Tutoring Statement

The Supplemental Instruction & Tutoring Program at TSTC offers free tutoring and academic support services to help you achieve your academic and career goals. You can access the Tutoring Schedule, as well as MyTSTC Video Tutor Library, by visiting: https://portal.tstc.edu/student/Student_Learning/Pages/Tutoring.aspx (shortened link: goo.gl/Z9vJvY ).

For more information, please contact Norma A. Salazar@ 956-364-4557.

Learning Resource Center

The Learning Resource Center provides online and in person library resources and services.  Go to tstc.libguides.com to find help with your assignments, projects, and papers.  Clicking the Student tab will allow you to find resources, homework help, tutorials, and real time chat to answer your questions.

COVID-19 Safety Procedures

For the latest information on COVID-19 safety and protocols, visit tstc.edu/coronavirus.

Wearing a face mask while indoors is strongly encouraged.

Should you, or someone with whom you have had close contact, have shown any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 please stay home and let us know as soon as possible by filling out this simple form. We will contact you to provide you with further guidance on when you may return to campus.

Emergency Assistance Available

As a student you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning, such as food insecurity, housing, transportation, and childcare concerns, or you may be unable to pay your bills. These stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce your ability to participate in daily activities. TSTC offers emergency aid and services to assist you with addressing these and other concerns you may be experiencing. Please contact the TSTC Advocacy & Resource Center. You can reach a coach here: http://bit.ly/ARCCoach

Title IX

Texas State Technical College (TSTC) seeks to provide an environment that promotes equal opportunity free from discrimination and harassment.

If you have been a victim of sexual harassment, sexual harassment, sexual assault, or any other form of protected class discrimination, we encourage you to make a report. If you report to a faculty member, she or he must notify TSTC’s Title IX Coordinator about the incident. You may also make a confidential report to TSTC’s Counselors.

All students (including pregnant and parent students), regardless of their legal status are entitled to protections under TSTC’s policy.

For more information about Title IX or sexual misconduct, as well as your options, please visit https://www.tstc.edu/student_life/titleix.

For information about equal opportunity and civil rights policies, visit https://www.tstc.edu/governance/sos.

Visit TSTC Bookstores online for all course required books, tools & supplies.

https://www.tstc.edu/student_life/bookstore

• An overview of this course.
  
  NS Check-In
  Self-Assessment
  Syllabus Quiz
  Self-Introduction Forum Discussion

PBE Information

This course is a Performance-Based Education (PBE) Course, the name of TSTC’s course-based, Competency-Based Education (CBE) initiative. PBE courses require a minimum grade standard to be met. For this course, the minimum grade standard is set at 80% for each individual mastery assessment.

Mastery assessments have been built to align with industry-reviewed course competencies and you will have multiple attempts to reach this mastery level as outlined in the Departmental Multiple Mastery Attempt Policy below. Each individual Mastery Assessment must be completed with a minimum mastery grade of 80% by the end of the semester. You must earn a grade of mastery on the assessments before the next module is unlocked. Your work in this course will be self-guided, which means that you will be able to determine how much time will be devoted to each of the learning modules with the guidance of your Faculty member and the provided pacing guide. This pacing guide will be tailored to the start date and completion time (i.e. 7.5 weeks or 15 weeks) you choose when taking your syllabus quiz.

A Departmental Multiple Attempt at Mastery Policy is provided that will be followed as well. The final grade for this course will be determined by averaging all the Mastery Assessments, each of which must meet the minimum mastery grade of 80% requirement posted above.  If you fail to meet the minimum mastery grade of 80% on one or more of the assessments in this course, a grade of “F” will be posted. 

BMT Departmental Multiple Attempt at Mastery Policy

This Course has 7 Mastery Assessments that you must complete with an 80% or better to pass the course. After you have watched the lectures and moved through the exercises for the module, you will submit your work for review by your instructor. Your instructor will grade your assessment within 2 business days of submission. Faculty will only grade during the business hours of Monday through Friday between 8 am - 5 pm central time. Faculty will not grade on weekends, holidays, or after hours. For weekends or holidays, your instructor will grade your work within 2 business days upon their return. 

