Tracy,
I say "I don't fail student, they fail themselves". It is important to identify early on students having difficulty, and then work with them to make improvement.
Barry Westling
James,
I agree strongly. I choose not to give extra credit. As you state, I will allow extra assignments or projects to create inhanced learning, there is just no extra points given for that.
Barry Westling
I agree. At least for students that are failing. I would give extra credit for a c student to improve their grade but not for a failing students. It seems unfair to give them another chance to pass when they have been failing the class for the entire term. Work with them and give them the tools needed to succeed but if they fail, they fail.
I rarely give extra credit. It is difficult to justify in most cases. While you do want to give the students the opportunity do go above and beyond, it gets tricky. I do sometimes offer bonus questions on exams, but that is about it. Extra credit can lead to grade inflation.
Leon,
I'm all for further learning, but I oppose the giving of credit for it. I choose not to give extra credit. Good students may want to do additional assignment or even a project that is not required. While that is admirable, doing it for cresit sets the wrong example for preparing the students for the work setting. We don't get extra credit at work for doing a good job, although we may be evaluated on how our work measures up to expectations. So if something helps students learns that is beyond normal expectations, I allow that, but not for credit, but the sake of their learning.
Barry Westling
To offer further learning and credit for students who are doing well, to allow students to review material that they did not do well on during the course, to ascertain what the student achieved in the course.
Leon Guendoo
ATUL,
I think good students who do all of their work (and are the natural "A-students") are likely to get offended by classmates they see not doing all of the regular work required of all, but getting extra credit. It's not the activity or project that is problematic; rather it is the giving points or credit for something above and beyond. For me, I just choose not to give EC. But each teacher and institution has to decide what works best for their setting.
Barry Westling
Extra credit should be award to those students who voluntarily participate or offers help without being asked for example if students participate in healthy living project or in community services that gives positive message to other students to participate in social services.
Adrienne,
This is touchy for me too. I choose not to give EC, based on past bad experiences. I ask, why is EC needed in the first place? If it's required or helpful, it should be part of the graded assignments from the get go, right? I have nothing against the assignments, it's the points for the assignment that I avoid. I'm all for anything that's creative and works towards helping students learn.
Barry Westling
My institution has a strict policy against awarding extra credit. The line of thinking is that students will use the time they should have been devoting to assigned work to completing extra credit. I have mixed feelings about extra credit. While I have offered it in the past, it has generally been something that I can make a fun exercise that will not reflect a large portion of the grade (maybe it would be equivalent to a daily attendance grade). One activity I have used in the past was for them to go to free rice.com and require them to get a specific score. The website is a vocabulary builder and for each correct answer the participant donates food to people in a 3rd world country. Because I teach composition this serves two purposes in that it broadens vocabulary while also making students aware of an issue that they could, conceivably write about later. Anyone else have suggestions for worthwhile extra credit assignments?
Vickie,
For me, I just choose not to give EC at all. The learning activities that accompany EC are fine, it's the giving credit or points for it that I have found creates problems. I'm all for anything that helps students learn. I just don't think giving points for these activities promotes a realistic preparation for work once they graduate.
Barry Westling
I don't feel that extra credit is necessary in general, I think it can become a crutch to some students. They get so focused on extra credit that they spend more time on it than on studying the material. The only time I give extra credit is when I use a Jeopardy-type game as a review tool. We play to review the material learned in lecture before taking a test. The students are divided into teams and answer similar questions to the test material for points. The team with the most points at the end of the review "wins" 5 points of extra credit to be used on a future test. (Frequently the extra credit points remain unused and get discarded on graduation)
Melissa,
You're fortunate there's an institution-wide policy in place where you work. Many settings allow their instructors to develop their own policies which, in the case of extra credit, doesn't work well (in terms of helping students learn) most of the time.
Barry Westling
Awarding extra credit is not allowed at the school's I work for. In addition, late work is not to be accepted unless it was due to a justified absence that the students signed off on at the time when they completed paperwork for admissions and orientation. I find that this policy works well if it is placed forward by the school rather than the whim of the instructor, which appears to be biased. This causes many of the students to say, "Well Mr. Jones allows it...." The students like consistency and know what to expect and does not promote “what can I get away with in this course…â€
Melissa
Chad,
Good. Experienced instructors usually find a relative safe point of balance for grading that works for both instructor and institution and is fair for students.
Barry Westling
Tracy,
Many teachers and institutions believe as you do. For me, I choose not to give it for a lot of reasons, but mainly, it has to do with fairness to all students.
Barry Westling
I agree, especially re the diminished work of the better students and I also drop the lowest quiz grade. I have a number of students who struggle with math and for the most part I've found my approach gives them the opportunity to show enough competency to pass without giving them artificially inflated grades.
Chad,
Your approach seems reasonable. Partial credit seems to work in some science and many math courses due to the multiple components a question may require. We have to be fair to all students, and I've had my best students get offended when they see their superior work diminished by classmates who boost their grade by EC, so, I just choose not to give it. What I have done is drop the lowest quiz score, and give a bonus "thinking question" on an exam. These adjustments are open to all students, and I feel it's a fair way to give some leeway in the grading process.
Barry Westling
I don't feel that extra credit should be given at all. Students may be able to pass a class even if they do not have the knowledge or understanding of the subject matter.
I prefer not to do "extra credit", since too many students view it as, "I'm doing poorly in your class, so what meaningless thing can I do to get a better grade." I do give students the chance to improve a poor test score by making corrections. As a math instructor this is fairly simple. For more involved topics, I allow them to correct the error by showing all of the work on a separate sheet of paper and returning it with the original. If the questions are less involved, I still have them make corrections, show me to make sure they have it, then do a similar problem. In both cases they get half the credit back for the corections. This is something I have used in class and as a volleyball coach. If you make a mistake, repeat the procedure until you do it right. I think that's the general idea for learning.
