Students are assessed by a combination of coursework, projects, assignments, tests and final quarter exams.

QUARTER CREDIT HOUR SYSTEM

One quarter credit hour is fifty minutes of online instructions each week for a quarter (10 weeks). This then requires on average at least an additional two hours of out-of-class preparation and study. Further, in some courses, students may earn a quarter credit for every additional 20 to 30 hours of computer laboratory, coursework and projects depending on the particular course.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

The normal undergraduate student load during a regular academic quarter is 15 hours a week. The minimum undergraduate full-time load is 12 hours and half-time load is 6 hours.

GRADUATE PROGRAMS

At graduate level, the normal full-time load is 14 units. The minimum graduate full-time load is 10 hours and half-time load is 6

PROGRAM ACCELERATION

Program acceleration by increasing the course load in excess of the normal 15 units for undergraduate students and 14 units for graduate students must be approved by the appropriate Academic Advisor and the Academic Program office. To do so a student must be in good academic standing and demonstrate an ability to manage an above normal study load. Students may, with their adviser’s and the Academic Program office approval, enroll for a maximum of 17 hours with no GPA restriction. After their first quarter at Saint Dominic University, students with an overall GPA of 3.20 or higher may with the recommendation of the student’s advisor request from the Academic Program Office approval to take 18 to 20 credits in that quarter.
Under no circumstance will an undergraduate student be permitted to take more than 20 credits or a graduate student to take more than 18 credits a quarter. Students lacking the qualifying GPA or approval of their adviser may not apply for program acceleration as detailed above. At the graduate level, the maximum load is 18 credits per quarter. Any program acceleration above the normal 14 credits must be discussed with the student advisor and approved by the Academic Program Office.

Program Acceleration Examples:

Bachelor degree program acceleration:
A Bachelor degree student whose GPA and academic advisors support an increase in the number of quarter credits to 18 per quarter and who takes summer courses, and who started with 20 credits from earlier qualifications may be able to complete the 180 quarter credits Bachelor degree requirements in about two and a half years.

Masters degree program acceleration:
A Masters Degree student whose academic advisors and GPA support an increase in the number of quarter credits to 15 per quarter and who takes summer courses may be able to complete the 45 quarter credits requirements in just under a year.

PhD degree program acceleration:
A PhD Degree student whose academic advisors and GPA support an increase in the number of quarter credits to 16 per quarter and who takes summer courses may be able to complete the 90 quarter credits requirements in a year and a half after a Masters degree .

COURSE PROGRESS

Saint Dominic University courses provide a comprehensive learning environment having extensive explanation facilities to enable full and clear understanding of the contents of the course. The student is required to follow the online learning courses and attend several online classes . During these online collaboration sessions, students are encouraged to join in and ask questions, submit information and contribute to the sessions. Several courses also regularly require the student to complete quizzes, practice exercises and various assignments projects and coursework which are assessed towards the final grade of the course in that quarter.

Many lessons have online exercises at the end of the lesson. Students need to do the exercise before they can proceed to the next lesson. Such exercises may or may not carry grades and this fact is clearly stated at the beginning of each exercise. Several exercises and quizzes are in the form of multiple choices. The corrections and grading of these tests are usually computerized and students would receive a grade shortly after taking these tests.

The assessment of student achievement and their evaluation are considered to be an important part of learning at Saint Dominic University. In the asynchronous programs when the student is learning through the Learning Platforms, measuring the student’s progress in the course is not based on the time spent, but on whether the learning objectives are being achieved. The student evaluation is not therefore purely based on the number of hours that he or she has spent online but also on the results of the various tests, quizzes and exams, projects which indicate that the student has understood and was able to apply what has been learned. In fact the time spent on the ILP-2 learning platform very much depends on the student ‘s progress, results, behavior and overall performance , so one student may spend much longer time than another student over the same material to achieve the same objective.

We have developed a total student progress monitoring and assessment solution, which includes a combination of small tests at the end of chapters or sections, periodical progress tests, projects and assignments and secure and effective end of term online exams which are designed to effectively assess the ability of the student.


Overall Grading:
The final overall score in course is obtained from a combination of the following assessment tasks:

1. Frequent online testing.
2. Class assignments and tests.
3. Course assignments and projects.
4. Final (quarter) exams.

Exam Procedures

Saint Dominic university applies stringent procedures to all exams taken online. If you live in a Country where the University has an examination center within a commuting distance, then the exam must be taken at that location. The University will inform you of the online exam procedure applicable to your circumstances. A web cam is compulsory for most exams. Saint Dominic University Proctor procedure must be followed for all online exams and new students must ensure that associated forms are filled during the first four weeks of term. The test proctor must satisfy the Test Proctor Qualifications and Guidelines are outlined below. If you have any further questions regarding this matter, please contact the Exams Officer at: exam@stdu.org


TEST PROCTOR QUALIFICATIONS AND GUIDELINES
A qualified test proctor must be:
1. College/university academic professionals (professors, deans, faculty members, etc.), retired faculty members, secondary school principals and vice principals, certified teachers, counselors, or librarians of any school, administrators in an educational institution, school superintendents/assistant superintendents.
2. A commercial testing center.
3. A priest or a member or retired member of the clergy;
4. A Medical Doctor.

TEST PROCTOR GUIDELINES:
1. Relatives will NOT be approved as test proctors.
2. The prospective proctor must sign the Test Proctor Agreement.
3. Any changes in the proctor’s information (name, address, telephone number, etc) must be submitted in writing or emailed by the proctor.
4. Proctors may not be an attorney; a secretary or an office manager; an administrative assistant; a student tutor or a co-worker.
For new students, the Proctor form must be submitted during the first four weeks of the first term and the proctor approved by the university. It is the responsibility of the student to find a qualified proctor. This proctor should be someone of high academic standing (see qualifications above) and must accept the responsibility of administering the student’s exam(s). All proctors must have an e-mail address. Students must show a passport, a valid ID or driver's license to the proctor at time of taking the exam.

A proctor must do the following when an exam is administered to verify that it is administered under the proper conditions:
• Verify the identity of the student taking the exam and record the details of the student’s identification.
• Verify that the student took the exam without use of unauthorized books, notes, or reference of any kind other than the specified material if any.
• Verify that the student took the exam without the help of any other party during the course of the examination.
• Verify that the webcam is oprational.
• Remain in the room with the student while he or she takes the exam.
• Verify that the student did not leave the room during the exam.
• Sign an examination sheet (provided by the University) verifying that the exam was supervised under the proper conditions.

Dishonesty is regarded as a serious offense and evidence of such will result in the offending student being asked to withdraw from the course. The student and the Exam Proctor are expected to practice ethical behavior during the exam.

During the online exam, the student must close all other applications. The exam screen will freeze all other applications and the right click on the mouse. The exams are presented in sections and each section is timed. At the end of the allocated time the screen will automatically move to the next section.


While exams are very important, they only form part of the grade and overall assessment of the student. Students are assessed by a combination of coursework, projects, assignments, tests and final quarter exams.