TGSAT STUDENT HANDBOOK

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Contents
Introduction .................................................................... 4
Communication Protocols .......................................... 7
Textbook Downloads .................................................. 12
Assignments And How To Proceed With them . 21
Precautions When You Send Assignments......... 30
Compulsory Things ..................................................... 35
Grading And Communication.................................. 37

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Trinity Graduate School of

Apologetics and Theology

Introduction

Dear Student,

Welcome to TGSAT student body. The

fact that you downloaded this

handbook means you have already

received your download instructions.

This Student Handbook will once again

help you to revise your download

instructions and will then go on to give

you instructions about your

assignments plus submission of

assignments.
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Let me also congratulate on your

admission to Trinity Graduate School of

Apologetics and Theology! Please read

this document as many times as

needed to internalize the instructions

so as to maximize your academic

experience with Trinity as meaningful

as possible. Please consult this

handbook before you contact the office

for clarification.

We have made this handbook as

comprehensive as possible, and have

taken frequently asked questions in

consideration. Thus an effort on your

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part to read this Handbook can save the

office the time it has to spend to answer

your questions which are already

answered here.

We have formatted this Handbook for

A5 size paper which is half of the

commonly available A4 size. A5 is

available in larger office supply shops. It

can be printed on A4 also provided you

do not choose ‘fit to margin’ option in

your printer. It is a good idea print and

keep a copy with you for handy

reference. We have also optimized it for

easy reading on smartphones.

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Communication Protocols

Since Trinity is a distance school, and

since distance education creates it own

problems, you need to understand

communication protocols right from

the start. Here are the points that you

need to understand:

Trinity office receives hundreds of

emails every day, and on some days the

number can go to thousands. Thus it is

impossible for the volunteers in the

office to answer your queries if you do

not include full and complete

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information related who you are and

what your exact question is.

Students frequently send emails to the

Trinity office without their names. They

fail to distinguish between personal

email-communication between friends

(which is informal) and official

communication with an office (which is

official).

Thus all emails sent to Trinity (whether

it is to the office, or to an Individual in

the office) should contain your full

name, the course in which you are

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enrolled, and the full address.

Create a signature-file with all the

above information and save it on your

computer. Copy and paste it at the end

of every communication with Trinity.

The full address is needed because

often the answer from the office will

depend upon the country of your

origin/residence because many

requirements vary from country to

country.

Unless you include full information in

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your email, the office will find it difficult

to locate your files. Remember, Trinity

has a networked office with networked

volunteers working from places

thousands of kilometre away from each

other. Thus the person who gets your

email today may not be the person who

handled communication a few days

ago with you.

Some students simply return the

email with whatever “Subject” it

originally had. They do not write the

new subject which they wish to discuss.

This is a mistake. Incoming emails are

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filtered according to the subject line

and you need to indicate the correct

“subject” in all emails.

A little bit of thoughtfulness on your

part at this stage will save Trinity a good

amount of time, and will expedite the

reply from the office.

Emails to or fro do get lost at times, in

spite of the current technological

sophistication, and you might have to

send reminders at times to the office.

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Textbook Downloads
Along with information for

downloading this Handbook you were

also sent information regarding your

textbook location and how to download

them. In case you did not get that

particular email, you should contact the

office (with full information about

yourself, of course) for a resend of the

"Course Download Email".

Notice the following things about

textbook downloads:

The textbook download is to be done

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from a "download location" and is

different from a typical website.

Many students do not keep this in

mind and thus do not recognize the

download structure and end up

erroneously reporting to the office that

they were unable to "open" the

download location.

Thus instead of trying to find a web

location of your expectation, you need

to recognize what is given to you to

download your textbooks successfully.

All Trinity textbooks are free, and are to

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be downloaded from the net which you

can do immediately.

All "text-based studies" you need are

stored in the server-location sent to you

in our download-email.

You should download the textbooks in

the order that you see on the download

location

You should study them in the exact

chronological order in which they are

listed under "Courses" on

www.TrinityTheology.org

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When you log into server locations

given to you in our download-email,

you will see the name "Parent

Directory" and then a lot of files. These

files are your textbooks in the ZIP

format. Clicking on the files, one at a

time, will download them to your

computer. Unzip and use them.

