kinds of exams will not get very many, if any, students later on down the road. The most popular exam format is a four-choice multiple choice, which allows students of all ages and abilities to take. Short answer, matching, true-false, and fill in the blank are all right, too, if the proper sources are provided. 22

Academy courses are for fun, not for a real-life degree, so we like to keep the size of the exams between 25 points to a maximum of 40 points (25, 30 33,40 are convenient divisors of 100 for administrative purposes). Questions may have multiple points, and so the number of actual questions may vary. When the CDC gives Approval to Proceed, you will be notified and introduced to the Dean of the Institute, who will mentor you through the development, beta-testing, and Final Approval process. Your Dean will also teach you your duties and responsibilities as Director and keep track of your progress on your project. Pending Directors must send in monthly progress reports to their Dean, so that progress (or lack thereof) may be tracked. An email will suffice. If a Pending Director fails to send monthly reports (due by the 10th of the following month) for three (3) months during the development process, the project may be cancelled at the Dean’s and Academic Coordinator’s discretion. 3. Director has 2 to 3 other Directors beta test the course(s). Adults may beta test cadet courses. 4. Dean gets course(s) and reviews it(them). 5. Course Development Committee has final review (checks for disclaimer and copyright, proper coding, duplication and falls under proper College/Institute (more than content, grammar, spelling, etc.) and ensures that an electronic file of manual, exam, and key are submitted. 6. Course(s) will be sent back to Dean as approved, sent for revision, or disapproved. 7. College listing with blurbs and codes sent to Webmaster for inclusion into SFA website.

ALTERNATE EXAMS It is advisable, but not required, to create alternate exams for a number of reasons: 

Two members of the same family or chapter might apply for the same exam.



A Student fails the first attempt at taking the exam and wants to retry.



A Student has trouble with more complicated exams due to dyslexia or some other physical or mental challenge.



A member has indicated the need for Large Print materials on the application.

You may create these exams as needed, and forward a copy to both your Dean and the Academic Coordinator for their respective Archives.

Format Rather than trying to create a number of alternate exams for different challenges, it is recommended that the alternate exam for any course be multiple choice. Most challenged students prefer this format, as it is simple to understand. The alternate exams can easily be programmed into the Fully Automated Course (FAC) system, which will reduce the amount of admin work you have to do. 23

LARGE PRINT MATERIALS Large Print manuals and exams need to serve a number of disabilities and challenges, so the Accessibility Committee has come up with the following requirements: 1. Font: Arial Narrow: (If your manual is very large and needs a table of contents, use the font DeJavu Sans for the table of contents, as it is a clean, fixed-width font and tabs nicely into columns for chapter titles and page numbers.) 2. Font Size: 18 point 3. No borders 4. No italics or underlines to keep the text simple 5. Keep a Word version, but PDF out the copy sent to the student, for use with a PDF reader.

CHANGES AND UPDATES You may find the need to update, clarify, or correct information in your manuals, questions and/or keys, due to changes in science knowledge, new discoveries, or student misinterpretation of a question. It is expected that your College will evolve to accommodate these changes. Your Dean and the Academic Coordinator keep Archives, which must be kept up to date for future Directors. Any changes you make on your materials require that you send an updated copy of those materials to: 

Your Dean



The Academic Coordinator

These changes include, but are not limited to: 

Your contact information



Title of College or courses



Exam questions, manuals, and/or keys, no matter how minor

Major changes, such as reformatting to Multiple Choice for the FAC or the addition of an alternate exam, should be discussed with the Academic Coordinator and your Dean. Copies of alternate or reformatted exams must be sent to both for the archives.

24

Chapter 3 – Reporting S.O.P.s KEEPING GRADUATE RECORDS You will need to keep a permanent record of your students’ grades for your Director reports. You may use Excel, Access, Word, or whatever you are most comfortable with. At the very least, you will need to record the following information: Name of student SCC of student Course name & code Course grade Date exam completed/graded You might keep other information for your own information, but the above items are all we need on the reports. Some directors like to keep track of when they send out an exam (or re-send an exam), in case the student does not receive it. The record helps us diagnose the Internet communications between two servers, and which of those servers become a problem for Academy. Not all the fields you have in your records need to go into your monthly report. That topic will be covered in the DIRECTOR REPORTS section. The manner in which you maintain this record is up to you and should be something that you can easily access, whether it is done on a hard copy or on your computer. You will be required to maintain the information for as long as you are a director. You may be required to transfer that information to another person should you give up the position. Depending on your proficiency with the programs on your computer, you can use Access, Excel, or Word, which you can use to copy and paste the required information into your report. In addition to the required information, you should keep your students’ completed exams on hand for a minimum of three (3) months, just in case a student challenge or other issue comes up. You should maintain the record in a safe manner, because they are the property of the Academy and are in your possession. ****Your graduate record is also the main non-database backup for graduates should the STARFLEET database go down for any reason. TIP: If you keep a separate page in your program for each calendar year, it will be easier for you to select your Squad nominees for the previous year.

25

REPORTS Directors are required to send monthly status reports (MSRs) to their respective Institute Dean (with a copy (cc) to the Commandant, Vice Commandant, Academic Coordinator, your Assistant Dean, and your Assistant Director) regarding graduates, SCC, income, expenses, and other information requested on the Directors’ forms. Copies of the report forms are available from the Academy’s Yahoo Group files section, or the Academic Coordinator. Director Reports are due no later than the 10th of the month following the reporting period, and should cover activities in the preceding month. Note any comments, questions, concerns, good news, etc. so that the Dean can address any issues that might arise. The file name of the report should indicate College name or acronym and the year and month being reported. This allows the Dean and Academic Coordinator to file the reports in an Archive, should they need to refer to them later. Some filename examples: COVW 201405 RPT or COVW May 2014 Report Deans compile the Directors’ MSRs and submit an Institute MSR to the Academic Coordinator (with copies to the Commandant, the VC, and Assistant Dean). Dean Reports are due no later than the 15th of each month and should include what is listed in the individual Director’s Reports. Reports may be sent via email or postal mail, but must be received by the respective deadline. For the same reason Directors should include the College name or acronym and the year and month in the file names, if you choose to send your reports via email, remember to use the same descriptive information for the email subject line. All Income (including checks, money orders, etc.) and Income/Expense Reports (including receipts) are to be sent directly to the Commandant. Director Expense Reports must include original sales receipts (required for reimbursement) and must be received by the Commandant within six months of the purchase. Keep a copy for your records. Note that consistently being late or failing to report counts against your performance record. Your Dean should not have to remind you of the reporting deadline every month. The Academy Group sends out reminders every month. You can also tape a note on your monitor or calendar of required deadlines. The importance of timely and accurate reporting cannot be over-emphasized. Reports let the chain of command know how well your College is operating, if you have any recurring problems, or need help keeping up with your students. Reports also act as backups to the graduate lists in the STARFLEET Database, should the Database go down for any reason. Any Director who has three unexcused late or missed MSRs may be dismissed and a replacement Director assigned.

