Using Extra Credit to Facilitate Extra Learning in Students

Giving students extra credit work is a hotly debated pedagogical issue. This paper shares experience of using extra credit quizzes to push students to think critically and beyond the boundaries. This particular type of quizzes are not announced before and presented to students as a surprise quiz. A certain percentage of the grade earned in these quizzes was included in student"s final grade calculations. With a well-developed model of questions, quiz structure and grade calculation, the presented model of extra credit eliminates negativity related to extra credit work and also motivates students into course work. Our findings showed that by relieving students from the mental pressure of test taking and by making those tests/quizzes as extra credit; students actually performs better in solving harder problems and eventually learns more of the advanced course topics.