Pegasus Fleet Academy Standing Orders

Section One – Command Personnel

Section 1.1 - Duties of The Commandant of the Academy

• Member of the Fleet Admiralty.
• Responsible for the operations of Fleet Academy (Cadet [CACL], Commanding Officer [COAL], Executive Officer [EOAL], Returning CO [CORC] and workshops).
• Overseeing the maintenance of the Academy Moodle site.
• Recruitment, training, organization and administration of the instructors of the Academy.
• Must be able and willing to teach all aspects of the Academy. This includes the all courses and workshops.
• Is responsible for assigning students from the waiting pool to department heads.
• Must keep a backup up-to-date accounting of current students with their grades and progress in the PFA Dropbox. This information must reflect what is current in the Academy Dropbox on a weekly basis.
• Ensures that all class information in the Academy Dropbox is up to date.
• Responsible for selecting a Vice Commandant, subject to PFA Approval.
• Responsible for appointing senior instructors.
• Shall serve on the Academy Advisement Board.
• Is responsible for overseeing the creation of new workshops for the Moodle site.
• Is CC'd on any email between a student and a senior instructor, as well as the student's TFCO.
• If taking a student, must log the student's grades and progression in the appropriate class log within the Academy Dropbox.
• Commandant reserves the right to dismiss CO students for conduct unbecoming of an officer at their discretion, at any point during the course, regardless of standing grade.

Section 1.2 - Duties of the Vice Commandant of the Academy

• Will assume the full powers, duties and responsibilities for the Academy Commandant during periods where they are absent, with the exception of their Admiralty rights.
• Must be able and willing to teach all aspects of the Academy. This includes the all courses and workshops.
• Will assist in the recruitment and training of new instructors with the cooperation of the senior instructors and manage the instructor assignments to the individual courses.
• Shall investigate all claims of procedural violations of instructors.
• In the event that no instructor has taken a student from the waiting list for 7 days, they have the responsibility to actively seek an instructor for the student in coordination with the commandant and senior instructors.
• Shall serve on the Academy Advisement Board.
• Is responsible for overseeing the creation of new workshops for the Moodle site.
• If taking a student, must log the student's grades and progression in the appropriate class log within the Academy Dropbox.
• Commandant reserves the right to dismiss CO students for conduct unbecoming of an officer at their discretion, at any point during the course, regardless of standing grade.

Section 1.3 - Duties of the Senior Instructors

• Shall be responsible for the training and guidance of new probational instructors of their course.
• Must be able and willing to teach the Academy course that they are senior instructor over.
• In the event that no instructor has taken a student from the waiting list for 7 days, they have the responsibility to actively seek an instructor for the student in coordination with the vice commandant and the commandant.
• Shall have input on applications for new instructors and advice to the Academy Commandant for potential applications.
• Shall investigate all claims of procedural violations of an instructor under their command. Shall give input on the development and changes to courses under their instruction.
• Must log their student grades and progress on the class roster in the Academy Dropbox and IFS in a timely fashion.
• Shall serve on the Academy Advisement Board.
• Ensures that students are appropriately spaced out between instructors.
• Is CC'd on any e-mail between student and instructor regarding the course that they oversee alongside the student's TFCO.

Section 1.4 - Duties of the Instructors

• Shall be responsible for following the grading and procedures provided further on in this document.
• Shall be responsible for keeping the lines of communication open with their students, their student's superiors, and with their own superiors.
• Will CC any e-mail between student and instructor regarding the course that they oversee alongside the student's TFCO.

Section 1.5 - Academy Chain of Command

• Academy Commandant
• Academy Vice Commandant
• Senior Instructors
• Academy Instructors

Section 1.6 - Academy Command Board

In order to further communication between the Senior Instructors and the various Instructors and to ensure that items are handled in a timely manner the Commandant of the Academy shall form a Board made of the following personnel:

• Academy Commandant
• Academy Vice Commandant
• Academy Senior Instructors
• If there are an even number of board members, a further member of the PFA shall be added temporarily to prevent ties.

Section 1.7 - Academy Command Board Duties

• Discuss new instructors and progress of instructors.
• Review new courses or course edits before forwarding them to the PFA for approval.
• Review all new policies to be adopted and make changes if need be.
• Determine proper grading polices for courses for execution by the Academy Commandant.
• Perform any duties or fill any requests as requested by the Academy Commandant.
• Once per month discuss received student surveys (found in Lesson One's Homework), commentary and trouble spots discovered within the month.

Section Two - Requirements to Apply For Academy positions

Section 2.1 - Teaching Requirements Per Course

• Must be willing to take the required course under the tutelage of the vice commandant or commandant and pass with an acceptable grade (80%).
• Must have no current demerits of yellow or higher against them. (This requirement may be waived under the advisement of the Commandant of the Academy, after conferring with the issuing authority)
• Must demonstrate through application desire and ability that conforms with the goals and aspirations of the Pegasus Fleet Academy.
• Must be willing to deviate from the course if required to further expound upon student trouble areas.