The Director’s Report This is the official Director’s form, adopted in July of 2006. A copy may be downloaded from the FILES section of the Academy Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfi-academy/, copied and pasted from this manual, or ask the Coordinator for a copy.

26

This may be submitted as an attachment to your email or inserted into the body of the email, according to your preference. Report must be in a common format: Word, WordPerfect, rtf, or txt. Do not submit as an html, publisher file, or other program that a Dean might not be able to open. It is due to your Dean, no later than the 10th of the month following the reporting month. A cc should go to the Commandant, Vice Commandant, Assistant Dean, Assistant Director, and the Academic Coordinator. A sample report is shown below: STARFLEET Academy Director Report Institute: IOPE Report for Month of: June 2014 Reporting Date: 7/10/14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------COLLEGE/SCHOOL DATA College/School: Director Name and Rank: SCC: Address: City, St Zip: Phone: Email: Asst Director Name and Rank: SCC number: Address : City, St Zip: Phone: E Mail: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXPENSES: None Reported. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------INCOME: None Reported. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------GRADUATES (copy and paste from your record) SCC 00002 10101

Name John Smith Joe Green

Course

Grade

OCC OTC

Distinction Pass

Date 01/20/2000 01/02/2000

OUTSTANDING STUDENT = The student with the best grades overall for the month. A student with only PASS is not eligible for Outstanding Student. (see Chapter 4 – Student Awards for more details) COMMENTS: Comments about how you feel your College is running, problems, issues, goals, pending exams/manuals you are working on, etc -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reporting Officer: {name of preparer}

27

OTHER TOPICS FEES All Colleges are free if taken online. For courses conducted by postal mail: Individual College, School, and Program Directors create their own tuition policy, subject to approval by the Commandant. When deciding your tuition, remember to charge as little as possible, without losing money. Your tuition should cover all material, printing, and packaging expenses, as well as any perks you give your students. Postage is stated separately, as a number of First Class Stamps. In the past, a self-addressed stamped envelope was required when applying for a course via postal mail. However, it is difficult to standardize this requirement, because the return mail may include not only the exams, but also a printed manual, which may not fit into a standard envelope. It is better to require enough stamps to mail out the materials to the student and add the cost of the envelope in the tuition. All fees for mailed materials will be posted on the College page. Since STARFLEET is a not-for profit organization, it cannot make a profit off its tuition. Therefore, all extra monies go into scholarships or may be used for other STARFLEET expenses. If a student requires financial assistance, please have his or her Commanding Officer contact the Commandant.

PAYMENT Academy fees for handling materials by postal mail may be paid by check or money order (payable to STARFLEET). Sending cash through the mail isn’t recommended, but may be accepted. All tuition payments must be properly documented and submitted with your monthly report. Incoming Payments - Academy income is sent to the Commandant, who will keep a record, and send it to the STARFLEET Financial Officer to be deposited into the STARFLEET general bank account (earmarked for STARFLEET Academy) on a regular basis. It is important to submit tuition payments each month to ensure proper credit is applied to the Academy. STARFLEET members sometimes close accounts, or fail to keep sufficient funds in their accounts, causing checks to be returned marked nonsufficient funds. This results in the Academy being charged a processing fee for each returned item. Checks can expire if not deposited in a timely manner. They may become non-negotiable if the check takes longer than sixty (60) days to be deposited. Some banks will not process checks older than ninety (90) days, even if the account has sufficient funds. Reimbursements – Directors must keep records of any expenses they want reimbursement for. Scan or photocopy any receipts for materials or postage over and beyond that received from the students. Detailed expense records may suffice for receipts in cases where the expenses are small and the materials are bought in bulk once or twice a year. In such a case, you can arrange with the Commandant to send in a quarterly or bi-monthly expense report for reimbursement. Money received, however, must be turned in monthly, as stated in Incoming Payments.

28

MANAGING YOUR TIME Set aside some time once a week to perform your Director duties. There is no need to sit at the computer every day and burn yourself out. If you need help managing a very busy College, divide your work with your assistant. This serves to train him/her in case you need to be away for vacation, illness, or other real-life issues. Nobody is 100% efficient all the time. Once you’re comfortable with your College’s routine, pick a slow month, notify your Commandant and Dean and take some shore leave. If you burn out, you won’t be helping anyone. Take a break when you need it. Be sure to make an announcement on the STARFLEET Academy List. Let Command know if you need the College turned over to your assistant while you’re away. Be sure to list your expected return date.

Chapter 4 – Awards SQUAD AWARDS The following Squadron Awards recognize academic achievement. The best students are selected from each College within the timeframe covering the previous calendar year. This cutoff date allows Directors to get all their nominations up the chain of command, and allows time to produce the many certificates needed in time for the International Conference. The Academy Awards Director will announce the cut off dates and when nominations need to be entered. To be eligible for a Squadron Award, the member must have earned a grade of DISTINCTION or HONORS. In the event of a tie, total courses taken will be used to determine the winner. All Squadron Awards are listed in the respective student's records for historical purposes. Squad awards are announced once a year at STARFLEET’s International Conference (IC). If the student is present at IC, the certificate will be presented by the Academy’s representative during General Session. Those not present at IC will have their certificates mailed to them.

RED SQUAD At the end of the calendar year, the Director of each non-Cadet College nominates the best adult student from their College, based on graduates for the entire year. The student who gains the most nominations across Academy becomes RED SQUAD LEADER, the student with the second-most nominations becomes RED SQUAD ASSISTANT LEADER, and the rest of the nominees become RED SQUAD MEMBERS for the previous year.

GOLD SQUAD Gold Squad Awards are given for family involvement at the College level. To receive this award, at least two (2) family members must complete courses within the college. This can be any mixture of Adult and/or Cadet members. The family that achieves the "best of the best" status, as a family, within a respective College, shall receive a Gold Squad Award for that College. These awards are a joint effort between the College Directors, Cadet College Directors, and Command Staff of the Academy. *A family in which the Adults take the adult version of a particular College and the Cadets take the cadet version of the same College will be eligible for the Gold Squad Award.

29

At the end of the year, each Director nominates the families who completed exams together. Unlike the procedure for Red and Blue Squads, the Gold Squad Leaders and Assistant Leaders will be determined by a combination of number of nominations and the average number of courses each family member took. This is to provide a balance due to the various sizes of families. All remaining families will receive Gold Squad Member awards. In addition to Director nominations for Gold Squad, the Awards Director and Academic Coordinator shall check the DB for other family members not nominated, so that all family members are counted.

