Extra-Credit and Optional Course Policy
Extra credit and optional activities address several learning goals: grade
enhancement; personal motivation; community service.
Extra activity within this course is optional. That is, you do not need
to attempt so many extra credit options during a semester to achieve an
A for this course. Extra credit activities have not been created for every
graded assignment but generally could be, given sufficient time and energy.
The instructor is not required to invent an extra credit or optional experience
for you just because you want or need one. You are free to propose or ask
for one but may find that in a given week or time period that the instructor
is too busy with other tasks and you must move on to other regular course
activity.
Extrinsic Motivation - Course Grade Enhancement
If you are struggling with an assignment, extra credit coursework cannot
be used to replace that experience with something easier. Midterm and final
exams build on subjects covered in the course so it is important that if
your grade is not satisfactory that you go back over assignments for which
you have already received grades and continue to practice. However,
you and the instructor can negotiate the design of extra credit experiences
that can lift the grade on a particular assignment with related additional
activities. If you attempt such an experience, it must be completed with
a high degree of quality and thought to be worthy of an increase in the
grade for a given assignment.
Intrinsic Motivation
Some course participants are simply motivated by learning that which they
feel they need irrespective of its impact on grade. They may already be
expert in the topics being covered and would benefit more from an optional
activity about something that is new to them and provides a higher level
of challenge. Your reason for taking on Optional activities serves as a
personal challenge to grow yourself by going beyond course requirements.
Bored? Perhaps a little spare time on your hands in a given week? You have
a standing invitation to talk to the instructor ASAP.
Service to Others - Community Service
As you acquire understanding of the topics of this course, your form of
understanding is often useful to others. That is, if you find that
you understand something that a community of your classmates does not,
consider creating a tutorial or tutorials that help them understand better.
Your instructor will probably want to include it the course web pages for
next semester.
The concept of community should also be understand in its richer sense
of ever larger communities. That is, you may wish to use your course knowledge
to create instructional materials for another faculty member in our college
or cooperating teachers who give freely of their time without pay to include
you in their classrooms. In this creativity service to others, the act
of engaging real or authentic problems in your larger community greatly
strengthens and consolidates what you are learning into your long term
memory, making it more readily available as a foundation for future learning.
Reflection on Extra
From what we know of human psychology, intrinsic and service activities
are very powerful forms of learning. They provide much greater long term
persistence and motivation in continuing to learn than extrinsic reward.
No matter which form of extra credit you consider, your course instructor
is there to help and guide your efforts. In this regard, your instructors
seek to model a perspective on teaching and learning that we wish you to
emulate and encourage as you set out to teach others.