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Month in Review

There were 63 courses passed this month, and the Docents and Professors handled them with impressive finesse.

Most of my time this month was spent inserting my fingers into many pies. There are a lot of projects underway at the moment and a number of very talented people working on them. I'm looking forward to all of this work coming to fruition.

During the month, the last of the courses that had been affected by an issue with the site were restored, albeit with old notes, and all courses were once again takable. This saw a dramatic uptake in the number of courses being submitted (obviously.)

A lot of Degrees were earned, awards were given and a staff member was even promoted.

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The Grind Path: Can you help?

Some of the Grind Path Courses are at the point where they need very thorough read through, edits and/or rewrites.

Are you keen on volunteering for this task? If so send and email my way.

Here's the details: I'll be selecting the five best people who put their hand up and I will apply bias towards people who have written SA courses or expressed interest in helping the SA prior to this call to action. I'll favour members with a lot of SA courses, or a lot of DB experience under their belt.

That's not to say that if you're a younger member that I won't pick you. Show me what you're made of and you'll have a fighting chance.

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SA Projects

There are a few projects going on at the moment, one of them obviously being the Grind Path.

Ood and Cethgus are currently working on rewriting and/or updating the courses in the Department of CORE Studies. Once finished there they'll be branching out to assist the various Professors with updating the courses under their charge.

Macron is working on a new course for the Academy, one which will likely be the first new "practical" courses offered.

Wuntila is looking at bringing back the Clouse History courses. I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

I'm going to be looking at updating/changing parts of the Test of Lore.

Troutrooper is working on training material for new leaders. Current target is BTLs and he has been getting some good feedback from people who are/have been in that position. It's looking interesting from where I am sitting.

Scelestus helped shore up the role of the Rollmasters and I have sent an email to all Clouse leaders about what I intend to do (don't worry, it's nothing drastic.) Rollmasters you can expect an email from me either today or tomorrow, my time.

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Award People More!

It should be no surprise that I am a little generous with awards. Hell, a lot of my time as Wiki Tribune was spent figuring out how to award more Dark Side Scrolls. I'm sure if I looked I would see a chain of emails between the MAA staff and myself with "what about...?" type messages.

I really hate seeing people go unrewarded, or under rewarded.

Looking in from the outside, it seems like the measure for rewarding crosses has shifted. I see Dark Crosses going to people that could have had an Anteian Cross, Anteian Crosses where a Steel or even Grand Cross may have been better.

And yet, the official line of what each award is for hasn't changed.

If you're a leader, head over to the Wiki and look at the Dark Cross, read the Awarded For section. Go through the rest of the merit medals. Familiarize yourself with them, and the next time you're awarding a medal consider whether you can award something bigger.

Can you write a little bit more in the recommendation and bump it up to a higher medal? Has the member just naturally done enough for a higher award. Consult the wiki, ask the MAA, hell, I'll help if I can. Don't short change your hard working members.

Activity should be rewarded well and will encourage more and better activity.

Also, DCs, throw them at everyone. If they are being active in your House or Battle Team, give them a DC. Throw them at anything that moves (almost.)

One of the best cases for awarding DC is that new member that just arrived. Did they get on IRC quickly, or do something else well in their first week? Award a DC. Take Nath (who is featured in the awards section below), who received a DC after only two days in the Brotherhood. THAT is the sort of thing a DC should be rewarded for.

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Reminder: The Great (error) Hunt

There is still a few days left to go on the Great (error) Hunt competition. Don't miss this opportunity to pick up some Third Level Crescents and Dark Side Scrolls.

Details here: http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/competition.php?id=6782

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Promotions

Ood was promoted to Krath Epis this week. I would link you to the "event" but the recommendation came out as a giant wall of text. If you're interested, check it out through his dossier history as it looks much better there.

This man has been with the Shadow Academy for nearly seven years and has graded over 900 exams.

That's a lot.

He is also a fount of great ideas and a great asset to the Academy and the wider Brotherhood, I'm looking forward to working with him more.

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Medals

Kalia and Socorra each received a Scroll of Foundation for seeing their respective students through to Knighthood. Remember to request your scrolls if you are eligible for them through your admin page.

Macron also recieve a SoF for authoring the new History of the Sith Empire IV course.

Nath Voth earned a Dark Cross after only two days in the Brotherhood. During those first two days she had been very active, and brought to my attention issues with the Test of Lore that I would have otherwise been unaware of.

Two members thoroughly impressed my this month when they passed a lot of courses and earned a number of Dark Side Degrees and were awarded Anteian Crosses for their efforts. Solus and Jaek, you were both awarded a crazy number of and/or difficult Degrees and filled my inbox. Good job!

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Degrees

There were way too many this past month to list them all with a little word about each, so here is a list!

• Solus Gar:
  • Dark Sage - Law
  • Dark Savant - Tactics and Combat
  • Dark Savant - Leadership and Communication
  • Dark Maven - Leadership
• Jaek Kaeth:
  • Dark Savant - Tactics and Combat
  • Dark Savant - Writing and Philosophy
  • Dark Maven: Philosophy
• Raken:
  • Dark Maven: Philosophy
• James Lucius Entar Arconae:
  • Dark Sage - Programming
  • Dark Maven - Programming
• Fremoc Pepoi:
  • Dark Sage - Gaming
• Archangel:
  • Dark Sage - Gaming
  • Dark Maven - Service
• Montresor:
  • Dark Maven - Philosophy
• Sanguinius Tsucyra Entar:
  • Dark Savant - Service
  • Dark Sage - Service

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Have Your Say!

I've seen some really good suggestions come through the "Have Your Say" form, and I'll be starting to work through them and either action them straight away or assign them as a task to someone.

I'll try to get back to each and everyone of you who submitted a suggestion before my next report.

The form will remain live, so if you have something else you would like to add, or feel you need to let us know about what YOU want out of the Shadow Academy, click the logo below.

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Conclusion

I'm hoping for another busy month for the Shadow Academy. Like everyone else, I am looking forward to Dark Crusade and seeing where it takes us. This is certainly going to be an exciting year.

That's all for this month. I'm always on IRC so feel free to drop me a line if you want to ask a question or just say "Hi!"