Extra credit should be used sparingly to students who work hard and are absent for some excusable reason.
The concept of Extra Credit builds on the sense of entitlement. You don't get 110% when you order a pizza. The students will do well if they grasp the intended course content, and should be evaluated, equally and fairly, on their achievement of the course objectives. If all students have the same opportunity there is no need for Extra Credit.
for a career college i dont really feel extra credit is needed. students are their because they want to better their lives. the reward is just that.
Hi Ron:
Not giving EC could also provide a truer guage of the students knowledge.
When I see a doctor, I don't ask or care about their grades they received, I'm only interested in how they can help me. Teaching is about learning; we only use grades to be consistent and measure student performance. Tweaking the grades to (raise) the grade does nothing to measure student performance.
Perhaps it works for some teachers in certain classes. I just don't give EC.
Regards, Barry
Extra credit could differences in final grades.
Hi Eileen:
You've made my point.
In some professions or classes, maybe it's not so critical. But what is true in every class is EC is focused on points and grades, not learning or skills, or knowledge. So, I'd ask "is the grade most important or the learning that accompanies it?"
Regards, Barry
Hi Carol:
I think adding bonus questions or essay type questions are good learning tools. I know some teachers like to drop the lowest quiz, especially when there are 12-15 quizzes in a session. For me, these are related to learning and although they "monkey with the grade a little, it's based on student learning (or lack of).
By contrast, extra credit that is given in place of low assignment grades due to missed or late assignments, or worse, in substitution for regular assignments - that's just unfair. Good students who work hard may take offense; some may percieve EC as unfair; it's subjective to grade; and arbitrary if some students get the opportnity and others don't.
Long ago, I learned my lesson, and decided I just don't give EC. I work in a healt setting where literally, life and death decisons are made by these workers (Respiratory Therapists). There can be no room for error. So I just don't give it. My opinion for my classes. Each institution and teacher has to decide what's best for their classes.
Regards, Barry
Hi Tammy:
That little push, although helpful to the student for grading purposes, is exactly why I choos not to offer extra credit.
In my profession, errors casue injury, even death. I cannot have D- students walking around with A or B grades. That's dangerous.
Also, EC skews grades, can be calleneged as unfair, is subjective to grade, and diminishes the hard work your better students have accomplished. That won't sit well even if they don't say anything. So I have learned not to give EC - period. Just my opinion.
Regards, Barry
I learned the hard way about students and grading and extra credit. The first year I was teaching, I had a very bright student who was not conscientious about his assignments. He just did not turn in a very big assignment on fluoride because he had one of his very dramatic problems (which happened weekly). However, he did turn in an extra credit assignment which gave him enough points for a high grade without turning in the important paper on fluoride. It was frustrating for both myself and other students in the class for him to have a good grade without turning in the flouride assignment (which the other students had worked hard on). Since that time, I am careful to create a point system which does not allow for that situation.
For one thing it should be fair and available to all students. I write study guides for a technical class that I teach to help the students extract the vital information they need to understand the topic. These are strictly for their use and note taking. However I let them hand them when they take a quiz on that section to recieve a few points for taking the time to look up the information or take good notes during the class time. They don't have to be completely filled in, but if they are they get a few points. Helps make up for some questions that they may not get right on the quiz. They add up over the course of the class to about 70% of the points of a quiz, so if they miss one that they don't have an excused absence for, it doesn't totally compromise their overall grade.
I use extra credit as a means of helping students out at the end of the class who need that little extra shove from one grade to another. If they are one point away from the next grade, I evaluate what the student has done in the course and determine if they should receive the extra credit to push them to the next grade level.
Hi Angela:
Well, there's no right or wrong.
I think extra credit given in substitution for assigned work is unfair, subjective to grade, and skews the class grades. EC is about points and grades and less about learning.
But what you describe is available to all students, is graded the same way, and begins at the beginning of the course. I think this is a sound grading practice. It's similar to dropping the lowest quiz score.
Regards, Barry
since I usually dont allow make up work, I do assign 10pt project each week that each student can do, so at the end of the 10 weeks if they do all of them that will make up for 1 zero they might have received. Is this wrong?
Hi Angela:
I think activities like bonus points or and essay on an exam, or even dropping the lowest quiz scores are instruction-based activity and are different from EC points, where some work is not done and is substituted for EC work.
Regards, Barry
I do give extra credit on my weekly tests, which is available to everyone who takes the test. Usually it is a diagram of the body system we covered for that unit. This is not disclosed ahead of time to the students. I find that students will take the extra effort to study and retain more with this opportunity for extra points. But this does not effect the final grade as a whole, it just boosts students realization of their learning abilities and gives them that desire to learn more.
Hi Richard:
I don't allow EC. I've decribed my reasons throughout this forum. Basicaically, it's sujbective to grade, unfair to good performing students, and skews gardes.
Regards, Barry
Personally I was never a fan of extra credit. My scoring rubrics were always set up so that the student would succeed if they followed the guidelines. Extra means exactly that, extra. My thought are why do extra when it isn't necessary. If the student is doing well then there is no reason for extra. If the student isn't doing so well, then let's go back to the rubric and see why this is occurring. If it comes down to missing assignments, quizzes, class work, and then extra is not an option.
What I have done in the past to reinforce whatever assignment or test is given that day, I would have an immediate turnover in grading the assignment or test so that the student would get it right back. I would not correct the assignment or test but let the students earn points back by fixing the problem. The would look up the correct answers with the page numbers where they found these answers and I would in turn give them a 1/2 point back for every question that was corrected. The purpose behind this form of corrective action was to force the student to look up the answer by re-reading and re-writing which becomes a form of repetition for learning.
It did wanders for the student’s confidence in remembering this information for a later date.
Only if all are allowed and the same guidelines are enforced.
Hi Mitch:
Right. EC is really only about points and grades, and less about learning and knowledge. I know teachers have different opins. My is simply not to allow it, based on my past experiences.
Regards, barry
Should not be the only way a student can pass the course.
