It’s that time of year. Students are getting their midterm grades, and you’re faced with that inevitable question, “Can I do some extra credit?” This short article from Faculty Focus argues that extra credit does not treat the issue – a deficiency in understanding. If a tennis player is struggling with their serve, doing extra practice on their backhand will probably not help their serve game.
For a more pragmatic approach, have students revise the work that caused the poor score in the first place. The article gives tips on how to manage this process and argues that it takes as much or less time than the extra credit route.