Extra Credit (was Where Have All the Boys Gone?)

[Rick Tarara <rbtarara@SPRYNET.COM>]

Let me clarify my 'extra credit' use.  I add 'bonus' questions onto quizzes
when the quiz averages start falling below 80%.  These questions are
available to everyone.  I also have certain labs where bonus points are
available in 'competitions'.  The competitions themselves are usually group
against group and based on doing the physics well, but the points awarded in
these contests are above and beyond the normal syllabus points--acting as an
incentive but not being punitive.  Occasionally I do offer an extra credit
assignment (only one per semester) which has real pedagogical value but is
somewhat outside the regular curriculum.  If I offer the assignment, then I
don't offer bonus questions or contest points, so this is really the only
time it makes sense for someone to opt out of doing the extra credit.  I can
control the grades through quizzes and the final so that only those who do
well in all areas (quizzes, labs, homework, --paper or project--, and final)
will earn As while those who do poorly in all areas will get the Cs or
lower.  Those who have problems in one area (maybe extreme trouble) can pull
their grade up a notch with the extra credit.  My extra credit points are
usually about 5% of the syllabus total points (1000).  I maintain average
grades in the high B range with this system which is now slightly below the
average grade for the College (no I'm not happy with that, but Physics can't
afford to shoot itself in the foot by grading so low that nobody shows up).
I do have the luxury (curse) to know that we don't have any Physics majors
at the College, so my grading only effect Chemistry/Bio/Math students in the
regular physics courses, and the General Education students in our other
course.  (Note, I use somewhat fewer extra credit points in the Chem/Bio
courses.)

I would also say that in any course, the student is responsible for their
own grade.  If you want an A and if extra credit is the way to get that A,
then it's your responsibility to do the work-regardless.  In a sense then,
the 'extra' credit is really just another assignment, and failing to do it
can have its consequences.  I think students are smart enough to understand
that.  The point being that you CAN get an A without doing any extra credit,
but depending on your skills, you may NEED the extra credit to attain the
desired grade.  My point was that it should NOT be possible to gain a very
high grade, certainly not an A or maybe even A- without a strong
demonstration of a core set of skills and knowledge and it is then a mistake
to structure a course so that this could happen with extra credit.  The
basic philosophy of using extra credit however, I think is one of personal
choice for the instructor.

Rick


----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Edmiston" <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2000 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: Where Have All the Boys Gone?


> I am having trouble understanding Richard Tarara's position.  His first
> sentence is fine, but after than I don't understand his logic.  Let me ask
> these questions?
>
> (1) Why is it "fine" to offer extra credit to pull up grades?  Once the
> course requirements are established in the syllabus, I would only change
> this if it were clear I had made a gross error in establishing the grading
> criteria.  This does not preclude offering substitute or make-up work to a
> student who had a lengthy illness, or trying to understand why a
particular
> student might do poorly on exams when it seems clear s/he understands the
> material.  But why offer "extra credit" work in general?
>
> (2) If extra credit is offered to everyone, and many student complete it,
> including some good students who end up with greater than 100%, then the
> final exam is made more difficult to make sure we don't have more than 10%
A
> grades, haven't you created a strong possibility of hurting students like
my
> son?  He didn't do the extra-credit work because he didn't need it and he
> isn't a "hurdle jumper."  But you wrote an extra-hard final exam to cut
down
> on the A grades, and he might not do as well on that exam as he would have
> if you had stuck with the original game plan.  So everyone's exam grades
go
> down, but the students who did the extra-credit work are okay, and they
end
> up "edging out" students who did not do the extra-credit work.  Or stated
> another way, the extra-credit work actually becomes "required work" if you
> want an A.  But the extra-credit work is not necessarily a good indication
> of student ability because...
>
> (3) If the extra-credit work is done "outside class" there is no guarantee
> the student turning it in actually did it himself nor is their any
guarantee
> she did not plagiarize it or have significant help on it.  It seems to me
> that well written in-class exams are the safest way to find out what the
> students know.  Extra-credit work merely measures how "hungry" the student
> is and/or how much of a "hurdle jumper" s/he is.
>
> There is not enough information here to understand all the dynamics of the
> class Richard is describing.  But in my 22 years of experience, half of
> which I have been department chair, when students are clamoring to get
into
> a certain professor's course it implies "easy grader."
>
>
> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.              Phone/voice-mail:
419-358-3270
> Professor of Chemistry & Physics        FAX:
419-358-3323
> Chairman, Science Department            E-Mail
edmiston@bluffton.edu
> Bluffton College
> 280 West College Avenue
> Bluffton, OH 45817
>
>
> It seems to me that the information that Michael has related here is a
> strong call to all teachers in all disciplines to structure their courses
so
> that it requires some truly demonstrated skills and knowledge of the
subject
> in order to earn an A.  It is fine to offer extra credit to pull up grades
> to B, B+, even A-, but certainly a C student shouldn't be able to earn an
A
> simply on busy work.  I strive to do this in my courses and am fairly
> successful.  I offer extra credit only when scores suggest such is needed
> and offer it to everyone (and often have the really good students above
> 100%), but I watch carefully so that I don't get too many people in the A
> range.  If one does overshoot there is always the final that can be
adjusted
> to 'pull down' excessively high grades.  I can keep the average grade in
the
> B to B+ range without having more than 10% earning an A.  (It helps to be
> tenured and have the Bio course be fairly unpopular so that the
> administration is pleading with me to open another lab section to
> accommodate the physics requests--all this for our 'Liberal-Arts' course.
> ;-)
>
> Rick
>
> **************************************************
> Richard W. Tarara
> Associate Professor of Physics
> Department of Chemistry & Physics
> Saint Mary's College
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
> 219-284-4664
> rtarara@saintmarys.edu