Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Reason for appeal: Grade awarded in the participation section of the course.


Associate Dean of Studies,
Faculty of Arts and Science.


I have been advised by Professor Matrix that should I remain concerned about the grade I received for the participation portion of my Film 260 Digital Media Course that an appeal is the next course of action.
With regard to the appeal, my goal is either to have the portion of my mark that was graded F properly amended, or at the very least obtain an explanation as to how my work did not meet the vague guidelines in the course outline, and how it could be fixed to avoid this conflict in the future.
The mark received in question was a grade of an F on the participation portion of my course. When I first wrote to Professor Matrix she directed me back to the course outline which I then reread. However, I still do not believe that I am deserving of an F in this portion of the course. While my participation may not have been worthy of an A, I did meet the vague requirements listed in the course outline and therefore feel that a grade of F is very severe and unfair. As mentioned before, when I wrote to Professor Matrix the first time asking for verification of the mark and an explanation, her comment was to review the course outline. I did so and then wrote back for further explanation as I still didn't see how my work deserved a grade of F. Her reply was curt and simply said to appeal the grade if I still had a problem with it.
To quote the course outline: Posting the minimum required number of comments will not translate into an A+ on this assignment, however if you meet the minimum requirements and post value-added, well-written, weekly contributions, you qualify for a passing grade. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to view my submissions on Moodle as the discussion forum and all other elements of the course have been removed from the Moodle page. Thus, when corresponding with Professor Matrix I was also not able to review my submissions. However, I do know that I met the required 12 posts and that they were value added. Also, from reading the outline, the impression that I received was that less frequent comments with substance would be given more weight and value than frequent posts of little to no substance or value. In this sense I also found the course outline confusing as the professor's apparent interpretation did not place much value on these aspects.
As I am not familiar with the process of appealing a grade, let me share that my other grades in this course were an A, A-, B+ and B for a weighted average of A- before adding the grade of F for participation. After adding the F, the grade stands at a B-. The F is worth 25 precent of the course and has a dramatically negative impact on an otherwise good mark.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,
Jessie Cooke