Offering extra credit can provide an additional challenge for students or provide them a chance to improve their score. Extra credit should be available equally to all students and should not penalize those who do not attempt it. 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. Assignments and activities are still placed in Assignment Groups; the groups are not weighted, however.
Option 1: Extra credit as part of the assignment and as a criterion in a rubric
Example: Unit 1 Assignment is worth 60 points. The assignment description indicates that 5 points of extra credit can be earned by doing extra work.
The rubric has four assignment criteria, each worth 15 points, and 1 extra credit criterion worth 5 points. The total points of the rubric equal 65 points
Advantages of this option:
- The extra points are available to everyone
- Students who don’t complete the extra credit are not penalized
- The rubric is easy to use with SpeedGrader. (Note: when associating the rubric with the assignment, there will be a warning note that the rubric points do not match the assignment points.)
Option 2: A stand-alone assignment
For extra credit purposes, the assignment will have 0 points. It can be added to any Assignment Group that makes sense. If you will have more than one such extra credit opportunity, consider creating an Assignment Group just for them. A stand-alone extra credit assignment can be graded through SpeedGrader (can also use a rubric) as any other assignment.
Example:
Advantages of this option:
- The extra points are available to everyone. Note: Do NOT select Do not count this assignment towards the final grade. The 0 points take care of that for students who do not complete the work, but you want the points to count for any students who earn them.
- Students who don’t complete the extra credit are not penalized.
Other options: Adding points
The Canvas gradebook and SpeedGrader make it easy to add extra points to any assignment. Fudge Points allow you to add extra points to the overall score of a quiz. (This is NOT the same as regrading a question that needs correction.). However, neither of these options make it clear to students (or future instructors of the course) why the extra points were awarded.
As a reminder, all opportunities for extra credit (just like all assignments) should
- Be related to the course or unit
- Have a deadline
- Make the requirements and grading criteria clear
Is it possible to add “fudge points” to everyone in the class all at once? This would be very convenient for large classes like mine. Thanks
It may depend on which quizzing tool you’re using in Canvas. If you send Canvas support the URL to your class and the assignment, they should be able to tell you what’s possible.