Mastery Assessments

In PBE courses, you will demonstrate mastery of course competencies through assessments. At TSTC, General Education course assessments have the mastery level set at 70% or better and for Technical courses, 80% or better. Unlike traditional courses, in PBE, you will need to complete ALL mastery assessments with the required score in order to complete the course. The benefit of PBE is that in the event you do not finish the course, mastery assessment scores will carry over to the next semester and you can pick up where you left off in the course the next semester. 

First Attempt

Before attempting a mastery assessment, you should complete any formative assessments (typically called Check for Understanding, Activity or Lab) indicated in the module as required. These formative assessments are designed to help gauge your understanding of the content and readiness for the mastery assessment.

Instructors will grade your mastery assessment within 2 business days. While waiting for feedback on the assessment, continue working on your other course(s).

In the event that you do not meet the predetermined score to indicate mastery of the content, you will be given another assessment opportunity. 

Second Attempt

If your first attempt score is between 50 and 69% on a General Education assessment or between 60 and 79% on a Technical assessment, you can self-direct your remediation or meet with an instructor to close the gaps in your knowledge, skills or abilities.

If you scored below 50% on a General Education assessment or below 60% on a Technical assessment, you will need to return to the corresponding module(s) and view all lectures, complete all readings and attempt or reattempt all formative assessments. 

You must wait 1 business day after the first attempt score is returned to you before attempting the assessment again. 

Third Attempt

If you do not demonstrate mastery on the second attempt, you will need to schedule a time to meet with your instructor to review the first two attempts. The instructor will assign mandatory tasks for you to complete before the next attempt. Again, there is a 1 business day waiting period from the time your previous attempt score is returned to you before a new attempt is allowed. 

Additional attempts past the third will follow the same guidelines as the Third Attempt. 

The highest score from all attempts will be recorded for each mastery assessment.  

If you desire an additional attempt just to raise your score, you will need to complete all mastery assessments in the course first and then contact your instructor for directions. Note: You cannot request an attempt to raise a score after the semester has ended. It is your responsibility to plan your coursework so that adequate time remains at the end of the semester to administer any additional assessment(s).

Your final mastery assessment attempt for the semester is due Wednesday at 5:00 pm CST the last week of the semester. This will allow your instructor the 2 business days to grade your assessment. Assessments that can be computer graded will close at 5:00 pm CST on the last Friday of the semester.

Mastery Assessment Carry Over

If you do not master an assessment before the end of the semester, you will pick up with that assessment the next semester. Any attempts on that assessment from the previous semester will reset and start over with the first attempt in the new semester. (Note: Failure to complete all mastery assessments in a course with required score will result in an ‘F’ in the course. You will need to register and pay for the course again to continue.)

Mastery assessment scores are good for one calendar year. In other words, you have 3 semesters after the initial semester ends to complete the course. For example, if a student masters assessments 1 and 2 in a course but not the third in Fall 2022 semester, they will need to finish the course the next Spring 2023, Summer 2023 or Fall 2023 semester to carry over the scores for mastery assessments 1 and 2. The student will need to repeat the entire course if they wait until the Spring 2024 semester. 

Course Grade At the Close of the Semester

The course closes at 5pm central time on the last day of the semester. To give yourself ample time for revisions we suggest turning in your final assessments at least 1 week in advance. Once final grades are submitted there will be no revisions to the course grade or make-up work for the missing assessments.

TSTC PBE Grading Policy for Technical Courses

A     90-100     Excellent/Superior Performance Level 4

B     80-89       Above Required Performance Level 3

F     Below 80  Failure to meet Performance Requirements 0

NE     --            No Credit Earned (Subscription Add-On Only)

IP       --            In Progress

W       --            Withdrawal 0

CR     --            Credit 0

AUD   --            Audit of Course 0

See College Catalog for complete descriptions.