BLUE SQUAD Blue Squad Awards are given to the "Best" Cadet students who have attended STARFLEET Academy. The procedure is the same as for Red Squad, and all Academy Colleges may nominate their best Cadet for the award. At the end of the year, directors will report their best Cadet student. The Cadet who gets the most nominations becomes BLUE SQUAD LEADER, the Cadet with the second-most nominations becomes BLUE SQUAD ASSISTANT LEADER, and the rest of the nominees become BLUE SQUAD MEMBERS. Note that when a Cadet reaches his 18th birthday, he is no longer considered a Cadet. However, if the Cadet qualified before he “aged out”, he may be considered for the Blue Squad for three (3) months past his 18th birthday during the year being awarded. It is possible for a Director to nominate for the Red Squad, the Blue Squad, and the Gold Squad awards if eligible students have taken courses in his/her College.

Outstanding Student Every month, Directors report their Outstanding Students on their MSRs. These students must earn at least an honors and/or distinction among the exams taken that month for any particular College. Other factors, such as number of exams taken, may be considered. The reason for naming an outstanding student is two-fold. 1) The Commandant awards a STUDENT OF THE MONTH certificate each month to the student who has received the most nominations for Outstanding Student. 2) Your 12-month list for the previous year can help you choose your year-end nominees for Red, Blue, and Gold Squad. However, you should compare your “best” Outstanding Student with your entire previous year’s graduate record. The reason for this extra step is that a student who may not have made the monthly Outstanding lists may have, over time, had the best record overall in grades and number of exams taken. You will nominate the student who comes out on top after comparing the two lists. The Outstanding Student of the Month will have the best overall grades, including Honors and Distinctions. If you only had one student, and he only had a grade of PASS, he does not qualify for Outstanding Student. If you had a tie between two or more students, there are a few ways you can break the tie. 30

1) Which exams came in on time or returned the soonest after being sent to the student? 2) If the top grades are Honors, which students had the fewest errors? This can be determined if you keep a percentage grade in your graduate records. 3) Which student gave the “most correct” answers on short-answer or multiple point questions? Some students give too much information, rather than a distinct, to-the- point answer. If you cannot break a tie, list the students tied for Outstanding Student of the month.

“ATTABOY” OR BONUS AWARDS Some Directors award special certificates for completing their Colleges. These are not recorded in the Database, as they are not Academy-level awards. Their inclusion in the Database would amount to “double dipping”, that is, adding a credit to already awarded grades. This would unfairly affect the Boothby count. It is up to the Director’s discretion whether or not to award “attaboys”.

COMMANDANT AWARDS The Commandant of the Academy may create forms of recognition for both staff and students that are outside of the usual Boothby Awards and Annual awards, such as the Squad and Staff awards.

ACADEMY STAFF AWARDS Each year, the Staff of the Academy nominates their peers for the following awards. Director of the Year Assistant Director of the Year Institute Dean of the Year Assistant Dean of the Year Support Staff Member of the Year These awards are given to those Staff persons who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve Academy and the membership as a whole. Members of the faculty and staff nominate one faculty member for each category. The person in each category who is nominated the most times is the awardee. The College of the Year The College of the Year is (as of 2013) chosen by calculating a numerical formula of number of graduates divided by the number of courses a College offers, in addition to Director performance. This allows small Colleges to compete fairly with large Colleges. A member of the Support Staff will generate these numbers. Institute of the Year Institute of the Year shall be calculated (as of 2015) in the same manner as the College of the Year. Each Director within the Institute of the Year shares in this award and is given a certificate and the award is posted to his/her records.

31

THE COMMANDANT STAR AWARD This award is given annually to one of the Academy personnel who, as far as the Commandant is concerned, has gone above and beyond the normal expectation of his or her normal Academy duties. This Award is given in a form of special certificate given at the time of the annual International Conference. This Award is listed in the respective staff member’s records for historical purposes.

CADET STAR AWARD This award consists of a certificate and a pin, shaped like a star, which are mailed to the Cadet. Directors will report any Cadet 17 years old or under who has completed a Cadet College in the Academy with all Honors and Distinction grades. If the student completes an Adult level College with Distinctions and Honors, one Pass is allowed. If a cadet ages out of the Cadet ranks while completing a College, the former Cadet has 3 months to complete the College and still earn a Cadet Star Award. Aging out means that the Cadet has reached his/her 18th birthday, and is considered an Adult for Academy purposes. There is no set time that this award is given out. As soon as the Cadet completes all exams of a college with said requirements, the director will notify the Commandant and the award will be sent out. This Award is listed in the respective student's records for historical purposes.

32

Chapter 5 – STARFLEET Database Entries The STARFLEET Database and your ACADEMY Tools To access the database at Starfleet Headquarters, all you need to do is the following steps: Log on to the Internet and visit https://db.sfi.org/ (NOTE: Save this address and add it to your Favorites folder in Internet Explorer, FireFox or your preferred browser.) At https://db.sfi.org/ type in the following: Your SFI User Name (ex: joe322) Your SFI Password (ex: sfa2007) Then click Submit/Enter (This will log you onto the SFI Database)

(NOTE: Your User Name and Password should have been submitted to you when you joined or renewed your membership with SFI. If, for some reason you have not received this information and cannot access the database, contact the Helpdesk at [email protected] .

33

The official STARFLEET Database home screen will look like this:

The STARFLEET Academy Database menu options: From here, you click ACADEMY on the menu to expand the menu selections available for your level of access to the Academy area of the database. You may see the some or all of these sub-menu options, based on your level of access and position(s) in Academy. (shown on left) Directors with no other positions will have the Teacher Tool, and Member Eligibility. If you click the Teacher Tool, you will only have access to your own College(s).

34

The TEACHERS (Directors) screen: The Teacher’s section, known to Academy as the Directors’ section, looks like this:

Using the GRADUATES section: This section is where Directors can add student’s scores, change a score, or view students who passed courses within a College(s) they administer. To ADD a student’s score all you need to do is the following: Select ADD GRADUATES Then CHOOSE THE COURSE the student passed Then click SUBMIT

35

1

2 3

1) After the SUBMIT button is clicked, you will notice a new interface showing the COURSE you selected, and five TEXT BOXES. 2) You will only use SCC, DATE and GRADE windows. The other two windows are for special programs. DO NOT enter anything in CHAPTER or UNIT, or else the grade will not show up on the student’s record! Enter the SCC and GRADE for your student (NOTE: Date is auto set, so you don’t have to enter in the date, unless the date the course was passed is different from what is listed.) 3) Click SUBMIT.

You will be shown a confirmation page. Make sure that the information is correct, then click SUBMIT again. If the information is wrong, click the TEACHER TOOL to bring you back one screen and reenter the correct information.

36

After clicking SUBMIT, the screen will cycle back to the screen shown below. To CHANGE a student’s score all you need to do is the following: Select CHANGE A GRADUATE Then Choose the Course for which the student you want to change the grade. Click SUBMIT. A list of students posted to that course will appear.

