Averaging grades and dropping a grade

In my online courses, I use ACC's Blackboard program to keep an online gradebook so that students can see what grades they have earned on various assignments.

There are some drawbacks to this.

Because Blackboard keeps a record of "total points," sometimes students think that their grade will be based on total points. It is not based on total points. The course grade is based on an weighted average of your various grades, as described in the course handout. If you have trouble understanding that description, please ask.

Because my grading scheme allows for one test grade to be dropped in some circumstances, students sometimes expect the grade to be dropped will disappear from Blackboard. But it will not. The list in Blackboard will always be the grades actually earned, whether they are counted in the final average or not.

Last updated May 8, 2003. Mary Parker