Class Participation Guidelines

Successful online learning requires active participation. Students who enroll in online classes are expected to actively participate in class functions on a regular basis. Logging into the online Learning Management System is not sufficient to establish or maintain participation. To maintain active participation, students must submit assignments, interact in class discussions, complete group work if applicable, and participate in other activities specified by the instructor (e.g. attend or watch “live-lecture sessions (or watching the recordings), with an active webcam audio/video, reading, watching pre-recorded lecture videos, research, etc.) Students should expect to log into the online class at least 4-5 times per week and spend at least 8-10 hours per week involved in activities for each 3-credit hour online class. This class will require effort, organization, dedication, and critical thought. If you feel you are struggling despite your efforts, do not be afraid to ask for help from your instructor through email, GoogleChat or the slack channel.

During week 1 of the semester, the student must successfully complete the Show/No Show activity found in the navigation bar as NS Check-in. This is required within 3 days of the class start date in order to be recognized as a certified student in the course. It is the sole responsibility of the student to drop the course within the first week of the semester or by the official drop date of the course.

Required Resources

A list of resources and materials has been provided to you for textbooks, tools, and materials. It is necessary for you to purchase these required materials or it will adversely affect your ability to pass the assessments of the course. These items are mandatory unless otherwise indicated on the supply list as optional. A student that does not acquire the mandatory resources within the first two weeks, could fail assessments, quizzes, exams, exercises, and/or projects, and consequently the course.

Software

You MUST have Microsoft Office 365 installed on your computer to begin this course. TSTC offers Office 365 (with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access) for free to enrolled students.

To apply for access, fill out the linked form using your mymail.tstc.edu account. You must be enrolled in the current semester at TSTC.  https://bit.ly/tstc365request

You will receive an email with your user name and temporary password with a link to download after your eligibility has been verified. This can take up to 5 days. If you need assistance or have trouble accessing the link, please contact Patricia Garcia at patricia.garcia@tstc.edu

Adobe Reader - Free to download at: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Computer

PC computer with a minimum of 16GB memory, i7 processor, 250 GB hard drive.  The  PC (Windows based computer running current Windows Operating System) compatible computer/laptop/notebook with sufficient memory to run software and programs used in this course. If you are using an Apple Mac desktop or laptop, it is your responsibility to modify your Apple OS system to run windows or any software specific to this course. Your instructor is NOT responsible for explaining Apple OS commands and application commands.

Internet Access

Internet access required - High speed or DSL recommended. Internet access required - High speed or DSL recommended. This is an online course; efficient internet access and reliable communication are required. The entirety of the course content will be delivered through the college’s Canvas learning management system, references found therein, and possibly the Cengage Unlimited’s website.  TSTC’s Canvas learning management system and Cengage Unlimited require your browser to run Java and Flash, so it is important to ensure these programs are updated and running on your computer. Access to only a mobile device or tablet is NOT enough to succeed in this fully online computer-based course.

Academic Honesty

Texas State Technical College and this department expect our students to maintain high standards of personal and academic honesty and integrity. In a college environment of this nature, student integrity is especially critical, because the opportunities for dishonesty are more readily available and the trust level is higher. Exploiting either of these opportunities is a particularly blatant and offensive act. You must maintain academic integrity and honesty at all times, on all course assessments: assignments, labs, projects, tests, etc. You must work independently when required, and work effectively in groups when required. You must use only the resources and assistance permitted on the given course activity. Students should pay special attention to whether assessments are designated as ‘individual’ or ‘group’ assessments, as well as what materials, resources, and help from others are permitted. If in doubt, ask your instructor prior to beginning the assessment. When you are permitted to use materials and ideas that belong to others, you must state the source of the information. If you use outside help or materials when not allowed, you are in violation of this policy in the way of cheating. If you are allowed to use outside materials but do not cite the sources of your information, you are in violation of this policy in the way of plagiarism. Students who assist other students in violating this policy are considered equally in violation. This includes if you provide access to your work to another student, either by way of students sending each other files or accessing other students’ work via Google Drive and claiming it as their own. Any students involved in any dishonesty or plagiarism on any assessment will be subjected to punishment that can range from a 0 on the assessment, to a 0 for the course, to expulsion. If you are involved in dishonesty or plagiarism, you will be referred to the Associate Provost for additional punishment.