Click on the student you want to change once, until it is highlighted. Click SUBMIT. The screen refreshes and you can change the student’s score or date. Click SUBMIT. The screen will cycle back to the screen shown above. To VIEW GRADUATES that have passed a particular course, do the following: Select VIEW GRADUATES Then select the course you want and click SUBMIT. Now you should see the new interface, listing all the students who have passed that course. This is a good way to check that the grade you just entered has successfully been posted. TIP: If you want to see ALL the graduates in your College, select the College name instead of the individual Course name, and all the courses and their graduates will be displayed.

IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE If you need to delete a student from a list, because you entered the student information on the wrong course or typed the wrong SCC, please email the Academic Coordinator to remove the incorrect entry. Give name, course, grade, and date. You may re-enter the correct information at any time.

37

MEMBER ELIGIBILITY – In this section, you can view all courses a student has completed. You can use a student’s SCC# or you can use their First & Last Names to find their information.

Once you submit the student’s information, the following screen will appear.

38

If the SCC number does not match the student’s name you may enter the first and last name of the person. (Generally using capital and lower case letters.) If the name is correctly entered, you will receive an additional screen asking if this is the one you want. Click on the blue THIS ONE button after that name. and click on SUBMIT. (The red THIS ONE buttons are inactive accounts). This will bring you to the record of the person you are requesting and it will give the correct SCC number and also the status of the individual as ACTIVE, PENDING or EXPIRED. In the event there are more people with the same name you may have to go back and choose another if this one does not match. In the event none of the entries match the name, doublecheck your record and/or the submitted exam to be sure you (or the student) did not enter the SCC number incorrectly. If you have done all of these things with no success, you may have to contact the member and have them double check the SCC number they gave you. FURTHER USE OF MEMBERSHIP ELIGIBILITY This tool is mainly used to determine a student’s membership status. If the status is anything but ACTIVE, do not send any exams, or, if an exam came in completed, do not enter the grade. Hold onto the grade until the person is active again. If the person has just recently expired, his renewal may not have made it through the system. Inform your Dean of the situation. If the applicant’s name does not show up in the Database at all, send him an email explaining that the courses are only for members of STARFLEET International, and direct him to sfi.org to find a chapter near him and to look us over. If he likes us, he can then join STARFLEET and participate in Academy. Plenty of members have joined because of what we have to offer in Academy.

39

DEAN ORIENTATION Chapter 1 – Duties of a Dean WHAT IS A DEAN? A Dean is a manager. The Dean oversees the operations of an Institute for Academy, from reporting to personnel management. The Dean has a lot of authority to act on behalf of Academy, but the final decisions must be approved by the Commandant. Because a Deanship is a management-level position, you are responsible for the smooth running of your Institute and are the link in the chain of command between your Directors and Command. BECOMING A DEAN There are two ways to become a Dean. 1) Be appointed to the position by Command. 2) An Assistant Dean, you can rise to the position if the Dean vacates the position. Deans do NOT have to test out in all the Colleges in their Institute. BASIC REQUIREMENTS Ideally, these conditions should be met for both the Dean and the Assistant Dean: 1) Be a Director or Assistant Director in your assigned Institute 2) Have demonstrated diligence as a Director and/or Assistant 3) Have a reasonable amount (as determined by Command) of experience, past or present, on the faculty or staff of Academy 4) Have access to the Internet, since Academy Command and Staff communicate mainly by email, and sometimes by phone. In the event of an unexpected vacancy, with no suitable candidates in the affected Institute, Command may appoint an Acting Dean with experience, past or present, to fill the position for the good of Academy. DEAN DUTIES 1) Accept monthly reports from their directors by the 10th of the month following the report period. 2) Assemble the Director reports into a Dean report and send to the following people by the 15th of the month following the report month: A. The Commandant B. The Vice-Commandant C. Your Assistant Dean D. The Academic Coordinator

40

3) Keep an archive of up-to-date materials in your Institute, including manuals, exams, keys, and certificate templates, and to be certain that a copy of each updated manual, exam, and/or key is sent to the Archivist (staff member maintaining the Academy Archives). 4) Assign an Assistant Dean to cover your duties should you be away for any reason. (See the section ASSISTANT DEANS). 5) Negotiate disputes between Directors or between Directors and their students, if the dispute cannot be handled at the Director level. The Academic Coordinator shall be cc’d on all correspondence in such cases. 6) Bring issues that may affect Academy’s operations or reputation to the Academic Coordinator if an Academic issue, to the Support Coordinator if a Support issue, or to the Commandant if the issue involves one of the Coordinators 7) Provide input, when asked, to the CDC on the placement of a new College or the movement of a College to another Institute. Although the CDC has the final say on placement of a College, course, or faculty member, the Dean’s input is considered. 8) Train new Directors and your Assistant Dean in their duties. 9) Ensure that new courses and Colleges are sent through the approval process in a timely manner. 10) Foster a good working relationship with the Directors by managing without micro-managing; leading, rather than demanding; enforcing the SOPs, without being a tyrant. 11) Perform a periodic audit on slow Colleges and other Colleges as deemed necessary.

DEAN REPORTS Dean reports are due on the 15th of the month following the month being reported. This means that your report for the month of September is due by October 15. Each person on the recipient list needs some part of the Dean Report for his/her documents, and has a backup copy in case your report does not get to the Academic Coordinator. Sometimes a Monthly Status Report MSR does not arrive to one of the recipients due to ISP attempts to reduce spam. Attached MSRs must be submitted in a standard format that anyone can open: Word, rtf, or txt. MSRs may be copied and pasted into the body of the email, if you cannot attach files from the device you are using. MSR filenames must include the Institute name (or acronym) and the month being reported. (Examples: IOSS rpt 2014-06, IOSS Dean rpt June 2014, etc). This practice allows the Academic Coordinator to file and later find the correct records to research information. The Dean report form is shown on the next page. You may download a copy from the FILES section of the Academy Group or obtain a copy from the Academic Coordinator.

41

STARFLEET Academy Dean Report Institute: Fantasy, Horror and the Supernatural (IOFHS) Report for Month of: March, 2010 Reporting Date: 04/15/2010 --------------------------------------------------------------------------DEAN DATA Dean Name and Rank: SCC Number: Address: City, St Zip: Phone: Email: Assistant Dean: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------COLLEGE/SCHOOL DATA College/School: Director Name and Rank: Address: City: Phone: Email: Assistant: College/School: Director Name and Rank: Address: City: Phone: Email: Assistant: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------REPORTING Colleges/Schools Reporting This Period: College of College of College of Colleges/Schools Not Reporting This Period: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------EXPENSES [College Acronym]: [Amount or NONE] [College Acronym]: [Amount or NONE] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------INCOME [College Acronym]: [Amount or NONE] [College Acronym]: [Amount or NONE] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------GRADUATES [paste in the graduate lists from the Director reports. If the Director fails to report, copy the grads from the SFI Database] [College Acronym]: 42

