9 - A

Student to FSO Exec. Team

From: Queen Searles
<queensearles@fullsail.edu<mailto:queensearles@fullsail.edu
>>
Date: Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 2:41 PM
To: Sean Donovan
<sdonovan@fullsail.com<mailto:sdonovan@fullsail.com>>,
"Jones, Garry"
<GJones@fullsail.com<mailto:GJones@fullsail.com>>, "Rogers,
Geoff" <GRogers@fullsail.com<mailto:GRogers@fullsail.com>>,
"Marconi, Christopher"
<cmarconi@fullsail.com<mailto:cmarconi@fullsail.com>>
Cc: "Cook, Ron"
<rcook@fullsail.com<mailto:rcook@fullsail.com>>, "Craft,
Kimberly"
<kcraft@fullsail.com<mailto:kcraft@fullsail.com>>,
"Stewart, Kristin N."
<knstewart@fullsail.com<mailto:knstewart@fullsail.com>>,
"Franko, Dave"
<DFranko@fullsail.com<mailto:DFranko@fullsail.com>>,
"Mills, Debbie"
<DMills@fullsail.com<mailto:DMills@fullsail.com>>, "Garcia,
Luis" <lgarcia@fullsail.com<mailto:lgarcia@fullsail.com>>,
"Horn, Tarragon"
<thorn@fullsail.com<mailto:thorn@fullsail.com>>, "


Subject: RE: FSO EBMS Grading Practices

Hi Sean,
Your points are well taken. Ms. Stewart's compliments in the beginning have no bearing on the
grading practices. Yes I completely understand the use of exclamation points, capital letters,
and italics in communications. Please excuse me when I speak emphatically in written
communications! There is no way that, as a writer, I Am going to allow an instructor or anyone
to deduct a point for using the word contention. Particularly when it expresses exactly what I
mean. Then she attempted to THREATEN me with lowering my grade and further stated that the
best grade she can "offer" me is a 95. I meant exactly what I said, "my grade is NOT
NEGOTIABLE! If i were [in] your office or [in] the President's office, I would state my case just
as emphatically, which does not equate to screaming. It says, this is serious business that needs
to be addressed seriously.

Redirecting your thoughts, that "Kristin Stewart was professional and kind in explaining how
your assignment was graded," note that my concern is that she is not following the rubric and
insists on taking points arbitrarily based on her personal judgments. What you are saying is akin
to saying that because a judge is "professional and kind in explaining" sentencing an innocent
person to jail makes the verdict okay and further that if the innocent protest then he should be
9 - B
Student to FSO Exec. Team

held in contempt.

The rubric says that the initial post is 80% of the grade and the response post is 20% of the
grade. There were no mistakes in the initial post. In the response post [Stewart] initially said
there were 5 errors. Two of the errors were not actually incorrect, but points were deducted based
on the instructors personal preferences in word choice and structure. I have used such systems
of grading for many years and am unequivocal about calculating weighted grades. In fact, well
before the schools were using internal grading programs, I created formulas in Lotus and Excel
to calculate student's grade. When students had issues with their grades under the new systems, I
was instrumental in helping explain their concerns to the IT person and alert them of the glitch in
the programed formulas. Based on one students concerns, we helped correct a system error.

The only thing concerning me is that FSO is unwilling to address valid concerns and turns the
tables on the student, who is paying each of your salaries. You are nullifying the importance of
my complaint and totally ignoring the fact that my grade was calculated by lackadaisically
subtracting 5 points from 100% making the final score 95, rather than correctly grading the post
by applying most of the weight on the initial post. (80% of 100) = 80 + (20% of 95) = 19; 80 +19
= 99.

For your information my response post began as follows:
Thank you for such profound and immediately usable research.
It is my contention that the three long tail keywords listed below are excellent suggestion to
research this article:

For most scholars, my opening statement alone would contradict Ms. Stewart's reasoning for
deducting a point for using the word contention! I actually brainstormed and developed a list,
which I searched before narrowing it down to the three that I gave! The word contention gives
added value to the user saying that it is my strong belief that, though not exhaustive, these
phrases will be good to use

If an instructor can be comfortable with deducting points because they don't like, or [dont]
comprehend the depth of a word, and then provides a "kind" explanation that defies logic, a
student's ability to engage in sagacious conversation is thwarted. It is time for Full Sail
University to show some "ethics" in resolving these issues. This is not an English class, I need
feedback on my other assignments. If the instructor spent as much time adequately explaining
the correct process to use the Marketing Canvas and providing constructive feedback on the
other assignments, the course would flow much more effectively.

Respectfully,

Queen Searles