This course may require students to submit specified assignments through Turnitin software. All coursework will be retained as reference documents in the Turnitin.com database for at least 3 years solely to be compared with future assignment submissions.

Distance Learning Guidelines

This class is an online PBE course. There are lecture assessments corresponding to each module, quizzes, research, and projects with target due dates based on the timeline chosen. The entirety of the class will be conducted through TSTC’s Learning Management System and the resources and links found therein. You can access our Learning Management System site through the TSTC portal or by going directly to Your Dashboard (https://tstc.instructure.com/). If you are having difficulty with this site, technical support is available by phone at 800-592-8784 or by email (tstchelpdesk@tstc.edu).

Cloud Storage Requirements

Google Drive is the Cloud Storage that is supplied from TSTC. It is up to the instructor if they choose to use Google Drive as a method to turn in student work. It is suggested that you backup all of your files to your Google Drive Cloud Storage throughout the entire duration of the program. This will ensure you do not lose files.

Electronic Communication

Professionalism is expected in the use of all electronic communications, and the content of each message should be kept professional. If you violate this policy, you will be referred for disciplinary action. Below are some helpful tips when using electronic communication:

• Do not launch straight into the message, greet politely.
• Only use your TSTC mymail email account or Canvas Inbox to email your Instructor. Other email accounts may be blocked by our Office of Information Technology department for safety reasons.
• Place the course name and number in the subject line. This will help the Instructor identify how to best help you.
• Sign your email with your full legal name and your student id# or have a signature do this for you.
• Capitalize and punctuate your messages.
• Do not use “text-talk” in your messages.
• Be clear and concise. Make sure you write a clear request, get to your point quickly, and offer to provide more information in a later email. The full life story is not needed to get your point across.
• Don’t ask for information before you have watched your lectures, read your chapters, and all of the course material for the module.
• You will expect an email response within 24 hours. For weekends or holidays, expect your email to be returned following the weekend and/or holiday.

Personal Behavior

You are attending a course in a professional environment. Your behavior, conduct, and ethics are expected to be that of a professional student. During class discussions (either in the LMS or in the Slack Channel), each student is expected to contribute to the discussion topics. You are encouraged to ask questions as often as you would like, but be courteous of others. This also includes disruptive behavior such as commentary during instructor online live-lectures. If someone is speaking, wait for your turn. If you are being disruptive in a live-lecture then you may be asked to leave. During a live-lecture you will give your full attention to the instructor and participate in an environment free of distractions. Do not use offensive language in chat/comments. Dress with the understanding that you are being seen by the public. Make sure to avoid loud noises during live-lectures as it would cause distractions. Also make sure your environment is clean and ready to be seen on camera.

Enrollment Coach Information

TSTC is here to help you succeed and to aid you through your journey with us. We have assigned you an Enrollment Coach who will assist you with scheduling your classes, guide you towards completing your classes on time, and let you know about all the services TSTC has to offer. In order to help you stay on track to your great-paying job, we ask that you meet with your enrollment coach weekly, on the computer through video conferencing, phone call, or text message/email correspondence. These meetings won’t take long and we want to make sure you know how you are doing and how to get where you are going. To schedule a meeting with your enrollment coach you can click on this link: schedule a meeting with your enrollment coach (http://tstc.edu/meetwithcoach)

Enrollment Coaches for Business Management Technology

• Last Name A-C:  Vanessa Nelson (vanessa.nelson@tstc.edu)
• Last Name D-Go: Jennifer Jenson (jennifer.jenson@tstc.edu)
• Last Name Gp-Ma: Jessica Turrubiates (jessica.turrubiates@tstc.edu)
• Last Name Mb-R: Nora Ramirez (nora.ramirez@tstc.edu)
• Last Name S-Z: Lori Blake (lori.blake@tstc.edu)

Syllabus Changes

Syllabus policies are subject to change. Notification will be sent to official school email addresses of any changes to the syllabus.