[College Acronym]: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------COMMENTS DEAN COMMENTS: [How your Institute is doing, problems, goals, pending personnel, etc] Also, indicate those failing to report with FTR after the College acronym. [College Acronym]: [comments, if any, from the Director] [College Acronym]: [comments, if any, from the Director] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------OUTSTANDING STUDENTS [College Acronym]: [Name and SCC or NO GRADS or None Qualified] [College Acronym]: [Name and SCC or NO GRADS or None Qualified] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------Reporting Officer: [Name of the person completing the report form]

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS Although the number of report recipients may seem redundant, there have been occasions where either the Director or the Dean did not report, and another copy of the report served to pass on the information. Should the 15th come up before all your Director reports have come in, contact the Academic Coordinator or Vice Commandant, in case the Director report got to everyone but you. If the Director reported, one of these people can forward you a copy. If a Director fails to send you a report by the 10th, remind him/her that the report is overdue. Keep track of the Director’s reporting habits. Continually late reports or Failures to Report (FTRs) may indicate that the Director may not have the will or the time to remain in that position. Another reason for a poor reporting record may be the fault of the Internet. There are a number of providers that dump messages with attachments, some from certain sources (like overseas), or the reports end up in your spam filter. We have had problems with Comcast, rr.com, Roadrunner, Bellsouth, Yahoo, and AOL. Should communications become a problem for students, Directors, and/or Deans, either the Director or the Dean may need to get a free Internet-based account, like Gmail, for Academy use.

Chapter 2 – Course Approval Process When the approval process applies 1) New Colleges 2) New Courses in existing Colleges 43

3) Rewritten Colleges If an existing exam is rewritten in another format (such as long answer to multiple choice) using the same topics, or less than 50% of the material is changed out or updated, the exams do not need to go through a full approval. However, it is wise for a good proofreader to read over the revised exam and for the Dean to give a final look-over, so that it meets Academy standards. Totally rewritten exams, however, follow the new exam rule and must go through the full approval process.

COURSE OR COLLEGE APPROVAL This is the established procedure for the approval of new exams and Colleges. Adding a Course to an Existing College: 1. Director creates or receives new course(s) from the Ghost Writer - doing a first check on the course(s) themselves (content, disclaimer and copyright, coding, spelling, grammar, etc.). 2. Director has 2 to 3 other Directors beta-test the course(s). Director makes corrections and clarifies any confusing questions. 3. Dean gets course and reviews it. Once the final edits are made, the Dean Approves it and sends the manuals, exams, and keys to the CDC Contact for Final Approval. 4. The Course Development Committee has final review (checks for duplication, proper coding, and falls under proper College/Institute; more than content, grammar, spelling, etc.) and ensures that an electronic file of manual, exam, certificate template, and key are submitted. 5. Course is either approved, sent back to the Dean for revision, or disapproved. 6. If approved, the Dean sends the Course list to the Webmaster (at [email protected]) for inclusion on College website. 7. If not recorded earlier, the Dean enters all CREATOR and BETA-TESTER credits into the records of all who participated in the approval process, including the Dean.

44

Creating a New College: 1. Member goes to the Director of Course Development with idea/proposed exams. The Director of the CD will determine whether or not the topic is covered elsewhere and will inform the member if the idea is valid. The member will be asked to submit a sample exam with a key, and a preliminary statement of answer sources, scope of the course or colleges, and over-all goals of the College. 2. Director of Course Development notifies the Course Development Committee of the proposal. If the proposal merits a new College, the CDC can "fit" the College within the appropriate Institute. If the proposal should just be a School within an existing College, the CDC can merge the courses into the existing College, with the author (Ghost Writer) assisting the current Director with development. The CDC will give Approval to Proceed. 3. At this time, the Director of the CDC will introduce the pending Director to the Dean, who will guide him/her through the development and Approval Process. 4. Director has 2 to 3 other Directors beta test the courses. Cadets, as well as Directors, may beta test cadet courses. Chapter crewmembers may beta test courses, as well, but two (2) Directors are required. 5. Dean receives courses and reviews them. After Dean approval, the courses are sent to the Director, Course Development Committee (CDC). 6. The Course Development Committee has final review (checks for disclaimer and copyright, proper coding, duplication and falls under proper College/Institute; more than content, grammar, spelling, etc.) and ensures that an electronic file of manual, exam, and key are submitted to the Director of the Course Development Committee. 7. Courses will be approved by the CDC, sent back to the Dean for revision, or disapproved. 8. Upon Final Approval, the Dean will send the College write-up, containing the Director information, blurbs, logo, and Course titles, to the Webmaster (at [email protected]) for inclusion into the SFA website. 9. If not recorded earlier, the Dean will enter all CREATED and BETA-TESTER credits into the records of all who participated in the approval process, including the Dean.

45

COURSE DEVELOPMENT AND APPROVAL PROCESS – DEAN PROCEDURES This section is intended to further explain the Approval Process outlined on previous pages and in the Student Manual, as it pertains to the duties of a Dean. Once the CDC has given Approval to Proceed for a new College, the Academic Coordinator will introduce the pending Director to the Dean. If the pending Director is new to the faculty, the Dean is responsible for instructing the new Director in his/her duties and to mentor him/her through the Approval process. Some of the Standard Operating Procedures (S.O.P.s) the Dean will need to instruct the Pending Director in are: 

Reporting requirements during the development process and after approval



Exam format requirements, including being compatible with Word, the applicable copyright and disclaimer, a title page with instructions and grading scale, etc.



Communication arrangements with the Dean, should the Director have questions



Approval process steps

Once the new exams have been beta-tested, the Dean will receive a copy of the exams, keys, certificate template, and manuals (if applicable). If there is no certificate template, Carol Thompson at [email protected] or the Graphic Artist on the staff will create a basic, editable Word version with the chosen graphic, which may be used/adapted until something better comes along. The Dean may be one of the beta-testers, but should take care not to discourage the pending Director with a lot of nit-picky details in the beginning. It is expected that the other beta-testers will catch most of the grammatical and punctuation errors. After the Dean has added the College and Courses to the DB, with their CREATED and BETATESTER credits, the Dean will do one last check and will Dean Approve the exams. The exams should be ready for publishing, with as few mechanical and grammatical errors as possible. (We don’t expect perfection, however). The exams will then sent to the CDC Director at [email protected] to be presented to the rest of the CDC. The CDC has one proofreader on board, so the return approval letter (Final Approval) will be accompanied by his suggested edits. NOTE ON EDITS: Edits coming from the CDC are suggested. The Dean and Director should use what makes sense to them and ignore the rest. However, there ARE some edits that are mandatory: Proper grammar, proper copyright and disclaimer, neat formatting, and proper spelling according to the Director’s cultural norms (such as British spellings). The proper use of commas is a highly regional preference, so an Internet source should be used for the rules of comma usage, and wherever a comma is needed for clarity. 46

After the Dean receives the letter of approval from the Director of the CDC, the Dean should send a list of the Courses to [email protected] to be added to the College’s web page. If this is a new College, a College write-up and a separate file for the logo (if available) must be attached to the request. The Dean may be proactive and send the College page write-up ahead of time to SFAServices, so the Webmaster can create the page, but leave it toggled off until it is to go live. The easiest way to create a College write-up is to copy the text from an existing College page, adjusting the text for the new College. The webmasters will use this write-up to create the new College page.

