Canvas: Bonus Points

There are a variety of ways you can grant extra credit or bonus points in Canvas. This resource will walk you through several different options depending on what you would like to accomplish. Some extra credit methods are dependent on how your course’s grading scheme is configured, while others are independent of this.

Note: The methods below are for Classic Quizzes, not New Quizzes.

Universal: Extra Credit on a Quiz or Exam

This option is for when you have a quiz or exam that you would like to give extra credit on. The methods below should work regardless of how your course’s grading scheme is set up.

• Fudge points: This allows you to assign different point values to each student who has taken a quiz. It is added to the overall score and not allocated to any specific question. For detailed instructions, see the Canvas community guide: How do I adjust the point value for an entire quiz using fudge points in SpeedGrader?.
• Change the number of points in the Gradebook or SpeedGrader: You can also add points to students’ scores from the Gradebook by editing their scores in the assignment column. In SpeedGrader, add points to the score box on the right side of the screen.

• Change the number of points awarded for a question: This option works if you want to add a question for extra credit to a quiz. When setting up the quiz, add the question and set its value to 0 points. After the students have taken the quiz, you will use SpeedGrader to manually change the 0 points they earned to the points you want them to receive.

  
  • This is the same method you can use to “throw out” an unfair question on an exam. Instead of setting the question to 0 points, you can give all students full credit for the question. However, this does require manual input.
  • A clever way to see in the Gradebook which students should earn full bonus points for correctly answering an extra credit question is to set the extra credit question to 0.1 points, then manually give them the full bonus points (described in more detail in this University of Houston knowledgebase article). Note that this does slightly affect students’ scores if they get these questions wrong.

Grades Calculated by Points

If your students' grades are calculated purely from the number of points they earn on exams, activities, etc., you can use these methods to grant them extra credit. These methods work by telling Canvas that assignments are worth 0 points, and then manually giving students points.

• Make a multiple-choice quiz: Set each question worth 0 points. Students will be marked as correct, and you can manually give them points based on their selection of the correct answer. Use a method from the “Universal” section above to give students credit.
• Make a submission assignment: Set a submission assignment worth 0 points. Students will upload the materials you ask for. Give students points for the assignment in the Gradebook or through SpeedGrader since fudge points aren’t available for submission assignments. 
  • If you choose to use a rubric, please note that you will need to manually set it to “zero-ed out”. This may cause confusion for students, so we recommend writing in the assignment description what the requirements are for full extra credit, partial extra credit, and no extra credit 
• Make a "No Submission" assignment: This is usually done at the end of the semester to adjust all students' grades, since they do not need to do any work to earn these points. Create a "No Submission" assignment worth 0 points and manually give students points in the Gradebook.

Grades Calculated by Weight

If your gradebook is weighted (for example, exams worth 60%, assignments worth 20%, and discussion boards worth 20%), you will set up your extra credit assignments using the methods below. 

Note: In order for course grades to populate correctly, you will need to hide the grades of the extra credit assignments until the end of the semester. Students can use the “What If” function in their Grades to see the effect of the extra credit.

• Mandatory first step: Before you can create Bonus points assignments, you must create a weighted category for Bonus points and assign it a weight. The rest of the grade categories will be worth 100%, and your Bonus points category will be weighted the maximum percentage of their grade that you want to come from extra credit. 
  • If you want students to be able to earn up to 5% of their grade through extra credit, assign the category a weight of 5%. In the Gradebook, this will show that students can earn up to 105% in your course. 
• Make a multiple-choice quiz: Create a multiple-choice quiz as you would normally. As long as it is placed in the Bonus points assignment category, it will count as extra credit.
• Make a submission assignment: Make a submission assignment as you normally would. Students will upload the requested materials, which will be graded by an instructor or TA. This must be placed in the Bonus points assignment category.
• Make a "No Submission" assignment: Create a "No Submission" assignment worth the desired number of points and place it in the Bonus points assignment category. Manually give students points.

Example Verbiage for Assignments 

We recommend including this verbiage for any extra credit assignment.

Manually Graded Assignments

“You can earn up to [number of points possible] extra credit points for completing this assignment. Please note that this assignment is manually graded, so it may not impact your grade in this course immediately. If it has been longer than [time span] and the assignment has not been graded yet, please reach out to [your instructor/your TA].”

"No Submission" Assignment

“You can earn [number of points possible] number of extra credit points for this assignment. You do not need to submit anything to earn these points. Please note that this assignment is manually graded, so it may not immediately impact your grade in this course. If it has been longer than [time span] and the assignment has not been graded yet, please reach out to [your instructor/your TA].”

Additional Resources

• Canvas Community Guide: How do I give extra credit in a course?