create extra credit assignment in canvas

University Center for Teaching and Learning

How to assign extra credit in canvas, extra credit overview, create a new assignment, add extra points to an existing assignment, fudge points, adding extra credit to the rubric.

Assigning extra credit may take some getting use to because there is no place within the assignments settings that you check to make the assignment worth extra credit. Yet, because of this, Canvas gives a lot of flexibility in how extra credit can be given to students.

Ways to Add Extra Credit

• Create A New Assignment Using Assignment with No Submission
• Using a Rubric

For specific information on how to add extra credit using the above methods, see the following Canvas Instructor Guide: How do I give my students extra credit?

*Note – You can add extra credit manually by downloading/exporting your Gradebook to Excel. This will be down in the Grade Override Column and to be completed at the end of the course, when entering final grades.

Keeping that in mind, the biggest determinant of how you set up your extra credit in Canvas is whether you are using a points-based gradebook or a weighted gradebook. A Points-Based Gradebook allows for the most flexibility in offering extra credit. The tabs above include ways to add extra credit for Point-Based Gradebooks.

Note: Adding extra credit to a Percentage-Based Gradebook does not work that well in Canvas. In general the best way to add extra credit to a percentage based gradebook is to NOT ADD EXTRA CREDIT UNTIL AFTER ALL OTHER COURSE GRADES ARE ENTERED INTO THE GRADEBOOK (including the final exam). Extra credit WILL NOT calculate correctly until ALL OTHER COURSE GRADES ARE ENTERED. This is because by adding the extra credit the gradebook is going over the normal 100%. You can add extra credit by adding an Assignment Group (category) for “extra credit” and make it worth the percent you would like the overall course grade to be raised if students get the full amount of extra credit.

Navigate to your course Assignments Page, and add a new assignment worth zero points. Make sure that the submission type is either “no submission” or “paper submission,” and click Save & Publish to create a column for this extra credit “assignment” in your Gradebook. If you are using a point structure and do not have weighted assignment groups, follow these steps.

• Click Assignments in the course navigation
• Click +Assignment
• Type the Assignment Name (for example, Extra Credit)
• Type 0 for Points
• Choose No Submission for the Submission Type
• Click Update Assignment
• Click Publish

After students complete the work, manually add points in the Gradebook.

• Click Grades in the course navigation
• Navigate to the new assignment (Extra Credit)
• Type the points for those students receiving extra credit

Adding extra points to an Assignment you’ve already created you will need to manually enter the extra points in the Gradebook.

In this example, the assignment is worth 40 points. Adding 5 extra points will bring the assignment total for this student to 45 points. The added points will increase total points calculated in the Gradebook’s final grade.

You can use Fudge Points to add extra points to a quiz. Fudge points allow you to manually add or remove points from a student’s overall quiz score.

• Click Quizzes in Course Navigation
• Click on the quiz you want to add extra points to
• Click SpeedGrader
• In the Student drop-down menu, select the name of the student that you want to give extra points to
• Enter the number of points you want to add to the overall quiz score in the Fudge Points field at the bottom. The Final Score shows the final score this student will receive.
• Click Update Scores to save the change to the student’s quiz score.

*Note – Fudge Points can only be added to Quizzes.

If you use a rubric to grade an assignment, you could make an additional criterion to the rubric for extra credit. Make sure the rubric is worth more points than the assignment so when you give students extra points it doesn’t affect the actual assignment points. For additional information on creating a rubric, please check out the Canvas Guides

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How do I add extra credit in Canvas? (Instructors)

Dec 9, 2022 • kb solution, information, an assignment with zero points, how grades are calculated.

• Navigate to your Canvas course.
• Select  Assignments  from the course navigation.
• Select  +Assignment .
• Enter in an assignment name.
• Enter an assignment description.
• Set the  Points  field to  0 .
• Select a group from the  Assignment Group  field.
• In the  Submission Type  field, select  No Submission  if you are not collecting student assignments (e.g. participation, oral presentations, etc.) or  Online and check the submission options  if students will submit an artifact. 
• Enter a due date and select  Save and publish .
• (Optional) Add the extra credit assignment to a module by following these steps: How do I add course content as module items?
• Navigate to the assignment and select  SpeedGrader . 
• Enter positive points in the  Grade  field.
• Click the  right arrow  to navigate to the next student.

