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Extra Credit Assignment Ideas that Support Student Learning

Classroom Management , Project-Based Learning , Writing

Close to the end of the semester, you likely get requests from students to complete extra credit assignments. You might be looking for extra credit assignment ideas , or maybe you’re wondering if extra credit should be allowed in the first place. Maybe you find last-minute requests annoying – grading extra credit projects can be frustrating and confusing! In this blog post, I’ll share some reasons to consider extra credit in your classroom. It can be an enriching learning opportunity for your students. You’ll also receive some examples of extra credit assignments , along with some strategies to stay organized with extra credit assignments.

Is Extra Credit a Good Thing?

Not everyone agrees that students deserve extra credit. Many teachers believe in only assigning “regular” credit. Sometimes the top performers in our class request the opportunity to boost their grades. Oftentimes, students who have unfinished assignments or lower grades request extra credit too. Teachers who do not assign extra credit often decline these requests to emphasize the importance of turning in regular assignments on time .

Meanwhile, some teachers do not assign extra credit because their schools do not allow it. School-wide policies may not permit extra credit in order to promote equitable grading practices. Before you decide whether or not you will offer extra credit, be sure to check your school’s policy.

Equitable Extra Credit Policies

Another place to consult before assigning extra credit is with any staff that teaches the same course as you. If either one of you approaches extra credit differently, your students may interpret this as inequitable . One of the main reasons that teachers believe students do not deserve extra credit is that it is unethical. There are ways to ensure that extra credit is equitable, but you will need to ensure that your colleagues are in agreement .

Students deserve extra credit when it is an opportunity offered to everyone . To ensure that your policies are ethical and equitable, do not assign extra credit on a case-by-case basis. This does not mean that everyone needs to complete an extra credit assignment. This also does not mean that every extra credit assignment needs to be the same. Equity is about access . Case-by-case simply implies that you should not approve extra credit for one student and deny it for another – unless there is a valid reason to do so.

Whether you believe students deserve extra credit or not, be sure to include your policy in your syllabus . If you allow extra credit, you may also wish to note your requirements. These can include when and how to request extra credit opportunities. Mondays Made Easy includes an Extra Credit Application with our Editable Full Course Syllabus Template .

Why Should Teachers Give Extra Credit?

Teachers should give extra credit if they support differentiation for students. When implemented properly, extra credit assignments can be a fantastic way to differentiate for different learner profiles. Many teachers hold the belief that a student’s grade in a course should reflect their understanding of the curriculum. In an equitable setting, there should be several opportunities to demonstrate that understanding.

There are multiple reasons why a student may perform poorly on an assessment. There are also multiple factors that may prevent students from being present in class or turning in work on time. Extra credit assignments, when assigned to correlate with your curriculum requirements and course expectations, provide students with another opportunity to meet course standards .

This is especially true if the extra credit is able to assess learning goals while catering to different learning styles . I saw a great example the other day of a student who baked a literal cake of symbolic elements from The Great Gatsby. Their write-up described the literary elements in the novel in relation to the cake: from rum-flavored icing to pearl necklace piping, this culinary creation fused course requirements with the student’s passion!

Tips for Assigning Extra Credit

One reason why teachers hate extra credit is that it can be a real headache! Keeping track of extra credit assignments and due dates requires additional effort on our part. On top of that, grading additional assignments around report card time is stressful. Thankfully, these hardships are minimized with a simple system in place.

Mondays Made Easy’s FREE Extra Credit Application is a great tool to help you keep track of extra credit assignments and requests. Students typically ask for extra credit in person; an application provides a paper trail for these conversations. Additionally, an application provides space to note assignment instructions and due dates – if your students are anything like mine, they might need a reminder about these details.

Extra credit applications can also double as a metacognitive reflection tool . I often have students explain why they need the extra credit in the first place. This provides them the opportunity to reflect on their performance and participation in the course. If the same student repeatedly asks for extra credit in your class, it can also be useful to have a record of each request . This can provide you both with documentation to discuss the student’s habits and performance.

A final reason why I love using extra credit applications is that they encourage students to be proactive . I introduce my extra credit application with my syllabus at the start of the course. I notify students that I require extra credit applications to be submitted three weeks before report cards. This sets the expectation that extra credit requests should not be made last minute. I also schedule assignments to be turned in before grades are finalized. This eliminates any last-minute grading .

Extra Credit Assignment Ideas for English Class

To simplify extra credit assignment ideas, you can adopt the popular approach of offering an assignment re-do to students. This is the easiest way to avoid additional grading while accommodating extra credit requests.

Another approach to extra credit that requires very little assessment is to implement a pass system . At the start of the semester, you can provide each student with a number of passes. For example, each student might receive three hallway passes and one late pass. In order to receive extra credit, students must have all of their passes remaining at the end of the semester. If your school policy allows, you can give students bonus points for simply showing up to class on time and avoiding hallway distractions.

For novel studies , you can offer students the opportunity to create a movie trailer. This example for an extra credit assignment idea requires a bit of effort, but it is a great alternative assessment for older students . A movie trailer will prompt students to avoid simple plot summaries and establish characterization and theme. To facilitate this assignment, Mondays Made Easy offers a Movie Trailer Project Outline and Rubric .

If your students have written research essays , you can offer them the opportunity to turn their work into a “ real-world resource .” A “real-world resource” is any type of media or document that delivers students’ research to the general public. This example of an extra credit assignment is a great opportunity for differentiation because it allows students to be creative and select any medium they like. Mondays Made Easy also offers a Real-World Resource Assignment Outline and Rubric .

Aligning Extra Credit Assignment Ideas with Your Curriculum

When it comes to selecting an extra credit assignment idea, the most important consideration should be how the assignment aligns with your curriculum. If you’re not sure what to assign for extra credit, one option could be to review the student’s performance . If they scored low on a particular assessment, it would make sense to opt for an assignment that covers similar curriculum strands .

For example, the Common Core State Standards require students to “write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence” ( English Language Arts Standards – Writing – Grade 9-10 ). If your student requesting extra credit scored lowest on an assessment for this strand, it would not be best practice to assess an argumentative writing assignment.

Mondays Made Easy’s Extra Credit Application prompts students to reflect on their performance in your course. It also offers them the opportunity to suggest extra credit assignment ideas . Oftentimes, students are able to recommend an assignment idea that evaluates similar skills to those that were evaluated poorly on a previous assessment. If their recommendation doesn’t align, you can facilitate a conversation to guide them in the right direction. This is a great way to implement differentiation and student choice . It also enables you to incorporate your students’ examples of extra credit assignments into your curriculum. Students have great ideas, and I’ve benefitted from reusing their suggestions with future classes!

Extra Credit Assignment Ideas: Important Takeaways

Assigning extra credit remains a matter of personal preference. You know what works best for your students, and your professional discretion will best determine whether or not extra credit is an opportunity that they need. As mentioned, it is best to check if your approach aligns with your school policy and your colleagues’ practices. If you do decide to offer your students extra credit assignments , I hope that the suggestions and ideas in this blog post support you in your efforts!

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I need extra credit activity ideas.

In normal semesters, I usually have an optional activity for my students to get some extra credit. Now, here's the thing: I usually have them do something that benefits them or the community (volunteering, running a 5k with a cause, attending a mental health talk, etc.).

But now that my students can't leave their houses, I'm lost as to what to ask them to do. Asking them to donate money online feels wrong. Do you have any recommendations? I was thinking of asking them for proof of something they did for their mental health (as long as it doesn't involve anything illegal or dangerous).

Do you have any suggestions?

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5 Extra Credit Activities That Promote Engaged Learning

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If you'd like access to my free resource library, sign up here. Hope you enjoy this post! Note: I use affiliate links in my posts. Also, opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

The end of the semester is approaching quickly. Only two more weeks of coursework before finals week arrives. At this point of the semester, it’s not uncommon to receive requests for extra credit opportunities. I’ve never received an extra credit request from a student, though, because I build in multiple opportunities into the semester. There’s a lot of debate over whether extra credit should be an option in the classroom. Personally, I believe that if students are willing to put in extra effort to complete additional work, then they should have that opportunity. I’m more than willing to allow students to increase their project grades by a few points by completing additional activities that require students to deepen their understanding and abilities to apply what they’ve learned. Here are five forms of extra credit activities I offer in my various courses. [ A video version of this information is included at the end of this post, too!]