Unzip the files and use them. ZIP files

need an UnZip program to unzip and

open them.

If you face any technical problem, ask

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the computer wizard or power-user in

your church, as that will be the easiest

method, and do not contact Trinity for

this purpose. TGSAT does not have the

manpower necessary to teach

computer-use to our student.

There is no way for Trinity to impart

computer-education to you, which is a

job best done by your friends in your

own place.

Since we have included the path to

ALL "text-based" material you need for

your course, you must download all of

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them as soon as possible and save

them in a place where they are safe

[such as on DVDs or Pen Drives].

It is not a pleasing experience for us

receiving an email from a student three

months after sending our download-

email saying that his/her computer

crashed and all information was lost.

You need to preserve the information

in several formats so that you can

always use the other set if the first one

is lost.

Once you download all the modules,

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you should send us a list of the text

material you have. This is to tally if you

have all the textbooks meant for you.

At times we might send you TWO

download links (only in some cases, and

not to all).

We often get emails from students

who download from one location and

then send a note to the office saying

they did not get all the textbooks.

Once the download is complete, you

should go to the Trinity website and

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tally the files against the list of

textbooks for the program in which you

have enrolled to be sure that you have

downloaded all the textbooks. Also, this

cross-checking will give you an idea of

what a "course-module" means.

Remember, each name mentioned

under your course or program such as

M3A1 or MBS31 is a module. There might

be anywhere from one to fifty files

inside a given course-module. All of

them together make one “numbered”

module such as MTH54 or MTH55A

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Warning: At times students write back

to us to ask if they have to study “all” this

material. The answer is, YES you need to

study ALL the material you download.

You need to write assignments for ALL

the material except those that are

labelled as “readings”. The material

labelled “readings” is only for you to

read. You do not have to write

assignments on them.

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Assignments And How

To Proceed With them

Trinity has evolved a method of

assignments, which is given below. It

may look simple, but that is not the

reality, and the students have to work

hard and on a regular basis if they have

to meet the expectations of the

Mentors.

Trinity follows the open Textbook

approach. This also means that the

assignments are assessed on stricter

criteria than in normal exams. As to

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what a “module” is, you should go to the

subject listing of your diploma. The

modules are listed there The following

is your assignment for each module:

Check for textbooks and topics for the

program which you joined under

“Courses” at www.TrinityTheology.org

The topics are divided into modules.

Understand what a module is.

You should study them in the

sequence in which they are given on

the website. Do not take liberties. The

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order has been fixed by faculty

members after taking several factors

into consideration.

Trinity follows the open-book

examination model where your

assignment is your exam.

Open-book exams look easy, but they

are tougher than closed-book exams.

Here is what you need to do: You

should study a module and then write

at least a 1000 word critical summary of

the module.

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This summary should reflect what you

have understood. Though 1000 is the

minimum length, there is NO

maximum length limit. Some students

go up to 5000 or even more words per

assignment.

Once you summarize, add the

following as extra:

1.What have other writers written

on this topic

2.In what way can this module be

improved

3.In what way has this module

blessed/helped you

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4.In what all ways will you be able

to use this information.

The above is not a simple and plain

summary, but is rather a critical-

summary. Models of some critical

summaries are provided on the Trinity

website (in the Handbook section)

which all of you should definitely

consult.

Send the first 5 assignments in one

bunch. After that you should send the

balance of the assignments 5 to 10

modules at a time.

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Assignments can be sent in DOC,

DOCX, or RTF formats.

Do not zip them. Trinity does not

accept zipped files

Send your assignments as email

attachments to:

Dean.Trinity@gmail.com

If it bounces back (without reaching)

then try the next and then the next.

Assignments@TrinityTheology.org

TrinityCentralOffice@gmail.com

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DO NOT send them to all the emails at

the same time. Send to the first one,

and send to the second one only if the

first one fails.

Please be sure to send 5 assignments

in the beginning, and then at least 5 to

10 in each lot. This is essential to keep

our work and budget to minimum so as

to offer free tuition.

On getting your final assignment we

will ask you for the registered air mail

postage and packing costs of the

diploma and 2 copies of the transcript.

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This amount will have to be remitted

BEFORE the final assignment is graded

by the faculty members.

Your primary mentors shall be: Dr.

