Extra Credit in Ultra Course View

Owned by Ashiespal Bharara (Deactivated)
Last updated: Nov 08, 2024 by Jordan Vinikoor
6 min read

This page is for instructors who would like to add extra credit to their Gradebook in their Ultra course.

For Original Course View, refer to: Adding Extra Credit in HuskyCT

Overview

In Ultra, Extra credit can be calculated together with an assessment and it can be applied to the Overall Grade.

  • Extra credit can be added to a graded assessment (A), by creating an extra credit column (B), and creating a Calculation column (C) which sums the earned points from A + B.

  • Extra credit can be applied to the Overall Grade, however, the method to do so depends on the Overall Grade calculation type:

    • Points

    • Weighted

  • In all cases an extra credit column must be created.

  • In all cases the extra credit column must be “Posted.”

 

  • An extra credit column is most often created as a “Gradebook item” with 0 maximum points.

    • Once created, the extra credit points earned by a student would be manually input into the gradebook column.

  • An extra credit column can also be created via an extra credit assessment with 0 maximum points (i.e., as an assignment, or a discussion).

    • In this case, students would submit something and the instructor would grade the assessment, assigning EC points to the submission.

Instructions:

  1. From your Ultra course, click on the Gradebook tab.

  2. From the Grades tab, hover your cursor between 2 columns and click the that appears.

    Column.png

  3. Select Add Item to create a column where extra credit points can be input.

  4. Provide a name for the column.

    123123.png

  5. To remove the due date, click on the date field, highlight the date, then hit delete on your keyboard.

  6. Set ‘Grade using’ to Points.

  7. Assign the maximum points to “0”. This allows any points entered to be additive.

  8. Under Grade category, choose the category you would like the extra credit to be included in.

  9. Click Save when finished.

  10. Once the EC column has been created, instructors can input extra credit points into the column by clicking on the cell for any student and inputting the number of extra credit points earned.

🚨 Please note that the Extra Credit column grades must be posted for students to see the points earned.

 

Once the EC column has been created, a Calculation column can be used to add the EC column to the graded assessment (ie, a Test).

  1. From your Ultra course, click on the Gradebook tab.

  2. From the Grades tab, hover your cursor between 2 columns and click the that appears.

  3. Click Add Calculation.

  4. Start by inputting a name for the Calculation.

  5. Select a grade schema to set how this calculation will display the grade.

  6. From the Functions and Variables area, click Total.

  7. Once the Total function has been added to the calculation canvas, click Total to access the course assessment list.

  8. From the drop-down list, under the Coursework heading, locate and check the boxes for the assessment and the extra credit column.

  9. Then click the Save button.

  10. You now will have a column that adds the Extra credit together with the graded assessment.

  11. This calculation column should be included in the Overall Grade calculation, while excluding the graded assessment (to avoid students receiving credit twice).

🚨🚨Important note: if the Extra Credit column is not “Posted”, students will not see the extra points earned included in the combined calculation.

  • Instructor view:

  • Student view:

     

If your Overall Grade uses a Points calculation, the Extra credit will automatically be included in the calculation via the assigned category.

The image below shows an Overall grade calculation with the Assignment category assessments totaling up to 200 overall points. The extra credit points earned by students will be included, however since the extra credit column has a max points of “0”, it does not affect the overall points.

 

🚨🚨Important note: if the Extra Credit column is not “Posted”, the Overall grade students see will not reflect the extra credit points they’ve earned.

  • Instructor view:

     

  • Student view:

Overview

  • Including extra credit into a Weighted Overall grade is more complicated because the the weighted calculation is performed using percentages rather by tabulating points earned.

    • As such, an extra credit column that is included in a Category, will have weight of 0% because it has “0” maximum points. Therefore, it cannot be directly included in the weighted calculation.

  • To include extra credit, the extra credit column needs to be included in a Total Points calculation. That calculation would then receive the weighted percentage in the Overall grade.

    • Using the image above as an example:

      • Assigning the Assignment category 40% won’t work since that excludes the extra credit (0% weight)

      • Instead 40% would be assigned to the Calculation which Total the category assessments, including the extra credit.

Instructions:

  1. First, determine which category or assessment the extra credit will be combined with. Change the extra credit column category if needed.

  2. From the Gradebook, hover your cursor between two columns and click the “+” sign that appears. Then click Add Total Calculation.

  3. From the Points Calculation screen, deselect the other categories by clicking on the “∅” null symbol. A purple “∅” indicates it has been removed from the calculation.

  4. Only the category containing the extra credit should be part of the calculation. Confirm by checking the total points at the bottom of the page.

  5. Once you are finished, click Save.

  6. This will create a new Calculation column which includes the extra credit.

  7. Return to the Overall Grade calculation page.

  8. At the bottom of the list, locate the Calculations tab. Click the tab to see the Total calculation column.

  9. Click the “unlink” icon next to the previously created Total column.

  10. The calculation column will pop out and can now be assigned the percentage that the category (including the extra credit) should receive.

  11. Then be sure to scroll back up to the category area and null that percentage so that the category is included in the weighted calculation twice.

 

For more information or assistance with HuskyCT, please contact the Educational Technology Office at edtech@uconn.edu or (860) 486-5052 (M-F 9am-4pm).