Extra Credit

Extra Credit

Due to default gradebook settings, an extra credit item can only be automatically calculated when placed within a weighted category (i.e, in the Quiz category). The system will tally all non-extra credit assignments in this category first, and then add in the extra credit points (please note, a category cannot exceed a maximum of 100 total points). As a result, extra credit will have greatest impact at the category-level. To determine how much weight to give your extra credit item within a category, we recommend reaching out to us directly for assistance.

Alternately, extra credit items can be placed within its own dedicated category, with the stipulation that you must manually factor this into students' grades at the end of the term. For steps on this process, please see 'Manually-Factored Extra Credit' below. 

To make a quiz/assignment extra credit:

1. Select 'Gradebook setup' from your gear menu,
   OR
2. Access your gradebook from the menu bar above your course homepage and select 'Gradebook setup' from the dropdown menu on the left. 
3. Locate the quiz/assignment you wish to use as extra credit.
4. In the 'Actions' column to right of the item, click 'Edit.'
5. From the dropdown menu, select 'Edit settings.'
6. In the 'Parent category' pane, click the 'Extra credit' checkbox.
7. Click 'Save changes.' This item will now be considered extra credit, as signified by the + sign to the right of the item points.
8. If you would like this item to be automatically factored into students' scores, you will then need to move this to an existing weighted category.

Manually-Factored Extra Credit

If you want to impact students' overall grades directly (as opposed to at the category-level), you may manually add extra credit points to their course totals at the end of the semester. Please note, these additional points would have to be added in after final grades have been calculated. In this case, an unweighted category can be created to serve as a placeholder and temporarily house the extra credit assignment. Once you have tallied students' final grades, you can add additional points to their overall grade, as described below.

To create an unweighted category:

1. Select 'Gradebook setup' from your gear menu,
   OR
2. Access your gradebook from the menu bar above your course homepage and select 'Gradebook setup' from the dropdown menu on the left. 
3. Click 'Add category' at the very bottom of the page.
4. Enter a name for your category.
5. From the 'Aggregation' dropdown menu, select 'Simple Weighted Mean of Grades.'
6. Click 'Save changes.'
7. Locate your extra credit item and click the 'Move' icon to the left of its title.
8. Click the blank field where you want to move your extra credit item.

To add points to a student's course total points:

1. Access your gradebook from the menu bar above your course homepage.
2. From the dropdown menu on the left, select 'Single view.'
3. From the dropdown menu on the right, select the student's name.
4. Scroll down to the 'Course total' field.
5. Adjust the value in the 'Grade' column as you wish.
6. Click 'Save' to save your changes.

Please note, if you are using an LTI integration, the grade sync process is unable to transmit grade values that exceed 100%. As a result, any course totals that exceed 100% (as a result of extra credit) will be transmitted to your Canvas, Blackboard, or D2L gradebook as 100%.