Personality and Cognitive Factors Related to Completing Extra Credit Assignments

• Main Authors: Charlsie Myers, Jennifer Hatchel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Georgia Southern University 2019-05-01
• Series: International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Subjects: extra credit; metacognition; academic self-efficacy; academic achievement
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/vol13/iss2/7

We explored the differences in course level, personality, and cognitive factors among students who did and did not do extra credit. A total of 276 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory or upper-level psychology and biology courses were surveyed following their final exams to determine levels of academic self-efficacy, metacognitive ability, and a variety of other demographic factors. We conducted a 2 (Extra Credit: Completed or Not Completed) x 2 (Course Level: Introductory or Upper-level) x 4 (Final Course Grade: “A”, “B”, “C”, or “D/F”) between-subjects MANOVA with academic self-efficacy and measures of metacognitive ability as dependent variables. Our results indicated that Academic self-efficacy and Regulation of Cognition metacognition scores differed based on these factors. The implications for how course-specific feedback and improved awareness of metacognition can improve student achievement related to our findings and future research directions are discussed.