Why and How to Give Extra Credit

Granting extra credit opportunities can be controversial. Despite studies showing that students typically have positive feelings toward instructors who allow for extra credit opportunities (Myers & Hatchel, 2019), instructors have an understandable list of concerns about the practice (Cohan, 2018; Dunn & Halonen, 2019). This piece presents some common pros and cons around extra credit and items to consider when implementing extra credit.

Some common objections to granting extra credit include the following:

• Extra credit is seen as a high school practice, at odds with the rigor expected of higher education.
• Extra credit contributes to grade inflation.
• Extra credit places unfair or unnecessary demands on instructors, who are already stretched grading required assessments.
• Extra credit decreases student motivation, allowing students to “make up” for substandard performance or work on required assessments.

Sound principles underlie these objections, whether instructors decide to provide extra credit opportunities or not. For example, some students hope extra credit will dramatically affect their course grades, which, paired with the often “last minute” nature of many extra credit requests, can create awkward or unpleasant situations for instructors. Instructors justifiably believe that the onus of their responsibility to students should revolve around the dissemination and evaluation of course materials and assessments.

Nevertheless, by shifting the language around extra credit, it is also understandable why some instructors have enthusiastically embraced the practice, some even going so far as to call it “extra enrichment“ (Cohan, 2018). Combined with research that shows it is typically high-achieving students who complete extra credit opportunities anyway (Cohan, 2018; Myers & Hatchel, 2019), instructors can devise a list of good reasons to offer extra credit opportunities.

Some benefits of granting extra credit could include the following:

• Extra credit can reinforce learning and connect additional activities to course content and objectives (Dunn & Halonen, 2019; Goldina et al., 2020).
• Extra credit can reinforce lifelong learning, lead students to discover new events and communities, and serve as a platform for students to apply the course content to their own lives (Cohan, 2018; Dunn & Halonen, 2019; Goldina et al., 2020).
• Extra credit can motivate students to keep improving in real-time, in addition to helping them in “borderline” cases (Dunn & Halonen, 2019).
• Extra credit can “serve as a low-stakes means for students to gain additional confidence with course-related material” (Myers & Hatchel, 2019, p. 6).

Considering these pros and cons, how can instructors gain the advantages of extra credit opportunities without the potential downsides?

Keep the following considerations in mind while instituting an extra credit policy in your course:

Require active participation. More than “showing up” should be required (Cohan, 2018; Dunn & Halonen, 2019). Activities (papers, reflections, etc.) should be assigned to students beyond mere participation in an extra credit activity.

Make it relevant. Extra credit assignments or activities should connect directly to course materials and objectives (Dunn & Halonen, 2019).

Limit the impact. Extra credit should not dramatically affect a student’s grade. Extra credit may occasionally help students in borderline cases (e.g., moving from a B+ to an A-), but students should not be negatively incentivized to skip or produce substandard work with the understanding that extra credit might “save” their grade (e.g., moving from a C- to an A).

Manage expectations. Extra credit opportunities should be clearly defined in the syllabus, with firm dates (Dunn & Halonen, 2019; Goldina et al., 2020). Last-minute requests for grade-saving extra credit can be awkward and bothersome for instructors. Therefore, by clearly defining the extra credit assignments and activities with firm due dates, instructors can free themselves from the pressure of capitulating to student requests that would require ad hoc or last-minute opportunities.

Explore different learning levels. Consider structuring extra credit opportunities on a different learning “level” than other course assessments. For example, if a course requires mostly remembering facts or formulas to complete assignments, consider making extra credit opportunities “creative” to really expand student learning and not simply provide grade cushioning (Goldina et al., 2020).

If you decide to offer extra credit opportunities, in light of the information above, then the guide “How do I give extra credit in a course?” will walk you through the process of implementing extra credit opportunities in Canvas. In this article, Canvas offers many ways to provide extra credit. Historically, we have often recommended the first option, “Create New Assignment With Zero Point Value,” as an intuitive and dependable strategy for meeting most extra credit needs.

Cohan, D. J. (2018, January 15). A professor explains why she offers extra credit in her classes (opinion). Inside Higher Ed.

Dunn, D. S., & Halonen, J. S. (2019, April 3). The extra-credit question: Should you offer it or resist? The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Goldina, A., Licona, P., & Ricci, P. L. (2020). Creating extra credit assignments that challenge, inspire, and empower students. HAPS Educator, Special Conference Edition, 86–89.

Myers, C. A., & Hatchel, J. M. (2019). Personality and cognitive factors related to completing extra credit assignments. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(2), Article 7.