Responses to Classmates’ Work

In my literature courses , my students are required to complete 3-5 literary analysis discussion posts throughout the semester. They post them using our LMS forums tool. The forums are set to not allow students to read earlier posts in a specific forum until they themselves have submitted a post. At that point, the rest of the posts are revealed and they are free to reply to them. Once the deadline for a post passes, I change the setting so that all students can see the posts even if they did not complete one. Students have at least double the number of possible forums to post to than required of them, so they can pick which required texts they are most interested in analyzing before they are discussed in class.

As this is a digital assignment that all students easily have access to via our course website, I always include an extra credit opportunity at the end of the assignment sheet. Students were required to complete 3 posts in this semester’s ENG170 . The assignment equates to 15% of the student’s course grade. With this grade dynamic in mind, my students could receive up to 10 points extra credit on individual posts by completing the activity below. The language that follows is copied directly from my assignment sheet:

Extra Credit: Up to 10 points total

• Additional quote(s) and analysis that support their points
• Additional analysis of the quote(s) they used that further support their points
• Quote(s) and analysis that can counter their points
• Additional analysis of the quote(s) they used that counter their points
• A discussion of why their points/arguments are significant
• There is no word requirement for these comments. The detail you put into them and/or the points you make in them will equate to the amount of points you receive for each comment. Once you receive 10 points total, you will not be able to receive more of this extra credit, though additional comments can help with your participation grade in a manner similar to the Discussion Addition forums.

Very few students tend to take advantage of this extra credit opportunity, but I offer it every time I use this assignment. The students aren’t required to reply to classmates who submitted a post to the same forums they did. So, while a student might not have written a post about El Deafo , this extra credit activity gives them the chance to earn points by thinking further on a text that they originally passed on analyzing in written form. If they do respond to a post from a forum they chose earlier in the semester, then they’ve chosen to approach a text they’ve analyzed from an angle they might not have thought about on their own. In either case, students gain more literary analysis writing skills and work on rhetorically responding to someone else’s analysis rather than just always writing their own without any concern to the complications of collaborative writing.

Creative Project

This extra credit activity is posted during Week 1, but it’s not due until the last day of class. In contrast to the activity above, this project is not attached to any one assignment. For my children’s literature courses, this activity takes on the form of creating a picture book or first chapter of a graphic novel. In my YA literature course , they have the option of writing a piece of fanfiction based on one of our required texts. Here’s the assignment from my ENG170 course:

Step 1: Create a picture book or graphic novel chapter

You can work with one partner or by yourself. The picture book should be at least 14 pages long; the graphic novel at least 8 pages in length. The picture book can be a narrative or concept book. Your intended audience should be children, though you can pick any age group. It should be designed to look like a picture book or graphic novel (front cover to back cover, not just the story). 

Step 2: Write a Reflection

Write a short reflection (400 words or more). In it, discuss topics like how you came up with the idea for your book, why you decided to create this idea, why you designed the book the way you did (colors, shape, materials, etc.), what message(s) you want (or don’t want) your reader to get from the book, etc. Submit this reflection into the “Extra Credit Project” assignment link. If you work with a partner, each of you must write a reflection.

This project is much more popular with my students. Most complete the project without a partner, but I’ve seen some amazing writer and illustrator pairs. Most tend to create a narrative picture book. Graphic novel chapters are very rare. Students can earn up to 5 points extra credit on an exam by completing this activity, depending on the detail of their reflection and effort in creating their children’s text. We spend so much time analyzing the content and design of visual texts. This activity allows students to learn first hand just how hard creating these texts can be. Putting in the effort to experience this creative process and reflect on it is worth adding a few points to an exam that they might have struggled with because of how much information is included in this prerequisite course.

Digital Project

A new extra credit activity I offered this semester is the “class blog” project. Our LMS has a blog tool that allows students to construct a collaborative blog on our class website (so there is no need to grapple with creating their own blog or posting to the online public). So far, no student has posted to the blog. But, they have three more weeks to post. Here’s the assignment description I created for my students:

You can blog about anything related to children’s literature/media and culture. There is no word requirement for these blog posts. You can post as many as you want and include as much detail as you want. The more detail/depth you include in the posts, the more points you will earn. Just make sure it’s your own writing, and if you cite someone else in your posts, make sure to credit them. Once you receive the 5 points available for this extra credit, additional posts can function similarly to the discussion addition forum posts in regard to improving your participation grade. Here are some ideas for what you can blog about, though you might come up with other ideas:

• Children’s literature book reviews
• Children’s movie reviews
• Children’s app reviews
• Your thoughts/opinions about something going on in the media that connects to children’s texts or children in general
• Your experiences reading to children at a library or at home
• Your childhood memories of reading/watching one of the texts we’re reading for class
• Your ideas for how you’d teach a children’s text in your future classrooms

You can also reply to others’ blog posts. It’ll likely be harder to earn the same amount of points in comparison to creating your own, but replying is an option for anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable creating their own posts. If your post inspires a lot of comments, this community response can also increase the amount of points you earn for that post.

Like the creative project, students can earn up to five points extra credit on an exam by completing this activity. In adding this activity, my hope was to inspire students to connect our class to the world outside the classroom. I consider what I teach to be incredibly relevant to my students’ lives outside the classroom. Getting students to have that same belief can be difficult, so I created this extra credit opportunity so that students would have reason to put in extra effort to make these connections. I’m curious to see if any student will do so in the coming weeks.

Event Attendance and “Takeaways” Response

ISU’s English department hosts the Lois Lenski Lecture every spring semester. We invite a children’s and/or young adult literature scholar to speak at our campus and host a Q&A session after their talk. I’ve learned so much from these presentations, and always mention them to my children’s and ya literature students. I also offer extra credit if they attend the event and write up a “takeaways response” to it that night. They submit them digitally by midnight, or just turn it in physically at the lecture.

This semester, my students have the option of exploring a children’s literature display at our university library. A special collections display was created by students in a graduate course. If my students explore it and write up a response to it, they can receive a few extra credit points were they most need it (up to 3, depending on the detail in their response). They had two weeks to complete this activity. Fewer than a handful did so. This activity and other events are great for helping students see how others outside the classroom study and use children’s and YA literature. Note: The takeaways can’t just be regurgitated facts. Students have to reflect and metacognitively respond to what they’ve heard/seen during the event.

Aesthetic Additions

I include this option when students complete a highly visual project. For the picture book festival activity I’ve used in past ENG170 sections, students could increase their poster grade by up to five points depending on the effort they put into designing their posters. All students were automatically eligible for earning these points. Students could earn a high grade as long as they included all the required material on their poster. But, if their posters’ design aesthetic was well thought out, extra credit points could be earned. Some students focused on emphasizing the content of their text (crafting a tree on a The Giving Tree poster), while others focused on the medium (designing their poster as a TV screen when analyzing Gilmore Girls ). Most students tend to receive only a point or two for this extra credit opportunity, but I’ve been amazed by the thought and effort put into a few poster designs over the years. It livens up my grading experience at the end of the semester too, which is always welcome.

Final Thoughts

Of the five activities listed above, four were options in this semester’s ENG 170 course. Giving my students the chance to earn up to 23 extra credit points likely seems excessive to some of you reading this post. Here are a few points I’d like for you to keep in mind, especially if you’re considering what extra credit activities you might want to offer next semester: 1. In a 30 student course, usually less than half the students will attempt even one of the extra credit options. 2. Less than a third will attempt more than one option, and they are often the ones that don’t even need extra credit. 3. It’s rare for a student to earn the max number of points for any of the activities because of how much extra effort and work I expect from them in order to gain these points. 4. The only activity that creates the opportunity to gain 10 points is the forum posts extra credit. These points are added to individual posts rather than to the activity grade as a whole. In this specific case, one post equates to just 5% of their overall course grade. 5. If students are willing to put in the extra time and effort, and the activities actually require them to learn something, why not offer them the opportunity for engaging in additional ways with the course material?

I’ve never regretted including extra credit options in my courses. Few students take me up on my offers, and a bump up in their overall grade definitely isn’t guaranteed. But, by having these activities in my course design, I’m making clear to my students that hard work will be rewarded and that doing poorly on one assignment doesn’t mean they’ve done irrevocable damage to their course grade > GPA > financial aid/grad applications. Even one offer of extra credit can demonstrate to students that we as instructors understand that sometimes they need an extra chance to show their willingness to put in the effort to learn and grow. Why not give them that chance?

