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Annie Joy writes: How my “ D” change to a “ B+”. Know Your Lecturer...

The sudden incident has brought me to shake my pen’s ink after a while; and simply because a new semester is about to start - school is about to resume.

I have been thinking about how many people in the past have had their excellence(A) changed to pass or fail (E).

In one of the academic years in the decade which we recently buried, I witnessed a situation where some students could not graduate with their colleagues because of the issue with grading, the online portal or interim assessment.

I recall that some students in that year group and other year groups had complained about issues with the school portal and how results kept changing.  I felt sorry for all of those students.

My level 200 second semester results came out and it was excellent except for one course which I had reasonable suspicion with.

I had the confidence to question that result because I had put in much effort and really developed a lot of love for that course and taken it with all seriousness.

In my state of dilemma, the SRC issued  communiqués encouraging students to lodge their complaints on courses they had issues with much to my relief. l honestly, didn’t know if I could go ahead and lodge a complaint even though I was convinced that grade didn’t reflect the scripts I wrote for that course.

I’m tempted to ask how many students have been in my situation where they were unconvinced about their results but also unconvinced about any chances of getting them rectified.

One fateful day, I chanced on the Teaching Assistant for the course in front of a Lecture Hall and due to the relationship I had built with him during lecture periods, I was able to approach and ask him questions.

I expressed disappointment in myself for getting a “D” to him and as honest as he was, he replied by saying, you didn’t get a “D”.

How is that possible, he added. I went ahead to say then probably, I would go for remarking.

He laughed about this and advised I go and lodge a complaint at the Faculty of Communication Studies in Journalism.

Two days past, I suddenly had this courage to actually go and do what the Teaching Assistant had suggested. I went into the office and met a lady who handed me a complaint sheet. These were my words: “ I had a D in this course and l'm wondering what happened because I took activities of this course seriously and put in much effort. I am hoping that rechecking could take place so I could appreciate what went wrong”.

Honestly, I was being very careful with my words so it doesn't seem like I was fighting the lecturer.

Luckily, that same day, I chanced on the lecturer and approached him. The only reason he could recognise me was that I was a contributor in his class and I was always seated in the front row, from where I ask all the questions and make some jokes at some point.

Again, I didn’t get my Interim Assessment (IA) paper during the semester and I was told he was looking for me to record my marks. I made sure to see him. I kind of contemplated if something had gone wrong but then again I dismissed that negative energy.

He listened to my concerns and mentioned he was looking forward to the complaint paper.

A week past and there were no changes on my portal. Fortunately, I got a call from the lecturer saying he didn’t get my complaint letter so that l had to file it again. I went, made my intentions known and was handed another paper and I remember writing the same words as the first.

After all was said and done I chanced on the lecturer and he made me aware he had received my complaint and had worked on it; and the error was that someway somehow, my “IA” and group marks were not recorded, making me get a “ D”.

A few weeks later, I checked the portal and my D was a B+. I felt fulfilled.

With this experience of mine, I would encourage students to at the least, try to build a cordial relationship with lecturers and Teaching Assistants. 

I understand some students are introverts and would love to be in their own space, even in class. I am convinced that the more reason my case was attended to urgently was that, I was active in the class and was known to be a good student. I don’t know how many of my colleagues are in this situation. 

At the end of the day, I will encourage students to know their lecturers and anyone in the Institution who matters. I have sat in Lecture Halls where lecturers have mentioned that some students won’t get a satisfying remark from them when the time comes for a testimonial because they don’t know them.

I would attest to the fact that, the BBC exposé on “Sex For Grade” might have created a certain tension and feeling of uncertainty in with student-lecturer “relationships”. This is the main reason nature has given us the ability to learn, mature and set boundaries for everything to be encountered. I am writing in the voice of a beneficiary of having to know my lecturer.


Writer: Annabella ohene Djan (Annie Joy)

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