Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Makayla McDonald and I am petitioning for a late course drop for ASTR 100 during the 2022 semester at Bader College in England. I was diagnosed with migraines in July 2022, and I had received medication for my migraines at that time. Over the course of the last 10 years, I was experiencing headaches often and would use regular medication such as Tylenol if needed. I had not reached out for more medication because at a young age I had grown used to them and they had become a daily part of my life until the headaches changed to migraines during my last year of high school. However, during this 2022-2023 school year, my migraines began to flare up more consistently and had lasted up to three days at a time. Recently, during the winter term I had realized how bad my migraines affected my everyday life, including my school life such as attendance. I had requested consideration early February by the campus doctor, and had only received a three-day consideration due to my lack of a doctors note because I am in the UK and my family doctor is in Canada. I have been in contact with my doctor back home in Canada, and she is worried on how these migraines have progressed quickly in a short term, and had provided me documentation stating that during a flare up, my school work can be heavily affected and my attendance will vary. With that said, I have received full accommodation with QSAS that is retroactive. My migraines had greatly impacted my attendance to ASTR 100 and its observatory sessions, which are included in 20 percent of my mark. However, I had kept my teacher, Will Joyce, up to date with my absences for migraines or occasionally when I was sick. Although, my migraines and missed classes are not the only cause of my failing grade, as I believe the teacher himself showed to be an unfair and biased marker, as well as disorganized in the class syllabus.
To start off, there were only two written assignments worth 30% in total, 4 observing sessions worth 30% of mark, participation and attendance worth 10% and then the final exam worth 30% of mark. That being said, my participation and attendance mark were heavily impacted on my migraines and the instructor was not present during the exam, that was formatted as 4 questions, greatly similar to the assignment formats. However, when writing the two assignments, I had spent a great deal of time and research to create a well written pieces with little to no guidelines from the instructor. When students asked the instructor questions during the first assignment, he had responded to use outside sources and in-depth detail. Then, when I had received my feedback for the first assignment, I was graded a 50% and the comments stated I had wrong information, which came from NASA, and that I was not supposed to use outside sources and to use his classroom notes which was contradictory to his first comments. Using that very little and harsh feedback, I had written the second assignment, and to my dismay I had received a 10%. I was very taken aback and had emailed him asking how I did so poorly, when I did exactly what he said and went into depth with 17 pages in total. I understand it is quality over quantity, but I had answered every question correctly and thoroughly and I was only given feedback stating I had used too much and too similar to the class notes and that I overall just did a poor job. When emailing him, he had responded with no extra feedback or reasoning and only stated that I needed to study for the exam and he wished me well. Considering how bad I had done on my two assignments, I needed to focus on raising my marks on my final exam, which I spent weeks studying for. I had received an 11% on the final exam, which I am surprised by, as I know that each question was correct and explained, however they must have not been written in a way that the instructor agreed with, which was a common occurrence in the assignments. Due to this, I had received an F. In addition, many other students in ASTR100 had expressed to me that they had the same difficulties and failed the course due to little guidance and disorganized marking. The professor was not approachable during the course to discuss and provide feedback or guidance and in turn was condescending and turned me away.
Also, the main reason why I did not drop the course by the course drop deadline was because I had only received one mark by November 1, which was assignment 1. At that point after I received the one mark for the class, I had some hope that I could turn around the rest of the term with an assignment and an exam left. It did not seem right to drop a class after one assignment. I had received high marks on the two worksheets later in the term. The course syllabus and due dates will be provided in this appeal for your review, along with any written feedback or comments the professor had provided.
In addition, I found the disorganization of the course was another issue as the instructor had changed the weight of the assignments a couple of times after they were handed in and marked, and ended up being worth 5% more than we were originally told. As well as course info, many of his class notes and sessions contained information that contradicted with NASA, which is a reliable source. I was very confused on what was deemed right or wrong, as many of the facts we were given were incorrect. I had trouble following the disorganization and no guidance on how to proceed during the course. As well, during observatory sessions and office hour feedback, the instructor has shown bias towards students that seemed to be more interested in astronomy as part of their program, versus others that were taking it as an elective and it had reflected in the comments on the written assignments. It was very unfair and toxic environment to be in, as to succeed one had to write exactly what the instructor wanted, even though he never gave any direction or teaching on the subject. He changed his mind and was not consistent with which information to use. I know that one of my classmates in ASTR100, was not liked by the instructor and had been yelled at due to miscommunication and had received a 0% on assignment 2 even though they had completed the expectations and answered each question with correct responses. The toxicity of the class and constant condescending remarks led me to a few personal episodes which I now understand were anxiety attacks. I am a very respectful person, especially with those that are to be my mentors. This letter alone is causing me stress as I by nature do not like to say negative comments about others. I understand that other situations may have been the issue for certain students, however, I realized that if others had also experienced similar issues that there may also be a greater issue than just me. To my knowledge it was not only myself that had received the unfair treatment and marking by this instructor,
In conclusion, thank you for taking the time to consider my appeal and I hope you agree and grant me a late course drop. I am in the sciences with the goal of medical field, and I have focused all my efforts into my studies with this goal in mind. Receiving a failure in a class I had given so much effort in is very stressful and can negatively affect my future goals in my education. I try to put in 100% in all of my work and despite my struggles with my migraines, I continued to do so in ASTR100.