A Weighted Extra Credit Assignment Group

Setup with existing weighted assignment groups.

• Select  Assignments .
• Select  +Group .
• Enter "Extra Credit" in the  Group Name  field.
• Enter the extra credit percentage points possible in the  % of total grade  field.
• Press  Save .
• Select  +Assignment  from the top of the page.
• On the assignment page, enter a  Title  and  Description .
• Enter the points possible . Note that the assignment cannot be 0 points.
• Set the  Assignment Group  to  Extra Credit  (or the name you entered in step #4).
• Change the  Submission Type  to  Online  if you want to collect student work. Use  No Submission  for extra credit not tied to an electronic submission (e.g. participation, discussions, oral presentations, attendance, etc.).
• (Optional) Enter a  Due Date  and  Availability Dates  in the  Assign  box.
• Press  Save & Publish .

Setup without Existing Weighted Assignment Groups

Create assignment groups.

• Repeat steps 3-5 for each assignment group (e.g. Participation, Homework, Exams, Discussions, etc.) in your course, replacing "Extra Credit" with your other group names. Note that these groups should align to what is outlined in your syllabus if applicable.
• Click and hold the  two columns of dots  in front of each assignment. Then drag each assignment into the appropriate group.

Add an Extra Credit Assignment to the Extra Credit Group

Add weights.

• Click the  three-dot menu  beside the +Group and +Assignment buttons.
• Select  Assignment Groups Weight .
• Check the box  in front of "Weight final grade based on assignment groups."

Related Resources

• Add extra points to an existing assignment
• Add fudge points to a quiz
• Create extra credit within a rubric
• Add extra points using a rubric in SpeedGrader

Search Utah State University:

Create an extra credit assignment.

Extra credit is currently not a default option in Canvas. However, you can give students extra credit using a variety of options. Below we will discuss how to create an Extra Credit assignment by giving them a point value of 0. We will also discuss how to create extra credit assignments through Assignment Groups. There will be an additional list of resources at the bottom of this page that will explain more methods on how to award your students extra credit.

Each method has its limitations, so it's important that you determine which method works best according to your needs.

On This Page

Zero Point Value

Assignment groups, additional resources.

This method involves creating an assignment that has a point value of 0. Then, once the assignment has been completed by your students, going in and manually changing the grade accordingly. If you have weighted assignment groups, this will give extra credit to whichever group the assignment is located.

Create an assignment

Give the assignment a Point Value of 0

Complete the rest of the necessary information

This method doesn't have any restrictions on which submission type you choose. If you have weighted assignment groups, select which group you would like to place your assignment in.

Have your students complete the assignment

Manually give your students points in the gradebook

You do this by simply going to the gradebook, locating the column that contains your extra credit assignment and adjusting their scores accordingly.

You can award your students extra credit by creating an assignment group and assigning it a designated weight. You do this by making your extra credit assignment group exceed the 100% total sum and placing your assignments within that group. 

If you place multiple assignments within an extra credit group, it's important to note that the grades of all of those assignments will get aggregated together. To avoid this, you can create multiple assignment groups with one assignment placed in each. 

When using this method, it is recommended that you make each of the extra credit assignments worth 0 points until the end of the semester. This Instructure forum page best explains why.

Below is how Canvas calculates the weights in assignment groups.

Standard Grading Approach: (Points Earned / Total Points Possible) = Total Score (as percentage) Weighted Grading Approach: Where En = Points earned in assignment group n, Pn  = Total points possible in assignment group n, Wn ­= Weighting for assignment group n, as decimal (e.g. wn = 25% = .25) (( E1 / P1 ) * 100)W1 + ((E2 / P2 ) * 100)W2 + … + ((En / Pn) * 100)Wn = Total Percentage 

Grading With Assignment Groups

Create an assignment group

Enter a Group Name and a desired % of the total grade , then click  Save

Create a new assignment

If you already have the extra credit assignment created, move it into the new group.

Give the assignment a Point Value of 0 until you near the end of the semester

You may want to notify your students that they won't be able to see the effects of the extra credit until the end of the semester. Again, this Instructure forum page explains why (under the Note: ).

