Extra Credit Options in Canvas

Last updated on November 16, 2022

Extra credit opportunities can be an excellent strategy for encouraging students to go above and beyond and explore certain areas of a course in more detail. Extra credit can also provide struggling students with chances to correct any misunderstandings related to their course content and potentially increase their overall grades. Canvas allows instructors to customize extra credit opportunities by adding extra credit to existing assignments, new assignments, and quizzes.

Best Practices

• Create extra credit opportunities that are aligned and relevant to the course (not just busy work).
• Provide the same extra credit opportunities to each student, and grade them with consistent standards and/or rubrics.
• Consider the time it will take to grade the extra credit along with core assessments.
• Ensure that the extra credit does not outweigh core assessments (students should not be able to pass the course if they only complete extra credit).

Let’s walk through it together

Option 1: Add extra credit to existing assignments

1. Click Grades in the course navigation menu.
2. Navigate to the assignment column.
3. Click into the appropriate cell and type the grade, including the extra credit points, into the correct cell.
4. Press Enter or Return to save the grade.

Option 2: Create an Extra Credit Assignment

1. Click Assignments in the course navigation menu.
2. Click +Assignment.
3. Type the Assignment Name (e.g., Extra Credit).
4. Type 0 for Points.
5. Choose the correct Assignment group (especially important if you use weighted grade categories!).
6. Choose a submission type.
7. Click Save & Publish

After students complete the extra credit work, manually add points in the Gradebook using the following steps:

1. Click Grades in the course navigation menu.
2. Navigate to the new assignment (Extra Credit).
3. Type the points for those students receiving extra credit.

Option 3: Add extra credit to quizzes

1. Click Quizzes in course navigation.
2. Click on the appropriate quiz.
3. Click Speedgrader.
4. Select the name of the student receiving extra points in the Student drop-down menu at the top of the page.
5. Enter the number of points you want to add to the overall quiz score in the Fudge Points field at the bottom of the page.
   1. The Final Score shows the final score this student will receive. 
6. Click Update Scores to save the change to the student’s quiz score.

Have questions?

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