November 15, 2011

Motivate students to learn by offering “extra credit” opportunities that reinforce course learning outcomes

Near the end of a term, more students will ask their instructors if they will give them opportunities to earn extra credit to improve a course grade. Instructors have many good reasons to object to these requests. Completing an extra assignment requires time that a struggling student ought to allocate to study and completion of regular course assignments. Students often expect that the extra work will earn all the credit they need to make the target grade. If a student spends time on an extra assignment and still does badly in the course, the unmet expectations create a conflict between the student and the instructor. If the extra credit activity is unrelated to the primary learning outcomes of the course, the inflated grades will fail to accurately describe student achievement on the student learning outcomes for the course.

The following assignments and activities can be used to provide students with opportunities to improve their course grade and motivate students to learn the intended course skills and content.

• For large classes using multiple-choice exams, include an optional short essay question as a “bonus question.” Students who have difficulty with multiple-choice questions have an opportunity to demonstrate their learning in an essay (and improve poor performance on the main exam). High performing students might earn grades of more than 100%, but this will not impact the distribution of grades in the course.
• Create an extra-credit assignment such as completing a practice quiz in eLearning or writing a short paper that applies a concept from current course readings and lectures to a practical problem. The assignment must be submitted before the exam date. In this case, when students complete the extra credit assignment, they also engage in structured study of course content for the exam.
• Students write and submit multiple-choice questions for course content that the instructor might actually include on the course exam. The student who writes a question included on the exam will get an added benefit when taking the exam. Award extra credit only for exam-worthy questions to avoid problems created when students submit trivial fact-based questions that do little to improve their understanding of course material.
• Suggest course-related web or print resources that explain or illustrate course concepts effectively and accurately. Require students to submit an evaluation of the resource and describe why the resource is effective for learning. This assignment should have a due date earlier than the scheduled exam date on this course content.
• Allow students to revise and resubmit an assignment to earn up to half of the points missed in the original submission. Manage the extra grading produced by this option and avoid an end-of-the semester rush for extra credit by requiring resubmission no later than one week after the work is returned to the class.

Thanks to Ed Gehringer, North Carolina State University, Stacy Jacob, Texas Tech University, Stuart McKelvie, Bishop’s University, and June Pilcher, Clemson University for suggestions included in this teaching tip.

 

Updated 03/26/13 lrg