Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

On November 13th I received my grade for a multimedia project in DEVS 340 with the mark of 55. My TA informed me that I was significantly marked down for not having an audio component to my project. In the syllabus it says: For this assignment, you will have to create a presentation of approximately 10-12 minutes. Your presentation can use a combination of technology (video, blog, narrated PowerPoint, etc.) To me, it is absolutely unclear that my blog should have had an audio component. In reading the guidelines for the assignment, I didn't take from that that it was mandatory we have an audio component, but it was up to us to demonstrate our creativity in presentation - whatever that may be. If they suggest a blog, it is unfair to assume that I would know to make an audio component as blogs do not typically have narrated audio. When I tried to speak to both my TA and the professor, they told me the instructions were clear and that it would be unfair to let me submit an audio component. I was not asking for a resubmission, but simply adding the component that was unclear. My assignment was not wanting for lack of effort or interest in the material, but simply because the assignment itself made no specific reference to a mandatory oral component. I obviously would have included this had it been clear to me.

I have a full course load, I am actively engaged in extra-curricular activities virtually, and I am living in Mexico to take care of my retired grandmother during the pandemic. Quite frankly, it is impossible for me to second guess and follow-up on every assignment that is unclear; I do the assignments as written assuming that the directions are straightforward with their expectations. Losing this significant percentage of this assignment drastically affects my GPA this semester, one I have worked hard to maintain as I apply to graduate programs in a few weeks. Furthermore, I received my mark on November 13th and only got an answer from my professor on December 9th, leaving me with very little room to discuss a solution or even request an appeal.

I understand that creating online assignments is not always easy but as a student who works very hard every year to pay for my tuition, I feel that every effort should be made to build an online curriculum that fairly assesses the ability of each student. Part of online learning in this pandemic is about flexibility; students have been asked to be very flexible with the way they learn, and I believe that the school should be as well. I understand that my professor does not want to give specific students unfair advantages over others but in this case, I think an exception is warranted given the issues I have pointed out with this assignment in my previous emails now nearing a month ago. Moreover, the fact that this process has lasted a month where I received no follow-up for several weeks, it is now the end of the semester and it makes it difficult to come to a satisfying solution for everyone.