Our Syllabus and our grading: how they fit together
The adult learner in a career college course is concerned with (1) obtaining the knowledge and skills to succeed in the career of their choice and (2) receiving clear, attainable guidelines in the form of grades in the course.
Therefore, I always study the official syllabus of the course to determine how grades are assessed (most ECPI syllabi have specific categories, such as 30% for tests, 20% for discussion boards, etc. )
Then I assess each gradable item in the learning shell (web site, such as LMS/Moodle) and determine which ones are the most important, practical, and valuable.
Once I have the gradebook set up and worked out, I go over the gradebook with the students. This is always before the end of the first week.
They can see what they need to do, and they can formulate their own plan to achieve these grades.
Therefore, the SUBJECT MATTER becomes more important than the grades! In other words, once they know what they have to do, they are not frustrated and mystified, and they can concentrate on learning the material.
So design your course carefully, make the grading structure well known to the students, and then you can deliver your course without an undue amount of stress worrying about grades.