Section 2.2 - Requirements to become a Workshop Coordinator/Aide

• Must be willing to take the workshop class applied to teach and show a proficiency in the class's subject.
• Must have no current demerits of yellow or higher against them. (This requirement may be waived under the advisement of the Commandant of the Academy, after conferring with the issuing authority)
• Must demonstrate through application the desire and ability that conforms with the goals and aspirations of the Pegasus Fleet Academy.

Section 2.3 - Requirements to become a Senior Instructor or Vice Commandant

• Must be willing to take course they wish to oversee under the tutelage of the vice commandant or commandant and pass with an acceptable grade (80%). Should the applicant be the vice commandant, the course would be the COAL.
• Must have no current demerits of yellow or higher against them. (This requirement may be waived under the advisement of the Commandant of the Academy, after conferring with the issuing authority)
• Must demonstrate through application desire and ability that conforms with the goals and aspirations of the Pegasus Fleet Academy.
• Must be willing to perform the duties of the position as required.

Section Three - Procedures for Assignments and Grading

Section 3.1 - Communications requirements for Academy Lessons

• All Instructors shall send the first lesson along with a personalized welcome letter with the date that the lesson is due, your contact email for responses, and a notice that at any time a student may request a different teacher to:
  • Student
  • Student's Commanding Officer (or TFCO for the CO course)
  • Senior Instructor, or to the next step up the Academy CoC. Commandant may copy Vice Commandant.
  • All Grading shall be with in the standards accepted by the Academy.
  • Any query regarding a grade by the Student or a Commanding Officer must be brought to the Senior Instructor or (Vice) Commandant as well as the instructor and any reviews or letters to a disputing grade.
• As workshop courses are not graded, they are simply supplied to the students upon request.

Section 3.2 - Communications requirements for Graduation or Failures

• Upon Graduation or Failure, the instructor must send a note with the final grade or reason for failure (drop out, failure to respond, poor grade, unbecoming behavior) to the following people:
  • Student
  • Student's Commanding Officer
  • Senior Instructor
  • Both the Academy Commandant and Vice Commandant
• Should a student wish to take the course again, they must wait 90 days from the date of the failure statement to retake the course. This date must be logged in the Academy Dropbox along with the student's progress update.

Section 3.3 - Communications requirements for Late Assignments

• If a student fails to respond to an assignment within 7 days, the instructor must contact the student within 48 hours of the assignment being late, informing them that the homework is late and that for each day after this that the homework is late 5 points will be deducted from the grade until the maximum score the student could receive would fall below 65 (excluding bonuses).Should the student reach a 65, this is considered a course failure.
• This letter should be CCed to the same people as the Graduation/Failure letter.

Section 3.4 - Student/Instructor Issues

• At any point in time a student is able to request a new instructor. This does not mean that their grades will be changed, but that they may continue on with a new teacher.
• If a student feels that their grade is unfair, they may ask that their lesson be reviewed by someone higher up the Academy CoC for a second opinion.
• Should a student behave in a way that is unbecoming of an officer (IE behavior not tolerated in the Fleet to the instructor or regarding the instructor), the commandant or vice commandant reserve the right to dispel the student from the Academy for a period of 90 days. This may also be followed by a demerit-worthy activity report to the PFA and/or the player's CO as needed.

Section 3.5 - Assignments Grading

• Assignments to students are due seven days from the day that they are sent, unless otherwise specified by the instructor. Should you receive the student's work late in the day, add a grace day to the due date.
• Assignments are expected to be graded within 7 days of the date they are received by the instructor (barring extenuating circumstances which must me communicated to the instructor and CC'd by the instructor to the vice commandant and commandant).
• Once Graded, the next lesson should be provided to the student and the next deadline set for the student.
  • All parts of the assignment are expected to be completed.
  • If a segment is not complete, no credit will be given.
• Each course has two available retakes that may be used before the final exam except for the CORC. The CORC has no retakes. A single assignment may not have both retakes used on it.
• The student is expected to complete their own homework. If the instructor finds that the homework was from someone else, then the student will automatically fail the course, regardless of their grades.
• Grading for courses is as follows:
  • 95 to 100%: Distinction
  • 85 to 94%: Merit
  • 75 to 84%: Pass
  • 74% and lower: Fail pending retake of a lesson
• Final course grades are the average of the assignments (add all of the assignment totals then divide by the number of the assignments. Should there be retakes, count only the highest grade whether original or the retake, but not both.)

Last edited on 8/9/16 by Minka Stannes.