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 points and grades, and less to do with student learning. Barry Westling