>>If you’d like to download a PDF that lists the various extra credit activities described above (and a few other activity ideas!), just subscribe to my blog. You’ll receive access to all my blog-related PDFs and will receive an email every time a new blog post goes up!<<

Do you include extra credit opportunities in your courses? If so, share what activities you offer in the comments section below!

Assignment Examples , ELA , Full Archive , Teacher Life , Teaching Tips

College Courses Course Design extra credit Pedagogy Teach

February 18, 2020 at 4:15 PM

Awesome suggestions!

February 20, 2020 at 2:20 PM

I’m glad you like them!

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Weighting Grades, Giving Extra Credit, and Other Tips on Managing Assignments and Grades in Canvas

by Cecilia Lo | Aug 20, 2018 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos

Canvas provides a fully functional gradebook that can help both instructors and students to keep track of their progress in a course. Once you figure out its few quirks, you will be able to manage grades with ease.

I. Some Terminology: Assignment Groups vs. Assignments, & How They Relate to Gradebook Columns II. Weighting Grades III. Muting Grade Notifications IV. Grade History – Who Changed The Grade When? V. Using Grading Schemes VI. Curving Grades VII. Giving Extra Credit VIII. Tools and Course Setup for Multiple TAs IX. Excluding an Assignment from the Course’s Final Grades X. Filtering by Modules, Automatic Late Policies, & Other New, Helpful Functions in the New Gradebook XI. Resources

I. Some Terminology: Assignment Groups vs. Assignments, & How They Relate to Gradebook Columns

There are two common sources of confusion in understanding and using Canvas assignments and gradebooks. One is the distinction between Assignment Groups and Assignments. Assignment Groups are categories of assignments, such as problem sets, papers, quizzes, exams, presentations, and participation. They are important for organizational purposes and particularly important if you want to weight grades. Assignments are individual assessment items that receive grades, as, for example, first paper, second paper, or final paper. Assignment Groups and assignments are created separately. You can move assignments into different Assignment Groups by dragging them on the Assignment Index page or editing the Assignment.

Assignment groups vs Assignments

A second common source of confusion is how to create gradebook columns. In Canvas, assignments are tightly integrated with the Gradebook and the only way to create a gradebook column is to create and publish an assignment . This may seem unintuitive at first glance, as not all assignments require online submissions (e.g. attendance and participation or assignments done on paper). However, instructors can choose different submission types when they create an assignment— No Submission, Online, or On Paper . The one-to-one correspondence between the number of assignment items and the number of gradebook columns ensures that grading policy is transparent to the students and that both instructors and students always see the same number of assessment items.

II. Weighting Grades

You can have Canvas automatically calculate weighted grades in just a few clicks: on the Assignment Index page, click Options , select Assignment Group Weight , then enter the percentages for each Assignment Group. For example, in a course where the grades are determined as follows:

The process for weighting grades is:

To weight grades, go the the Assignments page, click on the Options button, select Assignment Groups Weight , select the Weight final grades based on assignment groups check box, enter the weights, and click Save .

How Canvas Calculates Weighted Grades for an Assignment Group

Canvas determines weighted grades by calculating:

• the grade (in percentage) of individual Assignment Groups (sum of points scored divided by total possible points);
• the total grade (sum of Assignment Group grades multiplied by their respective weights).

In the example for “Paper Assignments” Group above, there are 4 assignments, each worth 20 points; together they add up to 80 points. The Assignment group counts 30% towards the total grade. If a student scores 18, 16, 10, and 15 respectively, then

The subtotal grade for “Paper Assignment” is: (18 + 16 + 10 + 15)/80*100% = 73.75% The contribution of “Paper Assignment” to the Total grade is: 73.75% * 0.3 = 22.13%

Weighted Grades within an Assignment Group

In the above example, because each assignment has the same maximum points (20 points), each assignment contributes equally within the Assignment Group. If you wish a particular assignment to weigh more, just make sure it has a higher number of total points, or assign it to a separate Assignment Group.

Tips : If you have many assignments (about 10 or more) in one Assignment Group, and the total points for each assignment vary by one or two points, then by arithmetic the assignments contribute essentially equally to the Assignment Group grades, as the difference between each assignment after multiplying by the weighted percentage would be relatively small. (e.g. 1 point in an Assignment Group with a total of 100 points and which counts as 30% of the total grade is 0.3 points of the total grade.)

How Weighted Grades Appear in the Gradebook

In the Canvas Gradebook, each gradebook column (with linked heading) shows the raw points for an assignment (unless you have applied grade curving to it); the Assignment Group column (with black heading) shows the percentage a student scored for that Assignment Group; and the Total column shows the final, weighted grade.

In the example above, the Assignment Group column for “Paper Assignment (30.00% of grade)” is 73.75%.

NB : If a student didn’t submit a particular assignment, be sure to give it zero points. If you leave the score blank ( – ), Canvas will treat it as excused and ignore it in its calculation of the Assignment Group subtotal and Total scores.

For more about weighting grades, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10059-415267002

III. Muting Grade Notifications

When instructors enter grades into Canvas’ gradebook, a notification is sent to the student automatically . Some students are prone to panic if they find that their peers have received their grades but they have not. You can release grades to all students simultaneously if you select Mute Assignment and stop notifications from going out until you “unmute” the assignment. Muting assignments allows you time to review and make grade adjustments without sending students multiple notifications.

To mute an assignment, go to Grades, click on the options dropdown for the assignment, and select Mute Assignment:

Mute Assignment link in Canvas Gradebook

NB : Canvas does not include muted assignments in the Assignment Group and Total grade calculations—if it did, students would be able to calculate backwards and figure out what their grades are. Be sure to unmute assignments when you have finished grading them so that the gradebook calculations are correct.

For more about muting assignments, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12961-4152724339

IV. Grade History – Who Changed The Grade When?

From time to time you may wish to track how a student’s grade for a particular assignment changes over time, especially when there are multiple instructors or TAs giving grades in a course. Canvas’ Grade History tool can be helpful in such cases.

To access Grade History, click on the Options (gear) icon in Grades and select View Gradebook History . (In the New Gradebook, select the Gradebook dropdown, then “Gradebook History…”.)

To view grade history in the old Gradebook, select View Gradebook History from the gear icon on the Grades page, enter filter parameters and click the Filter button.

How to read Gradebook History

• The Before column shows the grade before the change at a particular date and time (row).
• The After column shows the grade after the change at a particular date and time (row).
• The Current column always shows the latest grade; it is the grade a student has now.

Example of Grade History

In the example above, on Jun 27, 2018 at 4:25pm, the Before column is empty because it is the first time a grade (0/20) is entered. On Aug 16, 2018, this grade is changed from 0/20 to 20/20. The Current grade for all rows is 16/20 because on Aug 17, 2018, the last time this grade was edited, the grade has been changed from 20/20 to 16/20.

NB : The dropdown selection can take a few seconds to display, especially if there are many students in a course. Be sure to click the maroon Filter button at the end to filter the results. You can filter for more than one category; for example, you can filter for student name and assignment name simultaneously.

V. Using Grading Schemes

You can apply a specific grading scheme to your assignment and/or overall course grade so that each letter or performance grade corresponds to a specific numeric grade range (e.g. A/Excellent = 91% to 100%; A-/Good = 88%-90%; etc). Once you have created a grading scheme, it can be reused in other courses you teach with just a few clicks.

Select Grading Scheme for an Assignment

To display letter grade for an assignment, edit the assignment, choose Letter Grade under the Display Grade as dropdown menu.

• Choose the appropriate grading scheme (see “Choose/Create New Grading Schemes” below).

Choose/Create New Grading Schemes

Click on the View Grading Scheme link under Display Grade as to choose the appropriate grading scheme.

Click on the Select Another Scheme link at the top right to select another grading scheme.

• To create a new grading scheme, click manage grading schemes link at the bottom right, then click the Add grading scheme button on the right.

Use Grading Scheme for the Total Grade in Your Course

You can display the Total grade of your course as a letter/performance grade by going to Settings > Course Details > Select the check box for Enable course grading scheme > Choose the appropriate grading scheme > Click the Update Course Details button at the bottom of the page.

