Brightspace Frequently Asked Questions
Check out our newly updated Brightspace FAQs! This list runs through the most common questions the Brightspace Support Team gets throughout the year. If you have any questions not listed here, be sure to contact our Support team for assistance.
Support Schedule
The Vanderbilt University Brightspace Instructional Technologists are available for support between 8 AM and 4 PM Monday through Friday. Any emails received after 4 PM will be addressed when our team returns to normal support at 8 AM the following business day. While we’re out, we encourage you to utilize our On-Demand Resources to answer any questions that arise.
Instructors will often want to allow students to “drop a grade” from the final grade calculation. This may be the student’s lowest quiz score or something similar. In order to do this, you will need Categories set up in your gradebook. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to set up a category in your gradebook comprised of Grade Items. This guide may be helpful: Creating Grade Items and Categories.
Updated Spring 2022
Drop a Grade from a Grade Category
1. Go to Course Admin -> Grades -> Manage Grades tab
2. Click New to create a new category, or go in to Edit your existing category.
3. Scroll down to Distribution. If you are dropping the lowest grade, the weights will need to be distributed evenly across all grade items in that category. Indicate how many low grade items will be dropped from the category. This example treats all grade items equally, and drops the lowest grade.
4. Be sure to click Save once you have made all the selections for your Category.