Awarding extra credit
What role should extra credit have in final grades?
Terry,
First off, understand I have a bias, because I teach and supervise classes that are medical. When the health and safety of patients are a consideration, I have an ethical obligation to be sure my students are safe, knowledgeable, and can apply their knowledge in a responsible manner. Unfortunately, I have to fail some students, even those who are close, due to falling a little (or a lot) short of demonstrating their proficiency and demonstrated competence. Many medical programs have proficiency where the student must achieve 100% or they do not pass. Perhaps in other classes where a persons health is not a consideration, the use of EC may be considered appropriate.
Barry Westling
What do you think of EC to be used only when it makes a difference in passing / failing?
Melissa,
I know this practice as "bundled questions". Usually essay in nature, a given essay question may have, say, 4 points, but only 3 are counted. In this process, an entire exam may have a total of 220 points, but a score of 200 points would earn a student an "A". In this example, the student is being given the opportunity to potentially earn 20 bonus points. The benefit is a student is being prompted to share how much of a question topic they have learned. In the sense we want to measure learning there is merit in the process I've described. In the sense of extra credit, one could argue "what about the information not answered (correctly) contained in the 20 bonus questions. Shouldn't the student know all of the required information? And if not, shouldn't their grade reflect that deficiency? Any instructor or intitution that conducts this or a similar practice has to decide what they consider fair.
Barry Westling
I work for a college where in our policy it is not allowed to give extra credit. However, we as instructors have the ability to add extra questions on the test where if the students know the information they will get the additional points and if they don't it won't count against it.
Stephen,
Unless the material being taught is fluff and has no benefit to the student in the eventual work setting, I do not give EC at all. I feel if it's important for students to spend time on an activity, it should be beneficial to them, and should be related to course objectives, which need to be measured for their contribution to student learning. I am not a fan of EC.
Barry Westling
Extra Credit for getting the students out of their comfort zone has worked. But watch out for being seen as the "pushover" Instructor.
Brian,
I agree students who wish to do additional work, on their own, beyond what is required should be recognized for their effort. I use a component point system which accounts for 100% of the points, so I can't give points to an unknown category. But I can call attention to the students work, give personal and public recognition, and perhaps let the student share their work with the class. It's interesting how satisfying a room of classmates' applause can be!
Barry Westling
Extra credit should be an option in school just as it is in real life. When an employee goes above and beyond the call of duty, that employee is often awarded with a bonus or commendation of some sort which is over and above the employee's regular salary. School should not be treated any different. If a student is so engaged and interested, that said student submits extra research over and above the syllabi requirement, then said student's efforst should be acknowledged. I don't, however, believe extra credit should be offered as a form of "make-up" for students whom have not fulfilled their syllabi requirements.
Ashpreet,
I'm with you, EC has little to do with learning and mostly is about grades and points.
Barry Westling
I agree, I do not believe in extra credit. Students need to be held accountable. We do not offer extra credit on our campus. If we did, I would not take part. If a student wants to learn they are okay to take it home but not for points. I think giving extra credit henders student learning
Fidencio,
Good point, and a rationale explanation for not giving EC.
Barry Westling
Ronnie,
Yep, and many institutions and instructors would probably agree with you.
Barry Westling
Dawanna,
Small bonus questions are not really EC. When EC to the degree it artificially inflates a grade, that's probably too much.
Barry Westling
It all depends on the student I always inform my students that if they have a missing assignment then extra credit will not be given because how can they get extra credit if they cannot complete regular class work
Fidencio Torres
You are correct,if they do their work and on time they do not need extra credit
Extra credit is very hard to determine. Sometimes I will throw in a bonis question at the end of exams.
Kathy,
I appreciate the ability to assess student learning with both kinds of questions; those that I provide both question and a selection of answer choices, and those where the student can demonstrate their knowledge in their own way. Part of the latter is a required component of the assessment, but I also will offer an optional thought question that can earn the student a small amount of bonus points. In this case, it is not EC, but merely assessment of learning.
Barry Westling
I like to give extra credit on exams, where the final question is a challenge, pulling all their knowledge together and applying their critical thinking skills. Sometimes the topic is something that we spent a lot of time on in class, or wasn't so well defined in their text book. I find these "Challenge Questions" stimulate the students to pay attention in class, trying to make sure they don't miss anything. Usually this is worth 5 bonus points on a quiz. All in all, with all the course points, it turns out to be worth about 2.5% change in their score if they were to every single one. Sometimes tests don't capture the full learning that the student mastered.
I can see how it would be important to not inflate grades due to an overuse of extra credit.
Kathy
Joyce,
Yep. Adults should be accustomed to the real world of earn what you learn. Freebies are nice for kids, but work in the work setting. We shouldn't set up our students for failure.
Barry Westling