Edit the Point Values accordingly at the end of the semester

• 5 Keys to Grading
• Extra Credit for Individual Quiz Questions
• Instructure Community - How do I give extra credit in a course?

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How Do I Create an Extra Credit Assignment in a Weighted Gradebook?

Canvas has no native extra credit delimitation, but there are workarounds for instructors who choose to provide extra assignments instead of allowing students to simply repeat the assignment they missed.

Extra credit doesn’t appear to work properly unless there are graded items in each assignment group in the course. In fact, if a student does poorly on the extra credit assignment, it will actually appear to lower their grade, but technically it doesn't—this is explained in more detail below. Extra credit makes the total add up to more than 100%, so the weighted total for all assignment groups would add up to 103%, for example. This allows students to complete 100% of the course material, and then an extra 3% if needed or desired. This also means you may see some ambitious students in your gradebook with 102.41%, but such a grade is as much of an A as a 93%.

The issue that students have happens when “extra credit” points are being added before each assignment group has a grade in it. So if the student gets a bad grade on the extra credit assignment, it makes it appear as if their grade is going down. If every assignment group has a graded item in it, and then the extra credit points are given, even if it is a 1/10, it will always raise the grade.

The other issue happens when there are multiple extra credit assignments in a group; for example, a student gets a 10/10 on the first one, but a 5/10 on the second one. This also makes it seem like their grade is dropping. If they do poorly in an extra credit assignment, their total grade will  drop by 2% or so until everything else in the gradebook is graded (usually at the end of the semester). With only the first assignment counting towards the extra credit weight, they had a 100% in that group. But getting a 5/10 on the second gives them a total of 15/20, which is a 75% of the extra credit total.

This whole situation can scare students into believing that by doing extra credit work, that it is permanently lowering their grade. These students may also lose confidence in you as a competent teacher. To avoid such theatrics, there is a way to "hide" these grade changes.

# Our Recommendation

Our recommendation is to put all extra credit assignments in a single assignment group, with all the proper point values on the assignments individually, and until every other assignment group that contributes to the 100% of the grade total has a graded item in it, leave the extra credit assignment group worth 0% .

The student can do the extra credit assignments any time, but won’t see any effect on their grade while the group is worth 0%. Once everything else in the gradebook is graded , the instructor can change the weight of the extra credit assignment group, and the students will only see a positive grade change (if they actually completed it).  This would typically happen at the end of the semester or block.  

You can also create a separate assignment group for each extra credit assignment and make the total percent of that group equal to how much the assignment is worth. (Remember, the percent for each group should be set to 0% until all other assignment groups have a graded item in them.)

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Assigning Extra Credit in Canvas

There may be times when you’d like to offer extra credit to your students. While there is no explicit “extra credit” option available in Canvas, this How-To outlines a few options for giving extra credit points.

The three options here will serve a majority of need cases. If you have a more complex extra credit need (for example in classes with both undergraduate and graduate students or on quizzes) please contact Canvas Support as outlined below.

Option 1: Adding Points to an Existing Assignment

When giving points to students on graded assignments in the Gradebook, you can add the extra credit points directly to their score.

Locate the assignment in the Gradebook, click on the score area for the student you want to give extra credit to and update the score points.

In the example at right, the student has been awarded 2 extra credit points for a final score of 7 out of 5.

NOTE: this option will not work for assigning extra credit on Quizzes. Please contact Canvas Support for assistance with extra credit on quizzes.

Option 2: Create an Extra Credit Assignment

This option works well if you are using a point structure and not using  weighted grades.

• Create an assignment called “Extra Credit” [1]
• Assign a point value of Zero [2]
• Make the submission type No submission [3]
• You do not need to set a Due or Until date

At the end of the term, manually assign points to students for this "assignment" in the Gradebook.

Option 3: Weighted Assignment Group

This option works best in courses that are using a weighted Gradebook. Create an Assignment Group named "Extra Credit."

Assign the weight for this group making sure that the overall grade percentage goes over 100%.

For further assistance, UO Online & Canvas Support is available.

• In-Person: Room 68 PLC  
• By phone: (541) 346-1942  
• By email:  [email protected]   
• Submit a  Service Portal Ticket  ( opens in a new tab ). This form can also be accessed in Canvas from the  Help  button at the bottom of the  Global Navigation Menu .