To enable grading scheme for the course total grade, go to course Settings , check the Enable course grading scheme box, click the Select grading scheme link, then select the appropriate grading scheme, click Done , then click the maroon Update Course Details button.

For more information, see:

• [Overview] How do I use grading schemes in a course? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13067-4152206341
• How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10216-415282270
• How do I enable a grading scheme for a course? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12906-415257089
• How do I add a grading scheme in a course? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10313-415257090

VI. Curving Grades

You can use the Canvas Gradebook to curve grades for individual assignments. When you enter a desired average grade, Canvas will automatically adjust the scores as a bell curve 66% around the average curve.

Grade curving is available for assignments only ; if you wish to curve the total grade of a course, you will need to do so manually. Grade curving cannot be undone (although you can use Gradebook History to view pre-curved grades) and is advisable in courses where only a certain number of students can pass, or when you require a fixed distribution of grades distributed throughout the class.

Step-by-step instructions on curving grades are available at: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12832-415255003

VII. Giving Extra Credit

Do you want to give extra credit to students but are unsure how get Canvas Gradebook to recognize it? There are a few ways to do this:

Method 1: Add Extra Points to an Existing Assignment/Quiz

You can give extra credit to a particular assignment by adding the extra points to the total points a student scored, even if the student received a perfect score. Canvas allows you to give points greater than the highest possible points.

For example, If an assignment is worth a total of 100 points, a student earned a perfect score of 100, and you want to reward them with 5 extra credit points, you can enter 105 as the grade for the assignment.

If you use Canvas’ SpeedGrader for grading, you can enter the extra points in SpeedGrader. If you use rubrics in conjunction with SpeedGrader, you can add the extra points either to an existing rubric criterion or to an “Extra Credit” criterion. If you decide to add an “Extra Credit” criterion, make sure that the assignment point total excludes the total maximum extra credit points (i.e. the rubric is worth more points than the assignment) so that the actual assignment points are not affected by whether a student receives extra credit or not.

For example, if your rubric has four criteria with 4 maximum points each, and an “extra credit” criterion with 2 points each, then the maximum point total for your rubric is 4×4 + 2 = 18 points. But your assignment point total should be 16 points.

You can give extra credit in Quizzes as well. To adjust the point value for an entire quiz, use fudge points .

Method 2: Grant Extra Points in a Stand-alone “Extra Credit” Assignment and Gradebook Column

If you want to keep track of extra credit for the course as a whole, you can create a stand-alone extra credit assignment and gradebook column and adjust a student’s points as needed.

If you don’t weight your grades , you can create a separate assignment with 0 points. Any extra points given in this gradebook column will be added to the total points for the course.

If you weight your grades with assignment groups, you will need to create an extra credit assignment group with a weight greater than 0% and an assignment with greater than 0 points in order for Canvas Gradebook to calculate the total score correctly. All the assignment groups in your course plus the extra credit assignment group should weigh more than 100% in total.

One example of a correct setup for assignment groups with a maximum of 10% (or 10 points) extra credit for the course is:

Notice that the first 4 assignment groups, containing assignments that all students are assessed on, total to 100%. This ensures that any assignment placed within the Extra Credit assignment group will have either a positive or neutral effect on your students’ overall grade.

• If you are weighting your assignment groups, please pay attention to how weighted groups can affect the Gradebook if assignments are worth zero points.
• If you have drop rules set in an assignment group, adding extra points may affect your students’ scores.

For a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to give extra credit within Canvas, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9940-415278195

VIII. Tools and Course Setup for Multiple TAs

If you have multiple TAs working from the same Canvas course site and they are each assigned to a specific group of students, Academic Technology Solutions can help you set up your course site so that they only see the grades of the students they are responsible for. To get started, email the URL of your course site and a brief description of your needs to [email protected] .

IX. Excluding an Assignment from the Course’s Final Grades

If you wish to provide feedback for assignments without the assignment counting toward Gradebook calculations, you can exclude the assignment in the final grade calculation. (Note: this excludes the grade for all students. If you want to assign an assignment to a specific group of students, you should specifically assign course sections , assign individual students , or assign course groups to the assignment.)

For step-by-step instructions, see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10120-4152618765

Alternatively, you can have Canvas automatically drop the lowest (or highest) grade in an assignment group. See https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9880-4152232976 for step-by-step instructions.

X. Filtering by Modules, Automatic Late Policies, & Other New, Helpful Functions in the New Gradebook

In January 2018, Canvas released the New Gradebook, which offers a number of enhanced features, such as filtering by modules, automatic late policies, and customizable coloring. The current gradebook is expected to be deprecated and replaced by the New Gradebook sometime in the second half of 2018. For more information on how to opt-in and use the new features, see ATS’ “ Introducing the New Gradebook ” blog post.

XI. Resources

You can see the complete Instructor Guides for the topics discussed above at:

• Assignments
• Discussion Forums
• Online Quizzes
• Speedgrader

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Extra Credit Assignments

Canvas Teaching Tips are distributed by the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences Online and Academic Technology Services office and offer SHORT helpful tips about Canvas, online learning, and academic technology.

Click here for more Canvas Teaching Tips

Can I add an Extra Credit Assignment in Canvas?

The answer is YES! There are several methods for adding extra credit in Canvas.

To learn more about extra credit in Canvas and the best ways to add it to your course, see the guide below.

Click here for a guide to Extra Credit Assignments in Canvas

Click here to view an example of an extra credit assignment in Canvas

Canvas help is easy to find and always available. Click the Help button in the Canvas global navigation for 24 hour support and great help guides.

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How to assign extra credit in canvas, extra credit overview, create a new assignment, add extra points to an existing assignment, fudge points, adding extra credit to the rubric.

Assigning extra credit may take some getting use to because there is no place within the assignments settings that you check to make the assignment worth extra credit. Yet, because of this, Canvas gives a lot of flexibility in how extra credit can be given to students.

Ways to Add Extra Credit

• Create A New Assignment Using Assignment with No Submission
• Using a Rubric

For specific information on how to add extra credit using the above methods, see the following Canvas Instructor Guide: How do I give my students extra credit?

*Note – You can add extra credit manually by downloading/exporting your Gradebook to Excel. This will be down in the Grade Override Column and to be completed at the end of the course, when entering final grades.

Keeping that in mind, the biggest determinant of how you set up your extra credit in Canvas is whether you are using a points-based gradebook or a weighted gradebook. A Points-Based Gradebook allows for the most flexibility in offering extra credit. The tabs above include ways to add extra credit for Point-Based Gradebooks.

Note: Adding extra credit to a Percentage-Based Gradebook does not work that well in Canvas. In general the best way to add extra credit to a percentage based gradebook is to NOT ADD EXTRA CREDIT UNTIL AFTER ALL OTHER COURSE GRADES ARE ENTERED INTO THE GRADEBOOK (including the final exam). Extra credit WILL NOT calculate correctly until ALL OTHER COURSE GRADES ARE ENTERED. This is because by adding the extra credit the gradebook is going over the normal 100%. You can add extra credit by adding an Assignment Group (category) for “extra credit” and make it worth the percent you would like the overall course grade to be raised if students get the full amount of extra credit.

Navigate to your course Assignments Page, and add a new assignment worth zero points. Make sure that the submission type is either “no submission” or “paper submission,” and click Save & Publish to create a column for this extra credit “assignment” in your Gradebook. If you are using a point structure and do not have weighted assignment groups, follow these steps.

• Click Assignments in the course navigation
• Click +Assignment
• Type the Assignment Name (for example, Extra Credit)
• Type 0 for Points
• Choose No Submission for the Submission Type
• Click Update Assignment
• Click Publish

After students complete the work, manually add points in the Gradebook.

• Click Grades in the course navigation
• Navigate to the new assignment (Extra Credit)
• Type the points for those students receiving extra credit

Adding extra points to an Assignment you’ve already created you will need to manually enter the extra points in the Gradebook.

In this example, the assignment is worth 40 points. Adding 5 extra points will bring the assignment total for this student to 45 points. The added points will increase total points calculated in the Gradebook’s final grade.

You can use Fudge Points to add extra points to a quiz. Fudge points allow you to manually add or remove points from a student’s overall quiz score.

