Blackboard FAQ: Extra Credit Assignments

I have given a 10-point extra credit assignment. I do not want it to be included in the total points possible, but I want it to be added to each student's point total. How can this be done?

The best way to add an extra credit assignment which not all students may complete would be to add a column in your Blackboard Grade Center and assign the score of 0 points to it. The added Extra Credit column then manually needs to be added to the Total. By default, the Grade Center excludes from the Total any column that is set to be worth 0 points.

Please follow these step-by-step instructions on how to add an Extra Credit column to the Grade Center: Adding an Extra Credit Column in the Grade Center.

I followed the steps to include an extra credit column in the Grade Center, but I get an error when I try to save the change.

This is most likely occurring because of too many columns in the "Selected Columns box (steps 9 and 10 of the instructions for Adding an Extra Credit Column in the Grade Center). The manual selection process works with a maximum of 28-30 columns. To solve the problem, first assign each of the assignments to a category, and then select the categories in steps 9 and 10 instead of the individual assignments. Note that the extra credit columns should still be selected individually, not assigned to a category.

Please follow these steps for Creating Categories. Then, modify each column to select a category. Alternatively, several columns can be assigned to a category at a time by following these steps: Assigning Multiple Columns to a Category.

Is there a way to include the extra credit in weighted total calculation?

Yes. A weighted total score involves calculating the percentage of the points possible for the item in relation to the total possible points the student has earned. For example, you can grant students a certain percentage of increase of their total course grade as extra credit for completing a particular task or set of tasks. Here is one possible solution to assigned extra credit while weighting grades.

Create an item in the Grade Center that has a "points possible" value of 1. Then, weight the item or the "Extra Credit" category so that it is worth 1 percentage point of the total grade. Give all students 1 point in the extra credit item for simply being in the course, thus avoiding any complaints that only 99% was possible without the available extra credit. Then, give students deserving of extra credit additional points in the extra credit item corresponding to the number of percentage points increase that you desire to award.

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Last Updated: 10/04/2011