The Importance of Grades and Attendance

Your course grade is not a reflection of your talent, it is a reflection of the quantity and quality of the work you submit.

WHY?

This class: In order to transfer memory from short-term to long-term and grow brain cells appropriate to learning, you need to practice. Practice homework, practice using technology, and practice working with and talking to other people about the content will assist your brain growth.

The future: In any job, you will likely be asked to complete tasks, write reports, ponder solutions, or organize a presentation or display. You need to learn self-motivation, responsibility, time-management, and organizational skills to be successful.

A Note About Attendance

I do not count attendance as a separate part of your grade, although it is connected to participation.  You have chosen to participate in this class.  I want you to come to class because YOU want to come to class.  In fact, I want you to make a conscious decision about whether to come to class.  I want you to be clear on why you are here and what you hope to get out of class.  However, you should also be mindful that when you miss class, you begin to sabotage your own learning.  I worry about you when you don’t show up to class. You also deprive your classmates and me of your thoughts and contributions.   Part of being in community means showing up for each other and paying attention to who’s making it, who needs help, and who’s struggling.  I will be looking out for you and I’d like you to be watching out for each other.  Because it gets harder and harder to catch up when you miss class, students who have missed 4 consecutive or 6 total hours may be dropped from the class. For the online asynchronous courses, attendance is noticed as weekly interactions in Canvas. For the hyflex course, regular attendance online or in-person will be noted. 

According to LPC's policy for online classes, an "instructor may drop students who miss the first meeting of a course. The first meeting of online or hybrid Distance Education courses is the first day of the class as specified in the class schedule listing. For these courses, instructors may drop students who do not log into their course and/or complete indicated activities by the third day of classes. DE instructors may drop students if they have not submitted work and/or accessed the class for two consecutive weeks." 

Good Practices for Good Grades

Grades aren’t the only reason to study and work hard in a class—curiosity and the desire to learn are great reasons.  The fact that no one can take our education away from us is another good reason.  However, if grades are one of the things that help motivate you, then here are some things I have learned from watching students about how to sabotage yourself, on the one hand, and how to get high grades, on the other.

Keeping Track of Your Grades

All assignments will be given point scores.  These scores or grades will be turned into percentages and weighted according to the "grades" section of your course to average your final grades.  The final percentage will be assigned a letter grade as follows: 90% or above=A, 80-89%=B, 70-79%=C, 60-69%=D, and below 59%=F.  Standard mathematical rounding rules will apply.  Borderline grades (88.5-89.4, 78.5-79.4, etc. will be rounded up to the next highest letter grade ONLY IF 90% of assignments and attendance are completed.

 All grades will be recorded on Canvas. If you see a mistake in recording grades, please bring it to my attention ASAP, and I’m glad to fix it. The easiest way to let me know is to take a picture of your assignment and message me the picture through Canvas. Throughout the semester, you will be able to view your grades as they are updated, and you will know exactly what your grade is in the class.

Late Work

I will continue to accept work after due dates because I think it is important for you to continue working to complete the work (also, when you get a job, you may be late and that report is crucial to your company’s success – it is still needed, so even late it is valuable).  However, the due dates established for assignments are to help you stay on track to complete the course and learn the content in a timely manner.  There may be some penalties associated with late submissions. Check the individual assignments for any penalties (or ask me 😊).

Rounding Rules

I employ some simple rounding procedures for borderline final grades:

• Student must have completed 90% of the work

• Student must have good attendance

If the above are met, within two points of the next letter grade up (ex: 78-79.9 moves to B) will get the next higher letter grade.

Academic Honesty

You are in college to learn. Learning takes time and effort. Things will be hard at times. The struggle is what helps you learn. I encourage collaboration while we are learning the content - the homework, group assignments, discussions... but when it is time for me to test you - I need to see what YOU know - you alone. When cheating occurs, you not only affect yourself by artificially inflating your grade on an assignment, but you compromise the integrity of education for all your fellow students.  It will be tempting to find shortcuts while online, especially because they are so conveniently a click away. HOWEVER, I caution you heavily against this: as much as there are cheating tools, there are anti-cheating mechanisms just as rampant that instructors employ.  Keep in mind that you have the chance to improve your test scores in my class, so there are second chances! When caught cheating, there are no second chances.  

I truly care about you - not just as a student in my class, but you as a person. If you are going through something and need help, please reach out. I will try all I can to get you the help you need. Don't let your situation fool you into thinking that you can make bad decisions about your education, including cheating or plagiarizing just to try to get a better grade on an assignment. Let's maintain integrity for our classes and our fellow students. We are all here to learn.

More information about Academic Honesty also links you to the LPC website on policies and procedures.

Media Credits: 

Top Banner: Twin Peaks, San Francisco CA, Photo by Jose Rago on Unsplash 

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