Chapter 3 – Personnel Issues ASSISTANT DEANS BASIC REQUIREMENTS Because an Assistant Dean could at any time be called up on to fill the Dean’s position, the Assistant must have completed the same requirements as the Dean. In an emergency, where there are no suitable candidates within the Institute, Command may appoint a faculty member from another Institute who has demonstrated leadership abilities. In most cases, the Dean chooses his/her assistant from among the Directors, and presents the candidate to the Academic Coordinator for approval. Sometimes, Command may suggest a candidate to the Dean, but the Dean has the final say as to who will be Assistant, unless the Commandant feels the candidate is unsuited for the position. If the Dean does not appoint an Assistant, Command and the Academic Coordinator will choose a suitable candidate for that position. It is protocol to offer the Assistant Deanship to the most senior Director first, if the Director is not otherwise overloaded with other Academy or Fleet positions. The offer should, ideally, go down the list according to seniority, and then to the Assistant Directors, should no Director be available to take the Assistant Dean position.

THE DEAN-ASSISTANT DEAN PARTNERSHIP The Dean is responsible for training the Assistant Dean how to be a Dean, should the need arise. The Assistant Dean should have an up-to-date archive of all materials in the Institute. The Assistant Dean should also be cc’d all Director reports for training purposes and as a backup to those sent to the Dean at reporting time. Your Assistant should be someone with whom you feel comfortable discussing ideas, asking advice, and evaluating possible candidates to fill vacancies. Should you need to be away for any reason, for at least a week, your Assistant Dean is expected to step in to administer the Institute until you return.

47

Should the Dean leave the position permanently, the Assistant Dean has the choice to become the Dean or to hold the position temporarily until another candidate can be appointed. The Assistant then may choose to remain as Assistant, or vacate the position. The Academic Coordinator will redirect the applications to the Assistant’s email, and, if the Leave of Absence is going to be lengthy, the Assistant will be given access to the Dean tools in the SFI Database. Deans and Assistants receive Creator and Beta-credits for new material they create or beta-test for Academy. These grades count towards the Boothby awards.

TESTING OUT NEW DIRECTORS When evaluating replacement Directors and Assistant Directors within your Institute, one of the requirements is for the chosen candidate to test out in the College he/she wishes to take on. The exam ratios are as following: EXAMS IN COLLEGE

% TEST-OUT

EXAMS TO BE TAKEN

1 – 35................................100%....................ALL EXAMS 36 – 60 .............................75%......................27 – 45 61 or more ........................50%.....................31 – MAX 50 In the case of an emergency, where personnel are unavailable to fill a number of vacancies, test-out regulations may be waived or adjusted downward for the good of the Academy.

MANAGING YOUR TIME There is no need to sit at the computer every day and burn yourself out. If you need help managing a very busy Institute, divide your work with your assistant. This serves to train him/her in case you need to be away for vacation, illness, or other real-life issues. Nobody is 100% efficient all the time. Once you’re comfortable with your Institute’s routine, pick a slow month, notify the Commandant, Academic Coordinator, and Assistant Dean and take some shore leave. If you burn out, you won’t be helping anyone. Take a break when you need it. Be sure to make an announcement to your Directors, letting them know who to report to in your absence. Be sure to list your expected return date. If you are involved in a number of activities in Academy, your priority list should be: 1) The students in your College (First Duty is ALWAYS to the STARFLEET membership) 2) Issues affecting your Institute, such as Dean approvals, disputes, training new personnel, reports, etc. 3) Development and Ghost-writing for your projects or other Directors

48

REMOVAL OF DEANS There are a number of ways that Deans may leave or be removed from their positions: 1) A Dean may resign. When a Dean decides to resign from Academy service, he or she should give the Commandant a minimum of two (2) months written notice, if at all possible, so that the position can be offered to the Assistant or advertised, and there can be a smooth transition for the Directors of the Institute. 2) A Dean may be removed for cause: A) Failure to report and/or late reports for three (3) months B) No communication with the Directors or Command for three (3) months C) Failure to tend to pending exams awaiting Dean Approval in a timely manner If a Dean is not actively fulfilling his/her Academy duties, the Commandant has the authority to remove and replace this person. This is usually done as a last resort; after all other avenues of help have been used. 3) The Dean has a medical emergency or long-term medical condition. If Command has been made aware that a Dean has suffered a medical emergency, the Assistant or another faculty member will immediately assume the Acting Dean position. Depending on the prognosis of the Dean on medical LOA, arrangements will be made to cover the Institute for the good of the Academy.

REMOVAL OF ASSISTANT DEANS The Assistant Dean serves at the pleasure of the Dean and Command. Ideally, both Dean and Assistant can work together as a team. However, sometimes the pairing does not work out, for any number of reasons. The Assistant Dean position exists to back up the Dean and keep the Institute running, if the Dean has to be away for any reason. An unresponsive Assistant, or one who will not cover the Institute when the Dean is on LOA, will be replaced with one who will, on recommendation of the Dean and/or Command.

Student and Staff Award Nominations SQUAD AWARDS At the end of a calendar year, the Dean should rally the Directors of the Institute to nominate their best students for Red Squad, Gold Squad, and Blue Squad Awards, to be announced at International Conference, usually held in Summer. The Commandant will call for the nominees a couple of months before International Conference (IC), so the winners can be chosen and the certificates created in time for IC. Remind your Directors that even though your Directors have indicated their Outstanding Students over 49

the previous year, it is still advisable to look over their entire graduate lists for the preceding year for the best student in each category. There might be a student who may not have been chosen for Student of the Month, but over the entire year, may have out-performed everyone else. To be eligible for a Squadron Award, the member must have earned a grade of DISTINCTION or HONORS. In the event of a tie, total courses taken will be used to determine the winner.

ACADEMY STAFF AWARDS Each year, the Staff of the Academy nominates their peers for the following awards. Director of the Year Assistant Director of the Year Institute Dean of the Year Assistant Dean of the Year Support Staff Member of the Year These awards are given to those Staff persons who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve Academy and the membership as a whole. Members of the faculty and staff nominate one faculty member for each category. The person in each category who is nominated the most times is the awardee. The College of the Year The College of the Year is (as of 2013) chosen by calculating a numerical formula of number of graduates divided by the number of courses a College offers. This allows small Colleges to compete fairly with large Colleges. A member of the Support Staff will generate these numbers. Institute of the Year Institute of the Year shall be calculated (as of 2015) in the same manner as the College of the Year. Each Director within the Institute of the Year shares in this award and is given a certificate and the award is posted to his/her records.