Johnson C. Philip, Dr. Saneesh Cherian

You can contact them -- if needed -- at

any of the email addresses given

above. (Dr. Cherian at the Dean’s

address and Dr. Philip at the Office

Address)

If you can get help from your pastor, a

Bible teacher, or a mentor, do seek his

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help first to reduce the workload on

Trinity -- which is best invested to bring

in a large number of people to Bible

training tuition-free.

ALL your emails should have this 3-line

signature file at the end:

1.Your Full Name

2.Your Degree Program, Student

number

3.Your Country

NOTE: You will get your student

number ONLY AFTER you send your

first 5 assignments.

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Most email programs can add a

signature file automatically. If not, just

create a text file and place it

somewhere on your computer. It would

take only 15 seconds to copy and paste

it in your emails to Trinity.

Precautions When
You Send Assignments

Please note the following about

submission of assignments:

The assignments should be sent in

DOC, DOCX, or RTF format. Almost all

word-processors help you to save the

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document in the RTF format via the

“Save As” menu.

Each assignment should be

numbered and named the way it is

numbered and named on the Trinity

website. DO NOT try to substitute

names and numbers as per your fancy.

Doing this will result in immediate

rejection of your submission.

You should place your full name and

diploma name (such as BTh, ThD) on

top of EACH assignment

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This may look something like the

following at the top of a given

assignment

Johnson C. Philip

ThD Student, Student Number

M1A1 Introduction To Apologetics

If you are careless in observing the

above stipulations, your assignment

will not be accepted.

In other words, Trinity has zero

tolerance for assignments that are not

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done according to protocol. Our aim is

not to give you a degree, but rather to

TRAIN you properly

Please also, note the following about

sending of Assignments:

Please note that TGSAT operates at a

very low budget because we do not

really charge you anything.

This means that we need to keep all

costs to the minimum, without

compromising with quality. We are

confident that you would see the high

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quality of the academic material that

we offer which is one and the same for

those who pay fees and also for those

who join free.

We are also confident that you would

surely understand the special

approaches we need to adopt to offer

this high-quality training at zero tuition

fees.

So after the first five assignments,

please send the rest in lots of five (or

even ten) assignments.

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We pray every day for our students

that they might be blessed in a mighty

way by God through these studies. We

pray the same for you too.

Compulsory Things

That All TGSAT Students Need To Do

All Trinity students need to do a few

things. Note them down, make a time-

table and follow the time-table strictly.

The FIRST thing you need to do is to go

to the Trinity the recently started TGSAT

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Facebook group at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/36

7312963356605

The second thing is to introduce

yourself and ask your doubts (not

official questions related to your

studies) there. Many will come forward

to help you.

Join the group and participate in

regular interaction with other students

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Grading And Communication

From The Office

Trinity depends upon voluntary faculty

members for all its work. In the light of

that you need to keep the following in

mind:

No acknowledgment is usually sent on

receipt of assignments. If you turn on

“ask for a read receipt” in your email

program, then our software will send

you an automatic read-receipt.

The assignments are sent to different

faculty members as soon as they reach

us. Results are communicated as soon

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as we get them back.

Since they are all voluntary faculty

members, and since they all work full-

time in different institutions to meet

their financial needs, at time there

would be some delay in grading and

communicating the results.

Students should bear with this,

because it is their willingness to help

voluntarily that make tuition-free

education possible at Trinity.

The results are communicated in a

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grade-chart without any comment if

the work is of a satisfactory level.

If the examiner feels you need to

improve, the comments to that effect

made by him will be communicated to

you.

All students will have to submit written

courses as part of their practical work.

Please note the following about it:

All students need to develop two

Bible-courses as part of their

practical work.

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Instruction for developing the

practical work comes

automatically to you from Trinity

School private mailing-list for

students.

Once you receive these

instructions, follow them strictly.

Do not try to take liberties.

The practical work should be

submitted to Trinity in doc, docx,

or RTF format with the

understanding that Trinity will

display them on its websites for

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free use and study by people. You

cannot ever revoke this right from

Trinity.

 If you have any study related

questions (how to study well, how to

do assignments, what is A4 size

paper) please post these in the

TGSAT Facebook group where many

are ready to guide and help you.

Note: This document is revised and

updated continually

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