Sometimes I think the collective "we" bring some of the problems on
ourselves. In my opinion, I have WAY too many of my colleagues giving
students "chances" for "extra credit" (whatever that means). The entire
"student culture" seems to revolve around "extra credit". Many of my
poorer students will actually work harder on extra credit assignments
than on the "real" work in the course.
A couple year's ago, I conducted a very involved 7-day diary-type
ingestive behaviors survey of adults. I offered for students' names to
be placed in a drawing for a $250 bookstore credit if they agreed to
deliver a packet to their parents (with subsequent return of the
completed survey). I limited the survey number to 300. I was amazed
that barely any students took me up on this offer for a chance at $250.
One of my colleagues asked if it would be okay for her to offer "extra
credit" in her course for return of the survey. BTW, the points she was
offering were almost inconsequential to the students' grades. MANY
students took advantage of that offer... but not the chance to win the
bookstore credit.
========================================================
Steven M. Specht, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Utica College
Utica, NY 13502
(315) 792-3171
"Mice may be called large or small, and so may elephants, and it is
quite understandable when someone says it was a large mouse that ran up
the trunk of a small elephant" (S. S. Stevens, 1958)
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