Hi Rhonda:
Your practice of giving some students EC is okay, but other students may feel the EC students got an extra advantage. Also, grading individual, independent assignments may be subjective. Of course, earning a higher grade than others that weren't given the same opportunity produces grade inflation, and skews your class percentages.
I work and teach in a medical profession. I can't award "A's and B's" to "C" level students. Or worse, give a "C" to "D or F" level students. That's the problem with grade inflation. I think there are other methods of helping students besides giving away… >>>