THE COMMANDANT STAR AWARD This award is given annually to one of the Academy personnel who, as far as the Commandant is concerned, has gone above and beyond the normal expectation of his or her normal Academy duties. This Award is given in a form of special certificate given at the time of the annual International Conference. This Award is listed in the respective staff member’s records for historical purposes.

50

Chapter 4 – STARFLEET Database Entries Accessing STARFLEET Records The STARFLEET Database and your ACADEMY Tools Logging in to the official STARFLEET Database: Log on to the Internet and visit https://db.sfi.org/ (NOTE: Save this address and add it to your Favorites folder in Internet Explorer or the Bookmarks in FireFox.) At https://db.sfi.org/ type in the following: Your SFI User Name (ex: joe322) Your SFI Password (ex: sfa2007) Then click Submit/Enter (This will log you onto the SFI Database)

(NOTE: Your STARFLEET User Name and Password should have been assigned to you when you joined or renewed your membership with SFI, or it should have been given to you by your Chapter CO. If, for some reason you have not received this information and can-not access the database, contact the Helpdesk at [email protected] .

51

The official STARFLEET Database home screen: The home screen will look like this:

The STARFLEET Academy Database menu options:

From here, you click ACADEMY on the menu to expand the menu selections available to you. You may see the some or all of the sub-menu options, based on your level of access and positions within Academy. We will explore the tools available to the Dean. The Dean will have access to all Director Colleges and Courses within his/her Institute. Assistant Deans do not normally have Dean access to the Institute. However, should the Dean be on Leave of Absence, the Assistant Dean may be given temporary Dean access until the return of the Dean.

52

The DEANS TOOL: Click on the Deans Tool to open the Dean’s Home Page. The Dean’s Home Page allows you administrative control of your Institute.

Access to this section is open only to the ACADEMY DB Admin, Command, & Deans. Here is where Deans have access to enter, review, or change scores for their students, create Director access to instructors serving under an Institute, and make changes to the Colleges/Courses within the Institute.

53

On the Dean’s Home Page, there are four options to choose from:  Graduates: The main addition here is in the grade drop down. Deans have the ability to assign Creator and Beta-tester grades to newly approved courses.  Assignment: Here is where Deans can view a listing of all the Teachers in their Institutes. The term “Teachers” in the program is the same as our use of “Directors”.  Course Maker: Here Deans can add or change their Course listings in the database. You can rename the Course, reassign it to another College, change the Director/Teacher and open or close the course.  School Maker: This is where Deans can change the name of their Colleges (called “Schools” in this program). Do not change settings unless approved by the Academic Coordinator. When setting up a new School/College, put the SCC of the Dean in the SCC window. The Director’s SCC will be added in the COURSE MAKER option when you start adding courses to the new College. Those are the basic tools of the ACADEMY Database that Deans have at their disposal. If you have any questions, problems, or concerns about the ACADEMY Database, please contact the Academic Coordinator. If the AC is unable assist you with this, then contact the Webmasters at [email protected]. USING THE SCHOOL MAKER TOOL PLEASE TALK TO THE ACADEMIC COORDINATOR BEFORE CREATING A NEW COLLEGE. THE DATABASE HAS SOME EMPTY ENTRIES THAT CAN BE RE-USED FOR THIS PURPOSE. We would rather not add more information to the database until these extra entries are used, since we cannot delete them. The School Maker tool will allow you to enter a new College (School) into the database and to change the name of any College (School). IMPORTANT: The title of the College must begin with the acronym of the Institute, so that it will appear in alphabetical order with the rest of the Institute Colleges. NOTE that the SCC to be entered is the DEAN’s. This gives the Dean administrative access to the College. Click SUBMIT

54

USING THE COURSE MAKER TOOL After you create the College, you now have to add courses to it. You should enter at least one course with graduates so that the College will show up on a graduate search. 1) Select the College you want to add a course to. 2) Enter the code and title of the new course. Note that the window is not wide enough to display the entire title, so type carefully. Don’t use apostrophes. The system doesn’t like them. 3) Enter a description in the white box. The screen will not accept your input if you skip this step. Don’t use any apostrophes. 4) Enter the Director’s (Teacher’s) SCC so the Director can enter grades. 5) You can leave the school window Pending until the course is fully approved, or you can toggle it to Open. However, leaving it Pending will signal you, as Dean, that it needs approval. The grade will still show up on students’ records, no matter what you toggle the status to. 6) Click SUBMIT. The Dean’s Home Page will appear. Select ADD GRADUATE. The following screen will appear: 7) Note that you have access to two additional grades: CREATED and BETA-TESTER. 8) Add the CREATED and BETA-TESTER credits in the same way that a Director enters grades. You have now created a College, created a new Course, and added the CREATOR and BETA-TESTER(s).

55

At any time in the approval process, a Dean may record the CREATED and BETA-TESTER credits (including his/her own) so they do not get forgotten later on. IMPORTANT: If you cannot find the College or Course you just entered, DO NOT enter it again. That would create a duplicate entry that we cannot delete without the help of the SFI Webmaster. Contact the Academic Coordinator to find and correct the entry. A simple typo can place the College or Course somewhere else in the Database, where you don’t have access, and the Coordinator can correct it so you can find it. Sometimes a College needs a name change because the topics it presents has changed scope. Use the CHANGE COLLEGE tool to rename it, after getting permission from the Academic Coordinator. USING THE ASSIGNMENTS SECTION Make sure Teacher shows in the left window and that Order by Name is checked. Click SUBMIT

This will generate a list of each of your Directors and the Colleges they direct. The tool is useful after you have entered a new College, or have reassigned a College to a new director, to check your work.

IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE If a Dean enters a CREATED or BETA-TESTER grade on the wrong course or gives the grade to the wrong person, please email the Academic Coordinator to remove the incorrect entry. The Dean does not have the Delete Student tool. The Dean may enter the correct information at any time. If you, as Dean, have made a mistake you don’t know how to fix, or are unsure of a procedure, contact the Academic coordinator by email or, better yet, by phone so that specific instructions may be given. Sometimes it helps to be “walked through” a procedure. Never hesitate to ask the Coordinator for help or instructions. No question is too dumb!

