Syllabus for TH 1301 Introduction to Theology

Activities and Responsibilities

Engagement: Students are expected to be present on time for all class meetings. Presence begins with physical presence, but also requires mental presence. Speaking up can count as engagement, but body language and eye-contact are important as well. To promote focus and mental engagement, we are experimenting with learning without screens while in the classroom. Laptops, tablets, phones, and earphones may not be used. Exceptions can be made for documented accomodations or family situations discussed in office hours. If you see someone else using technology, it may be because they have an approved exception. When in doubt, communicate with the instructor.

Quizzes: The quizzes are designed to gauge comprehension, analysis, and retention of readings and lectures. There is emphasis on learning from mistakes. This means that you will have an opportunity to correct your quiz and resubmit it to raise the grade to the average of the initial and corrected quiz. Quiz corrections should be made using the textbook, notes, and instructor. (I am open to the possiblity that study groups or technology might be constructive for learning from corrections, but not if it amounts to copying down the ideas of others.) Learning from mistakes also means you should be ready for similar questions on the exams. Whenever you don’t know something, go back to your notes or the reading to identify what you misunderstood and how to avoid making a similar mistake again. Quizzes can be rescheduled if the regular time was a University-excused absence and the quiz is rescheduled as soon as possible. For planned absences this generally means taking the quiz earlier than the scheduled time.

Activities: Most weeks on Friday we will conduct an in-class activity related to the new material. Students will be assigned a topic or question to research before class (with technology). Students will collaborate in class with other students who did complementary research. Results of the collaboration will be reported back to the full class. Each activity will end with an individual report written (without technology) during class time.

Exams: The midterm and final exams will be cumulative and will focus on retention, comprehension, and synthesis of points from the quizzes.

Course Policy on Academic Integrity

For this class, artificial intelligence does not substantially change the basic principles of academic integrity, study skills, and consequences. Learning with others in real life, humans on the internet, or non-humans on the internet can have benefits within limits.

Plagiarism includes presenting words that you did not write as if you did write them (especially copy and paste). Plagiarism also includes presenting the ideas of others as if they were your ideas without crediting them to the source. It is generally not necessary to credit ideas you got from lectures, but qualifying ideas as “according to...” can still be helpful if others or you disagree. Use of spellcheck and grammar check can be helpful if it corrects but does not change the expression of your idea.
Skimming, speed-reading, summaries from large language models, talking to a friend about a reading, etc. can be helpful but can mislead. Skimming for preview or review can supplement but never replaces careful reading. Information about religion from friends, people on the internet, and large language models requires critical evaluation. Large language models can be dangerous because they mask signs of a source at odds with the academic study of theology.
Use your quizzes to study. Never consult someone else’s answer during a quiz. Never consult graded work for a quiz you have not yet taken. That includes questions and answers from previous semesters, other sections, or the same section if you were granted an extension.
Research should always be done with critical awareness of the reliability of sources, which should always be cited even if they are not quoted or copied. For very basic questions, an AI summary or first match in search results may be fine. As we go deeper into meaningful theological questions, internet drivel and AI models trained on internet drivel will do more to confuse than to help.

Students will be given an opportunity to explain themselves if a suspicious pattern appears in submitted work. Although plagiarism and copying graded work is sometimes obvious, inability to discuss ideas presented as one’s own is sufficient evidence of dishonesty. A very limited slip of judgment can have limited consequences. The maximum consequence is a zero for the entire category of assignment.

University Policies

What follows until the schedule should be standard for all your classes at St. Mary’s.

This course adheres to the policies and procedures outlined in the Undergraduate Catalog https://catalog.stmarytx.edu/undergraduate/.

This course adheres to the University grading scale. https://catalog.stmarytx.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies-procedures/grades/

Letter	Percent	Quality Points
A	95–100	4.00
A-	90–94	3.67
B+	87–89	3.33
B	84–86	3.00
B-	80–83	2.67
C+	77–79	2.33
C	70–76	2.00
D	60–69	1.00
F	Below 60	0.00

This course adheres to University academic policies and procedures. https://catalog.stmarytx.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies-procedures/academic-policies-procedures/

This course adheres to the policies for academic dishonesty and misconduct, as described in the Student Code of Conduct. https://catalog.stmarytx.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies-procedures/academic-policies-procedures/academic-misconduct/

This course adheres to the University attendance policy. https://www.stmarytx.edu/policies/academic-affairs/attendance-policy/

This course adheres to the policies for study days and final exams. There will be two study days during which students prepare for final exams. Classes do not meet during Study Days. All major reports and assignments should be scheduled to be completed before Study Days. Study Days are not to be used as dates on which papers are to be turned in, examinations are to be given, quizzes are to be scheduled, mandatory review sessions are to be held, or for any other class-related activities, other than office hours. Faculty may conduct voluntary review sessions at which no new material is presented on these days. The only exception to the study day policy is for Thursday night classes- Thursday night final exams are scheduled on day-two of Study Days. The final exam schedule can be found at https://www.stmarytx.edu/academics/registrar.

St. Mary’s University is committed to providing a safe, equitable, and fair environment where students can pursue academic excellence. Policies and procedures have been developed to foster and sustain such an environment and apply to all courses offered at the university. Students need to be aware of these policies and procedures, which can be found at https://www.stmarytx.edu/policies/.

Please become familiar with these important policies and procedures, which include:

Nondiscrimination, Sexual and Other Forms of Harassment https://www.stmarytx.edu/about/title-ix/
Student Accessibility Services https://www.stmarytx.edu/campuslife/student-services/accessibility/
Human Subjects Research https://www.stmarytx.edu/compliance/research-compliance/

This course adheres to the University Disability Statement. In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act, Student Accessibility Services is the designated office responsible for coordinating all accommodations and services for students with disabilities at St. Mary’s University. St. Mary’s University supports equal access of qualifying individuals with documented disabilities to all educational opportunities, programs, services and activities. If you have a documented disability, or a condition which may impact your performance and want to request disability-related accommodations, you must first register with the Office of Student Accessibility Services, located in the Student Counseling Center (in the Center for Life Directions Building) in room 139. Please stop by the Student Accessibility Services Office, call 210-431-5080 or email stmudsts@stmarytx.edu to set up an appointment to meet with the Student Accessibility Services staff.

This course includes student course evaluations. Student course evaluations are one of several methods used to assess the quality of education at St. Mary’s University. At the end of the semester, students will have the opportunity to evaluate the course and instructor. These evaluations are confidential and anonymous. We strongly encourage all students to participate in completing the course evaluations.

This course adheres to the University diversity statement. St. Mary’s University embodies the Marianist spirit of educating the heart and mind. The University draws on the example of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, founder of the Society of Mary, to create an environment that lets students thrive and where diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential. The intersectionality of our diverse experiences and characteristics are valued in all spaces within our community. Thus, we all must be committed to building an inclusive learning environment that values the individual experiences of every student in this course and where each has an opportunity to learn, engage in dialogue, question, and contribute to their fullest potential.