This Q&A was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond –
Question
Dear Jonas,
I just returned the midterm exam to my class. Most students did well and were happy, but a couple of first-year students had significantly lower scores than the bulk of the class. These students asked me if they could do some sort of extra credit work to make up for the low exam scores.
I’m not sure what to do. I think that students were accustomed to extra credit assignments in high school, but I don’t know if it has a place in a college course. I don’t have any mechanism for extra credit on my syllabus, so to introduce something now would effectively be changing the grading scheme in the middle of the term. If I make some sort of extra credit assignment, I think I need to make it available to the whole class, and not just to the students who did poorly on the exams.
I am also uncomfortable with a scheme where the students could do poorly on the exams, but still receive a high grade. I have given a lot of weight to the exams in the grade because I feel that these are the best indicator of the students’ mastery of the subject, and I am reluctant to effectively lower the weight of the exams Any advice?
Signed: Credit Risk
Answer
Dear Credit Risk,
There are many issues involved in the question of extra credit. One of the first that you mention is the transition for students from high school to college, and the fact that with first-year students, it is important for faculty to guide the students in understanding the responsibilities involved in being a college student. Students are learning the consequences of action vs. inaction, and understanding the expectations around the quality and amount of work required of them in their still new environment. Another issue you also mention is the fact that a mechanism for earning extra credit is not on your syllabus. Generally, I recommend not making changes in grading policy that are not on the syllabus (see Jonas on Changing the Syllabus Midstream, 5/7/03), but your concern is always on the learning, and this sometimes means that necessary, changes may be required. Therefore, in the future, if there is a chance you will want to use extra credit, or you are planning to allow extra credit, it should be described in the syllabus. This way it is also available to all students, an important point you raise. Lastly, there is always that occasional situation where a single student may require consideration for an extra assignment due to graduation deadlines, illness, or other special circumstances.
Some issues to consider when planning for extra credit are: what type of student is the extra credit designed for? How much will it affect his or her grade? What type of extra credit will be planned; extra exams, for example, or extra homework? How will this assignment contribute to the student’s learning? Some examples of extra credit used in various courses are described below, though variations on these can be designed for your course needs.
One method is to allow students to resubmit a question from an exam that was answered incorrectly. But in this resubmitted work, students must not only provide the correct answer, but also explain why the original answer was wrong, how an errant thought process led them to this incorrect conclusion and then explain the thinking behind the correct response. The notion is to focus students on the learning process. This type of assignment works best for exam types involving higher levels of learning, not just knowledge or comprehension of material. Often, when exam questions are resubmitted, full credit is not issued, but rather some partial credit towards an improved grade.
Another method is to make the final exam cumulative, and then review all exam grades, where the final can replace any lower grades received on previous exams. This method requires a very carefully written final exam, to ensure that it is complete and representative of the material on all previous exams. The mechanics of this method also must be carefully described in the syllabus for the students. Another method used in some courses, involves giving students several exams or quizzes, and only counting the top n-1, allowing for one poor performance exam or quiz. Again, this should be clearly stated in your syllabus.
An important case is one where an additional test might be given because a large portion of the class missed some key concepts which you know the students must have for courses following yours. Knowing that students who have failed to learn this concept will be at a disadvantage in future courses you may choose to emphasize the importance by allowing a retest. However, you will want to state clearly why you are doing this to foster learning (not giving them a break), and that it will not be occurring in the future; this was a one-time learning experience for the students.
Most of these suggestions have focused on giving extra credit for an exam. Because you feel that exams are the best indicator of the students’ mastery of the material, extra credit that is not of the exam type seems inappropriate to substitute for poor performance on an exam. However, do remember that some students do not test well in traditional timed models of exams. Due to this, many instructors allow for extra credit on homework assignments, such as additional points for extra work, or advanced work. Or they offer an additional assignment for extra credit on the homework grade. This technique allows students to demonstrate to you their mastery of material in ways that are more conducive to their learning differences (See Jonas on Learning Disabilities, 5/17/03). An improved homework grade will improve an overall average, and may be another way to help the students recover partially from a poor exam.
Extra credit can have a place in a college course, if administered and planned for carefully. I hope there are enough suggestions for you to see one that will suit your course needs and improve the students’ learning.
Jonas
Quick Tip
An extra-credit homework assignment can be offered after a midterm exam which covers the same material as the midterm itself. This helps to accomplish two objectives – it gives the students a chance to partially recover from a poor exam score, and it encourages learning by addressing exactly those areas where the students showed deficiencies.
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This content was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond.
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