56

Chapter 5 – The Academy Website PURPOSE OF THE ACADEMY WEBSITE http://acad.sfi.org/index.php. This website advertises Academy to the membership of STARFLEET. It is the online catalog of courses and allows a student to apply by email for the courses he/she wishes to take. This site is a separate database from that of STARFLEET’s main database, so anything you do here will NOT affect student records or in any way affect the main database. SITE ACCESS When you are appointed as Dean of an Institute, you will receive a Username and Password that will give you access to certain functions on the “backside” of the Academy website at http://acad.sfi.org/index.php. Should you forget your login, ask the Administrative Assistant, Support: Carol Thompson – [email protected] or the SFA Webmaster at [email protected] to look it up for you. There is no function for you to retrieve or reset your password yourself. There are two pathways to the control panel: http://acad.sfi.org/index.php Select Staff on the left-hand menu Select Staff Admin Enter your USERNAME and PASSWORD Bookmark a direct link to http://acad.sfi.org/onlineacad/memberhome.php Deans have access to a number of interactive functions of the website:       

Entering a new College and its courses Entering or changing Director contact information Creation of applications for new Courses. Toggling a Course or College to ACTIVE, PENDING, SUSPENDED, DEACTIVATED, or RETIRED Deleting a Course or College application that is no longer open for students. Sorting the Colleges and Courses to match the order shown on the Index and College pages. Creating a Course Request Log in order to check that a Director has received all applications 57



Ability to post a short news blurb about a new College or changes to personnel or availability of a College

Deans have access to ALL the Colleges and News information on the “backside”, so he/she needs to be careful where they make changes, deletions, and additions.

Starfleet Academy Site Database Tutorial Rev. 8/10/2015 by Carol Thompson, Academic Coordinator The SFA Site Database login site is – http://acad.sfi.org/onlineacad/memberhome.php. Access to this site database is restricted. Only the SFA Commandant, the Vice Commandant, the two Coordinators, the Deans, and the Webmasters should have access to this site. Please do not share your access with anyone else; if you do, your access will be removed. Overall, these tools give you more flexibility to control the content of your sites without assistance from the SFA Webmaster. Most of the day-to-day use of the database is posting news reports, opening & closing of colleges, updating director information, etc. Even though these tools do exist for your use, there are still a lot of items that require the SFA Webmaster to manually update. If you make any changes in the database, you are required to inform the Director of Electronic Services (either directly or at the webmaster’s work list at [email protected]) of that change so that the changes can be documented and, if an error occurs, we will know where to go to resolve it. NOTES: Only approved Colleges will be posted to the SFA Website. Anything posted “for the future” will only complicate the database. If you have any questions about the database and its tools, or have forgotten your login, please email the Administrative Assistant, Support: Carol Thompson at [email protected] Carol will talk you through any steps that confuse you. She may be reached at (907) 3496022, 10 AM through 10 PM, Alaska Time. Leave a voice message if she is away from the phone and she will get back to you as soon as possible. Once you are logged in, a number of tools will be at your disposal, which are described in the pages that follow. Sections you will use most often are shown here in BLACK text. Others are listed in BLUE for your information.

58

The tools you have access to will be listed in the menu on the left. INSTITUTE MANAGEMENT (SFA Administration Only) COLLEGE MANAGEMENT This allows you to set up new Colleges, as well as control the Colleges that you want closed, opened, pending, retired, etc. Clicking on this option brings you to the window shown below. Four categories are listed that give you control on what Colleges should exist at http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php . 1) ADD COLLEGE a) Create a new College under the COLLEGE NAME. b) From the drop down menu, choose what INSTITUTE this college belongs to. c) Add the DIRECTOR NAME. d) Add the DIRECTOR EMAIL. e) Add the DIRECTOR ADDRESS (LN1 & LN2). f) From the drop down menu, you can choose the COURSE STATUS for this school NOTE: The College will only show on the site if it is selected as ACTIVE. Leave the status PENDING, until the Webmaster tells you the College page has been created. g) Click ADD COLLEGE. h) The Webmaster will enter the URL of the COLLEGE PAGE. When the Webmaster informs you via the SFAServices list that the work order is complete, check over the page, then toggle the status to ACTIVE. The new College will show up on the SFA website under the Course Catalog at http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php and at the Staff Section at http://acad.sfi.org/contact/contact-school.php

59

2) CHANGE COLLEGES a) Choose the College you want to change using the drop down window. b) Once College is chosen, click CHANGE COLLEGE c) From here, you can change the COLLEGE NAME, INSTITUTE, DIRECTOR NAME, & DIRECTOR EMAIL, ADDRESS, and COURSE STATUS. For example, a Director left SFA and a new one is appointed. All you have to do is update the Director’s information and click the CHANGE THEM button. 3) DELETE COLLEGE a) Choose the College you want to delete using the drop down window. b) Once College is chosen, click DELETE COLLEGE c) A message will appear confirming if you really want to delete this College. Choose Yes or No, then click DELETE COLLEGE once a decision is made. The College and all its information will be gone from the site until it is recreated. 4) COLLEGE ORDER a) From the drop down menu, chose the Institute the College belongs to, then click YES LET’S SORT b) You will see a list of the Colleges and boxes to the right of the names. All you have to do is sort the Colleges by numbering, the way you want them to display on the Course Catalog at: http://acad.sfi.org/courses/index.php, 1 being at the top of the page. You may skip numbers to leave room for pending and future Colleges. c) Once the order has been completed, click CHANGE SORT and the order of the Colleges for that Institute will show up on the site the way you numbered them. PUBLIC COURSE MANAGEMENT - This feature is no longer used. COURSE ORDER – This feature is no longer used. REQS N REF - This feature is no longer used.

60

NEWS MANAGEMENT- This is where you can post the short news briefs for the SFA Front page as well as the main articles for the Main news section. There are also sub-news sections for job openings that will show on selected SFA pages. News info can take html formatting or just plain text. 1) NEW ARTICLE a) Select the text format in which you will be typing. b) From the drop down menu, chose the SECTION where you want to post your article. i) MAIN shows the article at the News Section of the SFA site at: http://acad.sfi.org/onlineacad/currentne ws.php?thissect=MAIN . ii) JOBPOST will show position openings at: http://acad.sfi.org/onlineacad/currentne ws.php?thissect=JOBPOST . iii) FRONT will show a news blurb at the main SFA site at: http://acad.sfi.org/index.php. Note: This section has a character limit. Your messages have to be short and should refer to the main article where this news post is. The title of the article will not show on this page. iv) STAFF will show news at the Staff Section of the website at: http://acad.sfi.org/staff/index.php c) Type in the TITLE of your article. Please make sure that at the end of the Title, you put the date in which it was entered, in mm/yy format. e.g. (Bajoran Orientation College Expansion (10/14)] d) Type in your article, click SUBMIT NEWS and the article should show up on the SFA site where you selected the post to appear.

61

2) SELECT NEWS TO ADJUST a) Choose the Article you want to change using the drop down window. b) Once Article is chosen, click CHANGE NEWS c) From here, you can change the TEXT FORMAT, SECTION, TITLE, & ARTICLE MESSAGE. Once changed, click the CHANGE NEWS button. 3) SELECT NEWS TO REMOVE a) Choose the Article you want to delete using the drop down window. b) Once Article is chosen, click REMOVE ARTICLE. News that is no longer relevant should be deleted in order to keep the site neat and tidy. COURSE REQUEST LOGS – No longer required, as Course Request System has been retired. There will be no more lost applications.

COMMAND ORIENTATION In Development

SUPPORT ORIENTATION In Development

END OF MANUAL

62