• Click Quizzes in Course Navigation
• Click on the quiz you want to add extra points to
• Click SpeedGrader
• In the Student drop-down menu, select the name of the student that you want to give extra points to
• Enter the number of points you want to add to the overall quiz score in the Fudge Points field at the bottom. The Final Score shows the final score this student will receive.
• Click Update Scores to save the change to the student’s quiz score.

*Note – Fudge Points can only be added to Quizzes.

If you use a rubric to grade an assignment, you could make an additional criterion to the rubric for extra credit. Make sure the rubric is worth more points than the assignment so when you give students extra points it doesn’t affect the actual assignment points. For additional information on creating a rubric, please check out the Canvas Guides

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• Spotlight on Extra Credit

A Sample of Extra Credit Assignments

• By Maryellen Weimer
• October 12, 2020

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Welcome to the Canvas Resource Center where you may find self-help guides on a wide range of topics regarding teaching and learning using Canvas. Begin by typing in a keyword and clicking on Search.

• How do I give extra credit in a course?

You will learn how to award your students extra credit (additional points) in your course in Canvas. There are several different ways to award extra credit within Canvas.

Choose the method below that you are interested in learning about:

Follow the steps in this video to learn how to create an extra credit Assignment. This way of giving extra credit is good for when you have a gradebook that does not use weights; it is straight points. If your gradebook uses weights, then see the section on creating extra credit using weights .

The key to this method is that you make the Assignment worth zero points , but then you grade it based on how many extra credit points you want to award.

1. Make sure that your extra credit Assignment is zero points.

2. Award points in the SpeedGrader.

All points awarded are extra credit.

3. Or, award points in the gradebook.

Follow these steps to award extra points to an Assignment.

Decide whether you want to award points in the SpeedGrader or the gradebook.

Follow these steps to add extra points to an Assignment.

1. Click on the Assignment link.

2. Click on SpeedGrader.

3. Type the desired total score.

Note how in the screenshot below, the submission has been graded 11 out of 10, meaning 1 point of extra credit.

4. The grade now displays in the gradebook.

Follow these steps award extra points directly in the gradebook. This may well be the easiest way to award a student extra points for a given assignment.

1. Enter the gradebook and click on the cell.

In this sample, the student has been awarded 10 points out of 10.

2. Type the desired score.

3. Hit Enter or click somewhere else.

The new grade now displays in the gradebook.

Follow these steps to award extra points for a student by using the Override column in the gradebook.

1. Click on the gear icon in the gradebook.

2. Click on the Advanced tab.

3. Tick the box to Allow final grade override.

4. Click on Update.

5. There is now an Override column in the gradebook.

6. Click on the cell.

7. Type the desired score which will be displayed as a percentage.

In this example, the grade is being raised from 89.47% to 90% allowing the student to receive an A- instead of a B+.

8. The Override grade now displays.

Note that the grade of 90 displays as 90%.

9. The student view of the gradebook shows only the override, not the original grade.

Are you using a Classic Quiz or a New Quizzes quiz?

Follow these steps to add "Fudge points" or extra credit to a student's quiz. This process must be done one student at a time.

1. Click on the quiz.

2. Click on Build.

3. Click on Moderate.

4. Click on Attempt.

5. Decide whether to adjust points at the question level or the quiz level.

5.1. Type the number of points to award for a specific question.

5.2. Click on Update.

5.3. The new grade now displays in the gradebook.

5.1. Type a score in the box.

5.3. The new grade now appears in the gradebook.

Follow these steps for a Classic Quiz. You can add "fudge points" to the whole quiz or adjust the grade for an individual question.

1. Click on the quiz link.

Decide whether you want to add points to a specific question or two the quiz as a whole (fudge points).

2.1. Type the desired point value for a specific question.

2.2. Click on Update Scores.

2.3. The gradebook now has the updated score.

2.1. Type the desired value in the Fudge Points.

2.3. The gradebook now shows the updated score.

Follow these steps to learn how to create a Rubric which has built in the possibility to add extra credit.

1. Click on Assignment link.

2. Note that the Assignment is 20 points but the rubric is for 21 points.

You can make your Rubric to have a different point value than your Assignment. Any extra points will essentially be counted as extra credit.

3. Click on SpeedGrader.

4. Click on View Rubric.

5. Award the desired points.

6. Click on Save.

7. Since the student received full marks on the Rubric, they have 21 out of 20 points.

So, the student has essentially 1 point of extra credit.

Follow these steps to award extra credit/extra points to an Assignment Rubric.

3. Click on View Rubric.

4. Click on the appropriate cells for the rubric.

5. Click on the points and type in the number you want to award.

Note that the rubric now has a score of 22 out of 20 points. Those two extra points are extra credit.

7. In the gradebook, the student now has 22 out of 20 points.

The students has two extra credit points for this Assignment.

1. Click on the cell and type the desired points.

In this sample, the student has been awarded 19 points out of 18, so that extra point is essentially extra credit.

2. Hit Enter or click somewhere else.

Follow the steps in this video to learn how to create an extra credit Assignment using a weighted gradebook (not straight points).

Related guides from other sources

• Managing Extra Credit in Canvas

Article Summary

You have now learned several ways to award your students extra credit in your course.

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Extra, Extra, Read All About It

By  Deborah J. Cohan

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Years ago, if colleagues asked if I offered extra credit, my responses were some version of “Absolutely not, never, and anyway it’s fake; it’s like grading on a curve; this is college, not high school; let the students do the real work; and furthermore, why do we need to create extra work for ourselves?”

Fast-forward, and I have changed my mind. I regularly offer opportunities for extra credit. On the surface, it almost feels embarrassing to admit.

In fact, when former students who have stayed in touch with me all these years have gotten wind of this, they are in disbelief. They also can’t believe that I give review sheets for exams complete with sample questions that I copy and paste into the actual exam. They are amazed, because they were able to work hard and succeed even without what appears to be handouts and freebies. And perhaps they have rightfully come to believe that others should be able to do so, as well.

In some ways, I feel like a sellout -- as if I have caved to some of the nonsense and charade that is so embedded in higher education that we can barely recognize it as such anymore. Yet I find consolation in the fact that, over 21 years of teaching, students have routinely told me that my classes are some of the most intellectually rigorous and emotionally demanding courses offered at any of the universities where I’ve taught.

Understandably, professors are all over the map on the issue of extra credit. A seemingly small matter like extra credit is likely to remain a big controversy among educators, so the more ideas and approaches for handling it, the better. Here, I address the reasons to support the offering of extra credit as well as some ways that we can create parameters for extra credit that enable us to continue to uphold high standards.

Showing Up Is Not Enough

A friend refers to extra credit opportunities as extra enrichment, and I concur with this. I see it as a way to contribute to expanding students’ curiosity and cultural capital while exposing them to the joys and rewards of lifelong learning. For example, I periodically encourage students to attend and write about special events happening on the campus -- such as activities sponsored by the Sociology Club, which I advise, or a Gender Bender Series that I coordinate with a colleague in anthropology. During such events, we showcase speakers, poetry readings, films and panels that focus attention on an interesting topic related to sociology and gender studies. In other words, these events are relevant to what students are learning in my course and expand upon classroom discussions.

The problem is that it seems too many professors stop there and award points for attendance or even transfer the burden to other faculty and staff members involved in hosting such events by asking them to circulate and collect attendance sheets. In my mind, just showing up is not enough. Extra credit should be about more than sitting in the back of the room and scrolling on a cellphone. In my syllabus, I explain that to earn extra credit, students must not only attend the event but they must also write a two-page analytical reflection paper connecting what they learned at the event to their class materials. And I have strict rules for both how they must complete these assignments and the deadlines they must adhere to.

Some professors argue that offering extra credit is likely to reinforce students’ laziness and belief that whatever they miss they can make up. Those who do not endorse extra credit also tend to assume that the students most likely to ask for it tend to be those who aren’t working very hard in the first place. I used to believe all that, too.

But, since deciding to offer extra credit opportunities, I have encountered the opposite. Often the very best students, who do not really need the additional points, are the ones most likely to attend extra credit events. The other group of students most likely to complete extra credit assignments is already doing above average but not superior work in my class; they’re the ones who show at every turn the willingness and earnestness to improve. Other students -- usually the more mediocre to poor ones -- attend events and simply neglect to follow the instructions of submitting the follow-up paper. That is the other reason I do not think simple attendance is enough to warrant additional points.

