Extra Credit on Canvas

Extra Credit - Overview

There are three different ways to add an extra credit assignment on Canvas, depending on whether the final grade is calculated as a point total or as weighted assignment groups, and also depending on whether you want the extra credit to apply to the final class percentage or to just one assignment group.

Using Unweighted Total Points (No Assignment Groups)

(The majority of course Gradebooks are set up with Assignment Groups, see the next two sections)

If you have not set up Assignment Groups, students' grades are based on the total number of points for all assignments. In the following example, the class grade is based on a 500-point scale:

In this case, to add extra credit, you can create a new assignment called "Extra Credit" and make it worth zero points. Any points you enter in the Gradebook will be added to the total points for the class. For example, entering 5 points for a students would raise their final grade by 1% (5 is 1% of 500).

Alternatively, you could add the extra points to an existing assignment. For example, if a student has 50 points for the "Participation" assignment, you could add an extra 5 points to give them 55 points. This would also raise that student's final grade by 1%

Generally, it's probably better to create a separate "Extra Credit" assignment to make it clear how the grade was calculated. It's important that this assignment have a value of zero points so that students who don't do it aren't penalized.

Using Assignment Groups - Option 1: An Extra Credit Assignment Group

(This is an option for classes using Weighted Assignment Groups - See Weighted Grades)

If you would like to easily add a percentage to the final grade, Create an "Assignment Group" called "Extra Credit" with a weight of 1% and create an extra credit assignment in that group worth 1 point for the "points possible" (called "Extra Credit Project" in the example below). In the Gradebook assign 1 point to add 1% to a student's final grade (or 2 points for 2%, etc.)

This "Extra Credit" assignment group will have a weight of 1%, making the total weight for the class 101%.

Note: If you prefer to grade the "Extra Credit Project" out of 10 points, you can make it worth 10 points. Then you will need to give students 10 points to add 1% to their grade (or 20 to add 2%, etc.).

Using Assignment Groups - Option 2: Add Extra Credit to Existing Group

(This is an option for classes using Weighted Assignment Groups - See Weighted Grades)

Another way to add extra credit would be to add a zero-point extra credit assignment to an existing "Assignment Group." With this method, it's important that the "points possible" be left at zero to not penalize people who do not complete the assignment.

In the following example, the "Extra Credit Project" is in the "Participation" Assignment Group. This group is worth 10% of the final grade, and has a total of 50 points. So giving a student 5 points on the extra credit assignment will raise the grade for that "Participation" group by 10%, which has the effect of raising the final total grade by 1%.

Using this method is a bit more complicated, but lets you add extra credit to a specific part of the grade, rather than adding to the total grade. Also, the total weight for the class remains 100%.

The Myth of Extra Credit

For more details, see the Official Canvas Documentation on Extra Credit.

Mathematically, the idea of "extra credit" is a useful fiction since technically, adding an extra assignment increases the total points possible in a course. Calling it "extra credit" or an optional assignment just means that the teacher is not penalizing students for not doing that assignment, in effect lowering the grading standard to allow an equivalent grade for students who do not do the extra credit.

Still, it's a useful way of lowering grading standards to give some students the opportunity to do better in a class without lowering the grades of the other students.

A Simplified Example

Before offering extra credit, a class has the following weights:

• 60% Exams
• 40% Homework

With the letter grades assigned as 60%+=D, 70%+=C, 80%+=B, 90%+=A, with the highest percentage possible being 100%

If the teacher then decides to offer an extra assignment worth 5%, the new weights would be:

• 60% Exams
• 40% Homework
• 5% Extra Credit

With the letter grades still assigned as 60%+=D, 70%+=C, 80%+=B, 90%+=A, with the highest percentage possible being 105%

This is mathematically equivalent to the following weights, normalizing for a 100% scale:

• 57.143% Exams
• 38.095% Homework
• 4.762% Extra Credit

However, now the letter grades are now assigned as 57.143%+=D, 66.667%+=C, 76.190%+=B, 85.714%+=A

In other words, a student can still get a 90% on the Exams, 90% on the Homework, and 0% on the Extra Credit and still get an A in the class.