Early Bird

Canvas Spotlight: extra-credit options

Learning-management system allows customization of opportunities.

By Chelsea Dyer, Laura Berryman, Nicholas Ogg and Alex McDaniel

May 18, 2021

Extra-credit opportunities can be an excellent strategy to encourage 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 complete only extra credit).

Let’s walk through it together

For complete written step-by-step instructions, head over to the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design Ready Spotlight page.

Have questions?

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