In reality, I find that very few people actually do the work for the extra credit that I offer. In any given semester, with about 110 to 120 students taking my courses, only 15 to 20 people may attend an event for the purpose of extra credit, and as few as five of them go on to write the paper.

To earn extra credit in my classes, students must formulate a thesis statement about what they want to focus on. They must also present a brief summary of the central points from the event. Then they need to think of specific and vivid stories and perspectives that emerged in the session that were meaningful. They must identify connections that they were able to make between the event and aspects of our class, such as lecture material, discussions, readings and classroom guest speakers and films. I also ask that they address the relevance that the event had for them personally and to demonstrate what was the most powerful and memorable aspect of it that they experienced. And I ask them what discussion, if any, they initiated with others after the event and how that impacted them. Lastly, I ask that they reflect on any ways in which the event could have been improved.

A Gesture of Good Faith

Each extra credit assignment gives students the opportunity to earn five points, but if they do not write a strong enough paper, they cannot earn all five points. And yes, at times, I have even assigned no points. I also take the liberty to assign points beyond five if the paper is exceptional.

By handling extra credit this way, I see it as a gesture of good faith. It’s a way of communicating to students that I want them to do well and have cultivated various conditions to make that possible beyond the regular assignments -- and, simultaneously, that I am holding them accountable. Students who take advantage of these opportunities tend to see both the value and meaning of the event they attended and the value added to their final grade. At a campus with fewer regular evening activities that are intellectually stimulating, and at one that is more remote and rural, students who attend these say it helps them to feel more a part of the campus community and connects them in important ways to their peers, professors and other resources for their professional and personal growth.

An interesting issue about extra credit is that some people attend an event and consciously decide not to write about it. After listening to speakers on domestic violence and rape, several students have told me that they feel uncomfortable earning any points for writing about those experiences based on someone else’s pain. Recently, I invited students to accompany me to a film on meditation that was part of a special screening off campus. My best-performing student in that class attended, loved it and chose not to do the paper. She was there for her own curiosity and the enrichment it provided.

As a scholar of gender, I see extra credit as interestingly gendered. Again and again, it is by and large women students who take the most advantage of any extra credit opportunities I offer. That is not simply because more college students are female than male. Even in my classes with the greatest gender balance, this is the case. Perhaps it is because male students might feel more confident, or even entitled, about their grades over all, particularly with female professors. Some are also less apt to keep planners and log events on their calendars. I find that when they do attend, they are less likely to submit the required accompanying paper that would earn the extra credit.

Inevitably, certain students will still complain about how I’ve structured extra credit. At the end of every term, a few will email me or come to my office begging and pleading for any last-minute attempts to salvage their grades. That is a good time to ask them why they chose to skip the extra credit opportunities that had already been offered during the semester. It’s also a chance to demonstrate to students that I have done my part to meet them halfway and that the rest is their responsibility.

That said, I have often been perplexed by students who are very attentive to extra credit pursuits yet do not come for help for papers and tests that they have bombed, or focus more energy on five points of extra credit than a much larger project. I use this as a time to remind them about priorities and energy. And the thing is this: extra credit is not necessary. It is simply an extra gift, a token, a gesture, a possibility.

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Brightspace Support

Extra credit, Bonus items, and exceeding 100%

In Brightspace, there are a few different ways you can award extra credit to a student, and allow a grade to exceed 100%. This guide will explain each of these situations, and how to set it up in your course.

• Allow extra credit points on an assignment
• Create an extra credit assignment (bonus item)

Allow a grade Category to exceed 100%

Allow the final grade to exceed 100%.

Updated April 2020 Printable version

Allow Extra Credit points on a Grade Item

These instructions are for giving extra credit points (i.e. Award 105 points to something worth 100 points). With this setting, students are allowed to earn more than the maximum points on a grade item.

• Go to Course Admin -> Grades -> Manage Grades
• Go to the Grade Item you are working with and select Edit Grade Item.
• In the edit screen, scroll down to the Grading section and check the box labelled “Can Exceed”. Click Save and Close.

Create an Extra Credit assignment (Bonus item)

In Brightspace, an extra credit assignment is called a Bonus Item – all points given are treated as extra credit. Using a Bonus Item will allow students to earn extra points without changing the final calculated grade.

Note: If you put a Bonus Item in a gradebook category (this is common), be sure that you also complete the step of allowing a grade Category to exceed 100%. 

• In the edit screen, scroll down to the Grading section and check the box labelled “Bonus”. Click Save and Close.

A grade Category contains one or several Grade Items in your gradebook. If you have bonus items in a category, you will want to make sure you have allowed that category to exceed 100%. This way the student’s bonus points will count toward their total grade, and not just that category.

• Go to the Category you are working with and select Edit Category
• In the edit screen, scroll down to the Grading section and check the box labelled “Allow category grade to exceed category weight”.
• Click Save and Close.

If you have Bonus Items or Extra Credit in your course, you may want to allow students to exceed 100% for their final grade. Here are the instructions on how to allow a Final Grade to exceed 100%.

Note: Please do not change the name of your Calculated or Adjusted Grade items in the gradebook.

• Go to Final Calculated Grade or Adjusted Calculated Grade , depending on how your gradebook is set up. Select Edit.
• In the edit screen, scroll down to the Grading section and check the box labelled “Can Exceed”.

How to Make Extra Credit Your Students’ Responsibility

“What can I do so that I don’t have a D in art? Can you give me some extra credit?”

I wanted to yell, “Why didn’t you do the work I assigned!?” Instead, I took a deep breath. Slightly, only slightly, I unfurrowed my brow and agreed my student could write a paper for extra credit.

Later, buried under a pile of extra credit papers, covered in paper cuts, I decided things had to change.

You may be wondering, why offer extra credit in the first place?

While most of my grading focuses on process, not product, there are always students focused on the perfect grade. Simply put, wanting an “A” holds students back from taking risks. Letting students know that extra credit is an option helps them risk failure.

Having extra credit as an option is also a powerful tool when talking to parents. When parents call, frustrated about a low grade, you’re able to remind them there is a way to raise that grade. This practice places ownership of the grade back onto the student.

But how do you assign extra credit in a way that makes sense for you and your students?

3 Guiding Principles for Assigning Extra Credit

Depending on the age of your students and the nature of your school environment, you may need to make adjustments to the plan below. Use these guiding principles as a way to reflect on your current extra credit procedures.

Principle 1: Extra credit is extra work for the student, not for you.

As much as possible, extra credit should be extra work for the student, not you. Often, you’re the one creating, explaining, and assessing the assignment. Instead, it should be the student creating, explaining, and playing a role in assessment. One way to do this is to have students complete an extra credit proposal in which they have to take the lead.

You can download an example below to use in your classroom.

Download Now!

This form makes it the student’s responsibility to come up with an idea for extra credit work. They must explain why it’s relevant, propose how much it should be worth, and how it should be assessed.

Although the responsibility is on the students, you’ll want to make sure they have a few concrete examples to use for inspiration. You can see two examples below.

I would like to create and submit five mug designs instead of only the required two.

This is relevant because it’s forcing me to take the concepts and techniques that we’re learning about and apply them in three new ways. My additional designs will continue to follow the project guidelines and constraints.

I should be able to earn five extra credit points per each completed additional mug. The project is worth 30 points for two mugs, so it seems fair to ask for half of those points for creating three additional pieces.

I will complete all pieces at the same time the overall assignment is due. I plan to spend time working on these pieces during study hall. This will also push me to use my time wisely, and make it easy for my additional pieces to fit into the firing schedule.

I propose you assess this project using the rubric already in place.

I will need access to additional clay and glaze to complete my extra credit assignment.

I would like to come to the art room during my free period to clean and organize supplies.

This is relevant because we all work best in an organized space. It also connects to the National Core Art Enduring standard , ” Artists and designers balance experimentation and safety, freedom and responsibility while developing and creating artworks.”

I should earn six extra credit points. I’ll be spending an hour of my time organizing and reflecting on the best way to use, clean, and organize tools.

I propose you assess this project by my completion of all items on the following checklist:

• All materials are put back into their proper location and supply sheets are updated.
• Paintbrushes are washed and put away.
• Tables, counters, and sinks are wiped and clean.

I plan to complete this on March 5th during my study hall with you. No additional materials are needed.

