Add an Extra Credit Grade Item to the Moodle Gradebook

This article discusses adding a grade item to the Moodle gradebook and marking it as extra credit. Use this method to ensure that extra credit points are calculated properly in your Moodle gradebook. 

Extra credit assignments can be added in two ways:

1. As an assignment activity (ex. a student makes a submission to the Moodle course in order to receive extra credit points). Read more about setting up Moodle assignments here. 
2. As a grade item (ex. a student does not need to physically submit anything to receive the extra credit points). Read more about setting up grade items here. 

To make an assignment count as extra credit, you will need to go to your Gradebook setup. Click the Grades tab on the top navigation bar, then select "Gradebook setup" from the dropdown menu.

Find the assignment you need to make extra credit (if the assignment doesn't exist yet, follow the instructions linked above to create the assignment). On the right of the assignment name, in the "Actions" column, click "Edit." Select "Edit settings."

On the assignment's settings page, change the maximum grade to reflect the value of the extra credit assignment. Additionally, check the "Extra credit" box under the Parent category section. Click "Save changes."

Back on the gradebook setup page, your extra credit assignment will display the new point value as well as a plus-minus sign. This plus-minus sign indicates that the assignment will count as extra credit within the category. Keep in mind that the extent to which an extra credit assignment counts towards the course total depends on the total points of the assignment, as well as the weight of the category relative to the course total. 

Extra credit works with all gradebook aggregation methods. However, extra credit items work best when they are placed in a category with regularly graded activities. If extra credit items are placed within their own category, they can falsely inflate a student's gradebook total. The image below shows how an extra credit item within its own category can influence a grade. As you can see, the 5-point extra credit assignment has inflated the student's grade to 300%. 

By moving the extra credit item into a category with other assignments, the grader report will correctly display the student's grade. 

Additionally, if the extra credit item is in a category with other items, but the other items do not yet have a grade, this can impact the value of the extra credit. The screenshot below displays what the course total is for the student with only the extra credit grade added to the grader report. To correct this, add grades to the other graded items within the category.