We’ll be getting into more sorts of practical issues with Esquith.  I thought of extra credit as a good issue, though:

Some people hate it.  Others use it as a carrot.  Many educators find it distracting, given that it overfocuses students on the incidental.  Even others view it as praising students for what they ought to be doing already–something that is probably okay at younger grades, but perhaps not for older learners.

I know professors who have, say, 13,194 points in a course.  That’s a lot!  They may have a 30-point task that students do because they can’t conceptualize (or don’t, actually) how much it matters.  So that’s a bit deceptive, eh?

I sometimes use it and sometimes don’t.  For instance, last September I organized the yearly Banned Books Reading.  I mentioned going to the event for extra credit, but look at the following issues that creates:

• I don’t live near Watertown.  Can I go to the ALA site and look at its Banned Books PDF and respond?
• Where is the attendance sheet?  I didn’t see the attendance sheet.  (Did I tell you I’m prescient as well. .  .!)
• What would I respond to?
• How long would the response be?
• If I do six campus activities, can that count for 15% of my grade?
• How do I submit the work to you?
• I only saw points on that extra credit but no feedback.  Surely there’s more you’d like to share!
• Can my attendance at an event make up for a class absence?
• ________

You get the idea.  It can become a counterproductive thing.  Hassle city: Population 127.  And all this while the presentation is about something substantial.  Those sorts of grades can distract us from the project of learning if people are either/or thinkers.