TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

There are different ways you can assign extra credit points to a student either through a manual or automatic override of a student’s required assignment or by creating an optional, separate extra credit opportunity within your course. This tutorial is going to cover four methods: 

  • Add Extra Points to an Existing Assignment
  • Add Fudge Points with a Quiz
  • Embed extra credit into a rubric
  • Create a zero-point value assignment


Adding Extra Credit

Add Extra Points to an Existing Assignment

Manually override a graded assignment to include extra credit points either through the gradebook by selecting on the individual cell or through the SpeedGrader. 


You may want to include an additional comment for the assignment that extra credit points have been added. 


Add Fudge Points with a Quiz

If you would like to add extra credit to a quiz through the SpeedGrader, similar to manually overriding an existing assignment, you are able to add “fudge points”: 

  1. Open the quiz through the SpeedGrader
  2. Scroll down to the end of the quiz.  
  3. Add the number of fudge points you would like for the quiz (marker 1) and select update changes (marker 2). 

fudge points section of the quiz SpeedGrader marked as described in the steps above the image

Embed Extra Credit into a Rubric

If you know you already want to build extra credit into an assignment, you can do so with a rubric.  This tutorial is not going to cover how to create a rubric; however, you can access that article by clicking on how to create and link a Canvas Rubric.

While creating or editing your rubric: 

  1. Make sure your assignment is only worth the number of points required for students to meet without the extra credit.  
  2. Add a criterion row specifically for extra credit with a range from zero to the maximum number of extra credit points you would like a student to earn.

An assignment rubric open. Long description provided below as an example

Example: 

In the image taken from Canvas’ How do I Give Extra Credit in a Course article, the assignment is worth a total of 10 points, not including any extra credit.  A separate row has been created in the rubric titled “extra credit” with the option for five, three, or zero points.  Now, students can earn up to a 15 out of 10 for their total assignment grade using the extra credit criterion built into the rubric. However, should students not complete the extra credit portion of the assignment, they can still earn full points (10) with no penalty.  


Manually Adding Extra Credit with a Rubric

You can manually enter more points for a criterion with a rubric.  This is essentially providing students with extra credit.  However, be careful with this as it may not have been your intention to add extra points. 


Creating Extra Credit Assignments

Create a Zero Point Value Assignment

  1. Create an assignment as you would create any other assignment
  2. Adjust your settings to set the assignment to earn zero points
  3. Select no submission for your submission type
  4. Optional: in your assignment description, include your extra credit criteria and/or include a note for students that this is a placeholder assignment for extra credit. 
  5. Save and publish your assignment


Note: Make sure your extra credit assignment is placed within a category that does include an assignment with a point value (explained below).


Placing an Extra Credit Assignment within a Category 

If you are creating a separate assignment for extra credit (rather than manually overriding an assignment or quiz grade or automatically adding extra credit with a rubric), make sure you read these caveats first: 


  • If you set your gradebook up using simple weighted mean of grades with categories to differentiate between types of assignments, you can create extra credit assignments in their own assignment group.  Follow the steps for creating a zero-point value assignment for extra credit assignments (detailed below) belonging in this category. 
  • Whether you set your gradebook using unweighted or weighted mean of grades, in order for extra credit assignments to be calculated correctly, they must be placed within an existing group that has a least one assignment worth more than zero points.  
  • If you want to create an Extra Credit Category with weighted mean of grades, it must have a weight that will mean your course total exceeds 100%.  This way, any assignment placed within the Extra Credit Category will have a positive or neutral effect on your students’ overall grade and gives students the opportunity to not complete the assignment with no penalty.  
  • Make sure you grade extra credit assignments after all other course assignments are graded.
  • If you include extra credit in an assignment category that has a rule to drop the lowest grade, ensure the extra credit assignment is not dropped. Review the “Keeping Assignments” section of the Dropping and Keeping Assignments article.