Dear Dr. Kevin Gutzwiller of Baylor University:

We understand that COVID-19 has certainly altered the way in which our BIO-3303 course will be conducted for the remainder of the semester. Many groups were not able to present their 15-minute presentations over a current event in ecology. However, to allow those who have presented to keep their presentation scores (a total of 150 points) and not allow the remainder of the groups to have an alternative assignment in place of their presentation and instead remove those points from their final grade is simply not an appropriate solution. Reducing the final exam points from 200 to 100 makes it even more detrimental to the final grades of all students in the course, especially those who are having their presentation grades omitted. Students should not be penalized for a situation that is out of their control. Therefore, we ask that you reconsider the new grading system that was put forth by you in your April 13th email.

Your new grading system would mean that:

1) Students who have not presented will have a total of 150 extra points removed from their final grade in comparison to those who have not presented (400 points vs 550 points).

2) Students who have not presented will have fewer points to remediate any Exam I, II, or III scores they were not satisfied with in comparison to those who have.

3) Students who have not presented were not given a fair alternative to gain back the 150 points originally mandated to their final grades, as per the syllabus. 

Those who have not presented should have alternatives such as:

1) Conduct their presentation via Zoom or WebEx in realtime. This will allow other students to facilitate post-presentation discussion regarding their current event topic and allow you (Dr. Gutzwiller) an opportunity to grade during the presentation. There is even an option to share your computer screen with everyone, which will enable everyone to see the presentation.

2) Have the remaining groups pre-record their presentations and create a Canvas discussion board for students to ask questions, and the presenters answer them, within a certain timeframe after the video has been shared.

These alternatives will allow students who have presented to keep their grades, while ensuring those who have not an opportunity to earn a presentation grade as well.

Ultimately, we understand that it is your course and many classes do not properly translate into an online environment. But, please keep in mind the students who will be greatly affected by the policy you recently created. Many students will not have the opportunity to obtain a grade that they will be satisfied with on their official transcripts. This may result in having to put a "P" or "F", which may be unfavorable (in comparison to a real grade) for those who are pursuing graduate school or employment in the future. It is also much fairer to allow us to maintain our current grading system to not allow students to have their grades suffer from an online learning environment that both you as an instructor and us as students are not used to. We hope that you find a better solution that is fair for all students in your BIO-3303 course.

Thank you.