As I noted there, I'm generally opposed to, and rather puzzled by, the notion of extra credit, especially since the students who ask for it don't seem to be the ones who're already giving their all to the regular work of the class. However, I'm teaching a couple of special, somewhat-more-challenging sections of my usual writing-in-the-disciplines class next term, ones which will require some work in physical archives and similar sites, and I'm thinking of offering extra credit in very particular circumstances: when students spend their own time to retrieve and make available to the rest of the class primary documents or similar hard-to-find information that may be useful to others' projects as well as their own. If I do this, I'll find a way to make it fair to students with less-flexible schedules (probably by making the same offer for those who find truly useful stuff in online archives that require some effort and ingenuity to search effectively). I'll also offer a relatively small amount of credit per contribution (probably .5 to 1 point on the final grade), limit the total amount of extra credit that can be earned (probably 3-5 points), and require that all such assignments meet a certain standard to qualify for extra credit.
So, I'm wondering:
Q: Has anybody here found ways to use extra credit effectively, as a way to reward genuinely "above and beyond" behavior (at least in one area)? Do you see any pitfalls in the scheme I've outlined above? Or is extra credit always evil, to be avoided on principle, etc., etc.?
I am ethically opposed to extra credit. The credit built into the course assignments IS the credit, PERIOD.
ReplyDeleteFunny (not really) how the crappiest students are the ones who want extra credit the most. Remember back in about 1985, when extra credit was EXTRA, designed to be added on to uber nerds' nearly 100% GPA's? I do. Somewhere along the way, extra credit began to be applied to slack-ass bums as a way to help them make up for their failures with a do-over/escape hatch.
I don't play that.
I have only given extra credit when student's work is above and beyond average. I don't give extra credit to students who do a crappy job. The extra credit they earn is for doing more than I expect on regular assignments/exams, not extra ones. If I didn't do this is my calculus-based introductory basket weaving class, the really top students would get bored. don't want that. in general though, i tell students when they ask for extra credit, "why don't you work on getting more regular credit first."
ReplyDeleteExtra credit is there to reward the "above and beyond" behavior of the instructor, enabling him or her to artifically increase their pre-tenure teaching evaluations.
ReplyDeleteI like your plan here as your are asking them to do something that benefits others as well as themselves. It gives them extra experience and skill. And hey, it saves YOU time helping students find resources. It's the sort of extra credit the A students will probably grab for themselves. Go for it.
ReplyDeletei only started doing this after i got tenure. in your face, DrNathaniel!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a grad student, I got to teach for a prof in another discipline. It was a fascinating experience, because she used clicker tests at the beginning of every class as a way to a) take attendance and b) test how well the class/audience was comprehending the reading assignment (if at all). She could also poll the audience for opinions, life experience, etc with a handy anonymous tool.
ReplyDeleteOver the course of the term, the clicker tests were worth 5% of the grade. In addition, the professor had a list of ways students could help the lecture: set up the projector, retrieve the movie from the library, locate reserved materials, set up online activities, locate and share pop culture references that help make the material more palatable.
The students fell over themselves doing work that essentially made life a bit easier for the prof. And the grand total of extra credit? 25 points out of a possible 1000 points. The *illusion* of points that translated into lots of extra activity and engagement.
I felt that this was an effective use of extra credit.
I'm not ethically opposed to extra credit, but I think it's wrongheaded because it's really a chimera. Students see it as a "magic pill" that is going to save their grade. It's not. It's an assignment for students that can't do math, who think that their zeal for doing "extra work" is going to persuade the teacher to just give them the grade they need. It won't.
ReplyDeleteFinal = 25% of grade
Extra credit = 1% of grade
Student spends three hours on extra credit, and three hours studying for the final. Student gets C on final and A on extra credit, with no appreciable difference in the final grade. If that same student would have spent 6 hours studying for the final, which is worth 25 times more, they actually might have gotten a higher final grade. If you explain it this way to students, it actually makes sense to them.
This is why I allow extra credit, but only for students that have already achieved the highest grade possible on their homework assignments, which are also 25% of the grade.
If they've done that, I will only give them extra credit if they tell me that they can get an A on the final. If they say they can, I tell them to propose an extra credit topic on which they would like to write.
Thus: I never give out extra credit.
I don't give extra credit as such, but I do offer "extra credit" bonuses for doing good stuff.
ReplyDeleteFor example, one of the classes I teach depends on students thinking up projects and presenting those project ideas to the class, after which the class votes for projects. The winning projects' creators get bonus points equivalent to a small quiz grade.
In another class, I offer extra credit for documenting editing errors in public places. They have to make up a PPT with photos of the errors and, at semester's end, present it to their classmates. The students get a kick out of exposing other people's foolishness, and it's good practice for them in spotting editing errors.
The only extra credit I offer is in online classes...and then only to the entire class...if and only if the entire class turns in a course evaluation.