Principle 2: Extra credit must be completed within a specific time frame.

Most students wait until the last minute to ask for extra credit. Make students aware of when they can and cannot submit proposals. For example, I don’t allow students to submit extra credit during the last two weeks of a marking period. Throughout the marking period, students complete grade reflection sheets , and are reminded if they are unhappy with their grade, the may want to consider submitting an extra credit proposal.

Principle 3: Completion of an extra credit assignment does not automatically result in extra points.

Students often think that because they completed an extra credit assignment, they will receive points. Make it clear to your students you do not guarantee any extra points, reinforcing that they must earn them.

Explain to your students submitting poor quality work for extra credit can result in them earning zero or even negative points.

When to give negative points.

If a student does a poor job on their extra credit assignment or tries to game the system, it may warrant taking away points rather than giving them.

Here are three examples that may warrant a deduction:

• A student chooses to write an artist research report. However, it is full of grammatical and factual errors or includes plagiarised material.
• A student chooses to write a two-page paper about an art-related topic. But, they manipulate the spacing and the font to make their piece of writing seem longer than it actually is.
• A student chooses to write extra comments during a class critique. However, they don’t follow the critique format or give shallow feedback like, “This is cool.”

Having guiding principles sets clear expectations for your students. From the start, students understand that while extra credit is an option, it is extra work, and is not guaranteed.

How are you currently dealing with extra credit in your classroom?

What adjustments do you need to make to your extra credit policy to make it more effective for both you and your students?

Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

Amber Kane is AOEU’s Director of K–12 Curriculum and a former AOEU Writer and high school art educator. She believes questioning and a focus on the creative thought process helps students uncover their personal voice and impact others.

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Search Utah State University:

Create an extra credit assignment.

Extra credit is currently not a default option in Canvas. However, you can give students extra credit using a variety of options. Below we will discuss how to create an Extra Credit assignment by giving them a point value of 0. We will also discuss how to create extra credit assignments through Assignment Groups. There will be an additional list of resources at the bottom of this page that will explain more methods on how to award your students extra credit.

Each method has its limitations, so it's important that you determine which method works best according to your needs.

On This Page

Zero Point Value

Assignment groups, additional resources.

This method involves creating an assignment that has a point value of 0. Then, once the assignment has been completed by your students, going in and manually changing the grade accordingly. If you have weighted assignment groups, this will give extra credit to whichever group the assignment is located.

Create an assignment

Give the assignment a Point Value of 0

Complete the rest of the necessary information

This method doesn't have any restrictions on which submission type you choose. If you have weighted assignment groups, select which group you would like to place your assignment in.

Have your students complete the assignment

Manually give your students points in the gradebook

You do this by simply going to the gradebook, locating the column that contains your extra credit assignment and adjusting their scores accordingly.

You can award your students extra credit by creating an assignment group and assigning it a designated weight. You do this by making your extra credit assignment group exceed the 100% total sum and placing your assignments within that group. 

If you place multiple assignments within an extra credit group, it's important to note that the grades of all of those assignments will get aggregated together. To avoid this, you can create multiple assignment groups with one assignment placed in each. 

When using this method, it is recommended that you make each of the extra credit assignments worth 0 points until the end of the semester. This Instructure forum page best explains why.

Below is how Canvas calculates the weights in assignment groups.

Standard Grading Approach: (Points Earned / Total Points Possible) = Total Score (as percentage) Weighted Grading Approach: Where En = Points earned in assignment group n, Pn  = Total points possible in assignment group n, Wn ­= Weighting for assignment group n, as decimal (e.g. wn = 25% = .25) (( E1 / P1 ) * 100)W1 + ((E2 / P2 ) * 100)W2 + … + ((En / Pn) * 100)Wn = Total Percentage 

Grading With Assignment Groups

Create an assignment group

Enter a Group Name and a desired % of the total grade , then click  Save

Create a new assignment

If you already have the extra credit assignment created, move it into the new group.

Give the assignment a Point Value of 0 until you near the end of the semester

You may want to notify your students that they won't be able to see the effects of the extra credit until the end of the semester. Again, this Instructure forum page explains why (under the Note: ).

Edit the Point Values accordingly at the end of the semester

• 5 Keys to Grading
• Extra Credit for Individual Quiz Questions
• Instructure Community - How do I give extra credit in a course?

Extra Credit: To Give or Not to Give – That is the Question

By Michelle Read, Ph.D.; Katherine Fugate, Ph.D.

Snapshot: This article discusses the pros and cons of utilizing extra credit with your students. Both authors have utilized extra credit in the courses they teach. Moreover, the article presents various ways to add extra credit points in the Canvas LMS.

There are a variety of reasons why one might want to assign extra credit for students. However, the use of extra credit in higher education has been a topic of debate for decades.

InsideHigherEd.com ran two articles on this topic, each expressing opposing views on the matter.

Interestingly, the sociology professor used to feel the same way as the English professor until she designed an extra credit assignment that not only complemented the course goals, but, as she said, “enriched” student learning with very current, relevant events which required not only attendance but also reflection in order to earn the optional extra points. These types of extra credit options do not serve to replace an assignment or assignments, instead they allow for additional learning opportunities. While the English professor acknowledges the reality of students’ lives, he does not, however, allow these realities to impact his instructional practices. It is important to recognize and address that in this past year of COVID, educators have hopefully learned how valuable and necessary flexibility in due dates can be. Opportunities for students to maintain their typical average-to-above-average grades via extra credit assignments can be vital to student success and overall morale during turbulent times, such as a pandemic or personal tragedy in the individual’s life. Often times, flexibility in due dates also provide benefit to instructors. Just because one is an instructor, this title does not preclude them from contending with these same realities of life. Sometimes the need for extra credit is not to pass the course due to missed assignments, but augment low scores on the assignments. It is also important to note, that students may simply be trying to boost their totals to the next grade level to improve their GPA or to meet their major’s program requirements. The option to take advantage of extra credit opportunities is the student’s; the job of the instructor is to make any extra credit opportunities relevant, meaningful, and aligned to course goals and objectives.

In 1993, Norcross et al., conducted a study interviewing instructors to determine why they would or would not offer extra credit. Reasons for offering extra credit included the following:

• Reduces student anxiety and builds confidence.
• Extra credit can be a second opportunity to learn the content.
• Some need a second time to learn and engage with the content in order to master the material.
• Capitalize on the student’s current degree of motivation. In doing the extra credit, they will learn.

There were also valid reasons noted for not providing opportunities to earn extra credit:

• Reinforces tendencies to not work hard if students know extra credit is an option.
• Time spent on extra credit means less time spent on regular assignments.
• If too easy to complete, extra credit reduces course academic standards and rigor.
• It’s unfair to those who did the assignments and did well.
• More work on the instructors’ part to create and/or grade extra credit assignments.

It is easy to see that the arguments from each of these professors correlate with what faculty have been debating for years. The sociology professor expands on these benefits by making her extra credit possibilities available for everyone and designs them to be specifically relevant to the content as an optional extension of, as opposed to a substitute to, what is already provided to students for understanding the content.

What constitutes a “good” extra credit assignment?

