Barry Westling

Stephen, It's an institutional policy, which many institutions are finding (for legal reasons I suspect) they cannot approve as they are required to show objective measurement of student learning in required topics. EC can be subjective, rules for grading arbitrary, not available to all students, risk of claims of "unfair", and the premise that submission of graded work that is not required is substituted for graded work that is required doesen't sit well with most teachers. I like to foster independent activity, but I give peer recognition as the reward, not points that count towards a grade. EC is about… >>>

Stephen, I enourage students to demonstrate the above and beyond attitude, with non-required projects, papers, or activities, but I don't award them credit that counts tiowards their grade, but I do reward them them with something as valuable: peer recognition. When students are singled out for ememplary effort, that makes the student feel recognized and appreciated, the class benefits by whatever the content of their work is, and other students learn that they may want that same kind of recognition. But I do not give EC points that will contribute to their grade because there are being graded on esssential… >>>