ReplyDeleteSo far: this credit has gone unearned....
I typically don't offer extra credit, for the reasons listed by many above. Really, if they weren't willing to do the work for original credit, why should I make more work for myself?
ReplyDeleteLast semester, I had a PhD candidate in my Department approach me asking me to offer extra credit to any of my students who participated in hir research. I agreed, and offered a 10 point boost on one exam, which translated into a 1 point final grade bump for those who participated. I made sure to tell the students, though, that I typically did not believe in extra credit but was willing to offer this time in order to help a student out. As a professor, I couldn't help but want to do what I could to help this student be successful.
Unfortunately, this opened the floodgates for more extra credit requests, typically prefaced by "you already offered one extra credit opportunity..." Of course, these students who were asking for more, in almost every case, had not done the original extra credit. It made me regret offering that extra credit, even though I did it to help a student. No good deed goes unpunished.
Yes, it's odd how much effort some will put in for some paltry amount of credit while blowing off huge assignments. I stopped bothering when I realized that a great majority of the time the ones who did the extra credit were the ones who least needed it (MUST... GET... Ninety... EIGHT! percent!) while the ones who most needed it didn't bother, so it just amplified the ends of the bell curve (no, I'm not a mathy person and I'm sure I've hashed that concept up badly). The eager and deserving middle handful can be accommodated by generous rounding up at the end.
ReplyDeleteDon't bother--the ones who do it don't need it and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI've usually offered nominal (less than 1% of the overall grade) extra credit for what administrative types would call "experiential learning." Our students don't generally attend non-athletic campus events (lectures, art installations, plays), so if there's one that is related to the course, I'll give them extra credit to attend. I also make it very clear that this is EXTRA credit; it's not to be done as a replacement for course requirements -- it's above and beyond that. (And the points are generally not enough to move their grades too far.) But if it gets them to hear a great speaker or see a challenging play/piece of art, I think it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteThey get this from High School; goof off for an entire academic YEAR and then do one "extra credit" project/paper/assignment/worksheet at the end of the year and you a) pass or even b) earn an A because that's what you got on the "extra assignment." It's actually becoming a huge issue in Florida and New York (not surprising). Except it's not called "extra credit" it's called "credit recovery":
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/nyregion/13credit.html?pagewanted=all
The k-12 system sets them up to expect these "opportunities" to "recover" credits. Sigh.
I generally don't offer extra credit; however, I do make an exception for relevant cultural events on campus as a way of encouraging community and university involvement. Thus, if there is a play, concert, or public lecture that dovetails with the subjects we cover in class, I do offer attendance/class participation extra credit to students. This means that they can substitute attendance at an on-campus event + a short written "review" of the event for one or two missed absences/class participation scores (depending on the length of the program).
ReplyDeleteAs noted above, the percentage of the final grade is negligible, but it often makes students feel better in that they have at least earned some sort of grade that is not a zero, and for a few, I know that it has been instrumental in making them aware of the "after-hours" culture that exists on campus.
Yep, I do Extra Credit only for commmunity/on campus stuff too, and only to make up for one small thingie like a missed in-class exercise. I got so sick of students who had not done a lick of work begging for "extra credit" at the end of the quarter (sometimes even a hour before the final). As if they had any credit to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI give one extra credit assignment to make up for an absence in a class (worth 10 points). It makes no difference overall to their grade, but they sure feel happier for having the option.
ReplyDeleteI do have one caveat: anyone who has been caught committing academic dishonesty is not allowed to do the extra credit. They don't get to do anything extra for being an asshole the first time around.
I give extra credit. The way it works is that each exam is worth so many points, while it is possible to earn so-many-plus-10% points. Seldom does a student actually earn that many points, but it has happened. When it does, the over-100% score figures into the student's exam average.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes put a few extra credit question on my exams. There are usually only a handful, maybe six points total (out of 100) and I take them from offhand remarks I make in lectures, little bits of color I add to the material. Basically the extra credit rewards students who paid attention in class.
ReplyDeleteOh, and my "extra credit" is not labeled "extra credit." It's material of the same difficulty as everything else on the exam; it's just that I provide more than the publicly-stated number of points.
ReplyDeleteAs a very new professor, I am so frustrated with this concept of extra credit as a means of making up for poor performance. I have had several college students virtually harass me (I have a friendly face and am just out of grad school, so I'm pretty young) about doing extra credit to improve their bad grades. Just yesterday, I received an e-mail requesting extra credit almost a YEAR AFTER the course ended because the student realized his GPA wasn't high enough to transfer into his desired school in the university. To make matters even worse, he informed me that his advisor (!?) told him to contact his past professors and ask for extra credit, so he thinks he is justified in arguing with me about it. Where is the respect for instructors? Is no one teaching young people about dealing with the consequences of their actions anymore?
ReplyDelete