[hobbsmann]

I'm teaching my first course this semester and figuring out the best ways to deal with problems such as the one presented above are very difficult. It is very dependent IMO, on the student and how they are going to respond to a blunt and candid statment about the work ethic needed. Probably as a general rule it is best to lay out something like this early on to both create a student/teacher separation as well as giving them motivation to work harder.

I'd say an alterative would be to schedule a meeting in which you tell them in person that more work is going to be required for them to pass this course.