As with whether or not to  allow extra credit is considered good practice, the opinions on what types of extra credit are valuable is also debatable. The following list are some suggestions gathered from various resources, my own experiences, and from my work with faculty in designing their online/hybrid courses:

• Add opportunities to earn “professional” points when replying to peers’ initial discussion responses. Often, we do not give students any direction in how to do that. Guidance is helpful and will get you more than “Atta boy” from peers. You can ask repliers to make connections that require higher order thinking skills by asking questions or analyzing the content and critiquing it, while also making it necessary to provide additional resources that support or refute their claims, etc. As an instructor, I provide professional points for extra replies, extra resources, going back and answering questions posed to the original posters by their peers, etc. I try to promote ongoing discussions, furthering the goal of having enriching and meaningful learning opportunities.
• Adding extensions to assignments may come across as more work, and it is, but it is meaningful, relevant work and provides the opportunities to make up for points lost from their original submission.
• Provide additional, optional creative assignments. For example, I offer my students an extra credit assignment in which they create a video that offers advice to students who come after them. My students are often in their graduating semester, so the advice is for the next group of graduating seniors and advises them on various aspects of life after graduation.
• Optional blog assignments. Have students reflect and write about topics from your class.
• Suggest students attend events related to the course content. For example, when I was an undergrad (here at Texas State), my music theory professor had us attend a symphony to earn extra credit. I don’t recall him having us write a reflection, as the sociology teacher above did, but it would’ve been a good idea. “Did you like the symphony, why or why not?” would be a great starting point. You can add specific questions to prompt their reflection that tie into your course objectives.
• Extra creativity points. Allow for extra credit points on any creative assignment. Often students will do the bare minimum to make their project look good, but they’ll likely do more if they know you’re looking to provide points for extra appeal, wow factor, etc.
• Revise and explain. When a student does poorly on an assignment or exam, give them the opportunity to revise or correct and then explain their change in answers. If they were provided answers on the test, have them prepare a presentation and/or video that teaches the concept to earn back points.
• Video-record a science experiment. If you teach science or other subjects with demonstrations and don’t normally have students record themselves doing an experiment or demonstrating an activity, consider having them record themselves doing one for extra credit. They could do this by screen-recording if it is an activity completed on the computer or use their phones or use other recording devices.
• Book reports. An oldy, but a goody, often used in K-12, can work in higher education as well. You could also give the students options such as doing one as a paper, as a presentation/video, etc.
• Service work. Allow students to volunteer. The volunteer work should be something that would apply concepts learned in class or at least the opportunity to observe the concept’s application.
• To ensure rigor particularly for upper division or graduate courses, have students take the concepts and topics and explain/teach them for a layperson, someone who has not studied the discipline. This could be done via presentations, and/or videos. You could even tie in the points to how well received the project was by recipients via a satisfaction poll or have them create quiz questions. The latter of course, would require that someone volunteer to be the audience.
• In addition, for upper division or graduate students, have students do a case study analyzing a provided case that is relevant to their profession. For example, have an education student in a class management course analyze a video-based case study looking for specific events, such as poor behavior, not noticed by the teacher.

You may have noticed that any one of these examples, would actually serve as really great assignments too. Does it require extra work on your part as well? Probably. Grading is always going to take your time. Only you as the instructor can decide if doing so is worth your time and is providing meaningful learning experiences for your student(s) who need that extra support.

Ways to add extra credit using the Canvas LMS system

For specific instructions on how to add extra credit points in Canvas, please see the instructions here , which can also be downloaded.

Cohan, D. (2018). Extra, extra, read all about it: To offer extra credit or not to offer extra credit?. Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/01/16/professor-explains-why-she-offers-extra-credit-her-classes-opinion

Norcross, J.C. , Dooley, H.S. and Stevenson, J.F. (1993). Faculty use and justification of extra credit: No middle ground? Teaching of Psychology , Vol. 20, No. 4: 240-242.

Stauffer, W. (2019). Extra credit is not really extra. Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/01/16/professor-explains-why-he-doesnt-offer-extra-credit-his-students-opinion

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Home » Blog » Should You Give Students Bonus Points? Weighing the Pros and Cons of Giving Extra Credit

Should You Give Students Bonus Points? Weighing the Pros and Cons of Giving Extra Credit

Topics best practices for educators posted on.

The Pros of Offering Students Bonus Points

• Serves as an extra opportunity to raise a grade at the end of a marketing period.
• Helps students compensate for one poor test or project grade.
• Motivates students to put in un-required but beneficial additional work effort.
• Proactively helps students maintain high grades, in case they earn a below-average project or test score later in the marking period.
• When used to enhance lessons, it can help deepen conceptual learning and theory understanding.
• Provides additional practice opportunities for students struggling with a concept.
• When offered as an opportunity to revise an assignment, it gives students motivation to understand where their work didn’t meet expectations, and learn the value of additional effort.
• When designed as an extra-curricular engagement opportunity, students may benefit from volunteer work or event participation in which they may not have otherwise engaged.

The Cons of Offering Students Extra Credit

• Believing there will be a future opportunity to earn points back, students may knowingly skip or underperform on an assignment, or not prepare thoroughly enough for a test.
• Credit given for non-academic accomplishments, such as winning a game, may not offer all students a fair and equitable chance to earn bonus points.
• If you give students too many extra credit opportunities, it may create an imbalance in grading, which could enable a student to pass a course even if he/she has not met all of the necessary learning standards.
• When given as a “completion” grade, extra credit can unfairly skew a student’s overall course grade.
• It may create more work for teachers, which could take away from planning curriculum that will benefit all students equally.

If you choose to offer your students extra credit, follow these best practices:

• Confirm if your school district maintains a specific extra credit policy, and adhere to its requirements.
• Align extra credit opportunities with classroom lessons to reinforce learning objectives, rather than awarding bonus points for non-academic initiatives, such as cleaning the classroom or participating in spirit days or busywork, such as recopying an essay.
• Set defined deadlines for extra credit work.
• Ensure extra credit assignments will not create exorbitant time pressures on you.
• Ensure that all students have equitable access to extra credit opportunities.
• Grade all extra credit assignments using the same standards and grading rubric for all students.
• Set clear expectations for extra credit assignments, including what students are expected to produce, and how you will determine points earned.
• Ensure you are not outweighing overall requirement points with bonus scores.

Remember that your ultimate goal as an educator is to produce high academic outcomes and to prepare your students for the future. Fostering creative ways to reinforce learning objectives can keep students engaged and motivated , and teach them valuable lessons about effort and responsibility. Just be sure you are not offering extra credit opportunities that are not equitable or tied to academic learning to keep students just as focused on their education as you are.

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• Educational Assessment

Extra Credit Assignments: An Innovative Approach

• February 3, 2010
• Tena Long Golding, PhD

My students are always asking for opportunities to earn bonus points. I offer a variety of assignments during the semester, but they still want bonus points, which they seem to think are easier to obtain than the required points. Generally, I’m opposed to bonus options because I feel that if students are struggling with the current assignments, they do not need an “extra” assignment for extra credit. In addition, the word “bonus” seems to suggest something for nothing. I want my students to realize that grades are earned, not given. However, I recently tried a bonus activity that benefited my students and also met my expectations for a substantive learning experience.

The end of the spring semester correlates with increased absences and assignment apathy. The weather is beautiful, my classes are in the afternoon, and student attendance drops. In addition, students in my classes are preservice teachers who must do a minimum number of field observations in area schools before the end of the semester. Those who have procrastinated start feeling the crunch and begin to miss class in order to complete the required number of hours. Those attending class often arrive unprepared. Clearly, this is not the easiest time of the year for teaching.

In a mathematics class for prospective elementary teachers, we had been working on a particular section for several class sessions, so students had more time than usual to complete the homework assignment. On the day this homework was to be discussed, I decided to offer a bonus activity. I created a sheet with 11 problems that applied many of the concepts we had covered in previous class sessions.

Students could earn one point for each problem solved correctly. The problems had to be worked out during the allotted class time, and students could not begin working until a trade had occurred—the bonus sheet in exchange for completed homework. This trade made the students accountable for previously assigned work and removed my fear of giving them something for nothing. Students who had not completed the assignment had less time for the bonus opportunity because they had homework to finish up first.

An interesting classroom dynamic occurred after I explained how this bonus opportunity worked. Many of the students with their homework done began helping students who had not been able to work through all the homework problems. Students who had not even started the homework began to work diligently in order to have even a little bonus time. As I walked around the room, I heard not only the buzz of mathematics but also comments like “I told Julie she shouldn’t miss class” and “I knew I should’ve done my homework!”

I want students to be successful in and out of the classroom. This means learning the mathematics we’re covering in the course. But I also want students to realize they are ultimately responsible for their own learning and accountable for their actions. The bonus problems reviewed concepts that the students needed to know and understand. By design, the activity reinforced the responsibility of students to complete assigned homework. Since the only students who received few or no points were the students who missed class or had not completed the homework assignment, the lack of bonus points earned was not the fault of the teacher (e.g., test too hard, too long) but rather the consequence of a personal decision.

The bonus activity was a success and is a practice I’ll repeat. My students were delighted with the opportunity, and I was guilt-free. The activity let students know that I am sensitive to their needs and ideas, but it also showed how a missed class is a missed opportunity—and that doing your homework pays off!

Tena Long Golding, is an associate professor of mathematics at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Excerpted from Bonuses of a Bonus Assignment! The Teaching Professor, June-July 2008.

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