Petition Letter
To Whom It May Concern:
I am appealing Final Research Paper in KNPE 352 - Research Based Internship in the Biomechanics and Ergonomics Laboratory. Before stating the reasons of my appeal, I will explain the structure of the course as it is essential to understand my case. Since this course is an introduction to research for 3rd year students, there are many different professors that take on a couple of students each. To coordinate all the students, we have a course coordinator. Since there are different professors (who also mark their own students), there is a rubric that the course coordinator will give for each assignment that students can use as a guideline. However, professors also have the ability to make modifications to each rubric as they see fit and then let the students know of the changed rubric.
The reason for this appeal is because of the lack of feedback throughout the year on other writing components and a convoluted rubric/description about the specifications of the report set by my professor. In other words, I did not know what was being graded, how I was being evaluated, and without telling me directly, the professor left the paper up to bias and no specific method of determining a grade even though I followed the rubric given to me by the course coordinator. As a result, I felt that my research paper was unfairly judged and critiqued, and that my work did not reflect the grade I got.
Some evidence for is resides in guidance from the Student Academic Success Services - the Writing Centre and KNPE 352 Course Coordinator. I was told that my first draft of my research paper was well above any undergraduate expectations and that with slight modifications I would be able to receive an A if not an A+ from the Writing Centre. Although the course coordinator only reviewed a small section of the report, I was told that there were only minor spelling and grammar errors that were found, but the overall content was good.
I understand you stated that the appeal must explicitly state the grade received and also the impact on my academic success, I would like to make clear one thing. I do not care about the overall grade I receive in this course, I really just want to be graded fairly with explicit feedback on the component I worked on based off the rubric. Although this is just one component of my final grade, the impact on my overall success in this course is strong. I received a D on this report worth 35 of my overall grade putting my overall grade to a B+, the bottom 10 of the class (the lowest grade I received this year Because this course is a research internship, there are many different professors with many different marking schemes. But because my professor chose to not use the given marking scheme by the lab coordinator (and failed to mention that to me), base the mark off of their own thought and judgement (which I was not aware of when writing this report and only found out after persistent questioning on why I received the mark I did), I believe I was not graded fairly.
Additionally, I would like to ask different professors in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies evaluate my work. I think that there was some severe bias done by my professor on my work. The research I did was Educational Research on his personal course and some of the feedback we received from students along with recommendations I believe he did not like. Throughout the year I also noticed a persistent wrong feeling in my stomach during meetings and the feeling as though our relationship was not as strong. Although this is not a fair component of a re-grade, I would just like to be evaluated anonymously amongst the other professors in my school.
I understand that this is a very late request and am very sorry about that. I also understand that my excuse the reason for the late request may seem not very strong and thus, if that is the reason for my denied request, I totally understand. The reason for this request being so delayed was twofold. First, I wanted to consult my professor which took over a very long time due to altered hours and response time in emails. As well, I was unaware of this process and first met with my Undergraduate Coordinator two times. Secondly, I was unsure whether or not to request a re-grade as I was nervous of the impact this would have on my success in my department. I did not want to jeopardize my interactions with anyone and I was also nervous of the impact this would have on my relationship with this professor. This is another reason that I hope this request can remain anonymous amongst my fellow professors. I am performing a thesis next year under a different professor and do not want to jeopardize that relationship. The second component causing this late request was my work. I am working as a teaching assistant, at a research institute at KGH, and volunteering lots of hours for Orientation Week 2018. As a result, I had to put this request on the backburner. Again, I understand that this may not be a totally just reason for a delayed request, however, I hope you can see that I really wanted to think through the process and ensure that this was something that if not requested, would be a detriment to my academic career.
Warm regards,
Josh
--
Josh Ehrlich (10191667)
Kinesiology '19
Josh.ehrlich@queensu.ca
I am appealing Final Research Paper in KNPE 352 - Research Based Internship in the Biomechanics and Ergonomics Laboratory. Before stating the reasons of my appeal, I will explain the structure of the course as it is essential to understand my case. Since this course is an introduction to research for 3rd year students, there are many different professors that take on a couple of students each. To coordinate all the students, we have a course coordinator. Since there are different professors (who also mark their own students), there is a rubric that the course coordinator will give for each assignment that students can use as a guideline. However, professors also have the ability to make modifications to each rubric as they see fit and then let the students know of the changed rubric.
The reason for this appeal is because of the lack of feedback throughout the year on other writing components and a convoluted rubric/description about the specifications of the report set by my professor. In other words, I did not know what was being graded, how I was being evaluated, and without telling me directly, the professor left the paper up to bias and no specific method of determining a grade even though I followed the rubric given to me by the course coordinator. As a result, I felt that my research paper was unfairly judged and critiqued, and that my work did not reflect the grade I got.
Some evidence for is resides in guidance from the Student Academic Success Services - the Writing Centre and KNPE 352 Course Coordinator. I was told that my first draft of my research paper was well above any undergraduate expectations and that with slight modifications I would be able to receive an A if not an A+ from the Writing Centre. Although the course coordinator only reviewed a small section of the report, I was told that there were only minor spelling and grammar errors that were found, but the overall content was good.
I understand you stated that the appeal must explicitly state the grade received and also the impact on my academic success, I would like to make clear one thing. I do not care about the overall grade I receive in this course, I really just want to be graded fairly with explicit feedback on the component I worked on based off the rubric. Although this is just one component of my final grade, the impact on my overall success in this course is strong. I received a D on this report worth 35 of my overall grade putting my overall grade to a B+, the bottom 10 of the class (the lowest grade I received this year Because this course is a research internship, there are many different professors with many different marking schemes. But because my professor chose to not use the given marking scheme by the lab coordinator (and failed to mention that to me), base the mark off of their own thought and judgement (which I was not aware of when writing this report and only found out after persistent questioning on why I received the mark I did), I believe I was not graded fairly.
Additionally, I would like to ask different professors in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies evaluate my work. I think that there was some severe bias done by my professor on my work. The research I did was Educational Research on his personal course and some of the feedback we received from students along with recommendations I believe he did not like. Throughout the year I also noticed a persistent wrong feeling in my stomach during meetings and the feeling as though our relationship was not as strong. Although this is not a fair component of a re-grade, I would just like to be evaluated anonymously amongst the other professors in my school.
I understand that this is a very late request and am very sorry about that. I also understand that my excuse the reason for the late request may seem not very strong and thus, if that is the reason for my denied request, I totally understand. The reason for this request being so delayed was twofold. First, I wanted to consult my professor which took over a very long time due to altered hours and response time in emails. As well, I was unaware of this process and first met with my Undergraduate Coordinator two times. Secondly, I was unsure whether or not to request a re-grade as I was nervous of the impact this would have on my success in my department. I did not want to jeopardize my interactions with anyone and I was also nervous of the impact this would have on my relationship with this professor. This is another reason that I hope this request can remain anonymous amongst my fellow professors. I am performing a thesis next year under a different professor and do not want to jeopardize that relationship. The second component causing this late request was my work. I am working as a teaching assistant, at a research institute at KGH, and volunteering lots of hours for Orientation Week 2018. As a result, I had to put this request on the backburner. Again, I understand that this may not be a totally just reason for a delayed request, however, I hope you can see that I really wanted to think through the process and ensure that this was something that if not requested, would be a detriment to my academic career.
Warm regards,
Josh
--
Josh Ehrlich (10191667)
Kinesiology '19
Josh.ehrlich@queensu.ca