Revision as of 12:12, 6 May 2012 by Rhea (Talk | contribs)


Bonus Point Projects for your students: why do it? How to do it?

Click here for a list of all Bonus Point Projects featured in Rhea.


Are you looking for a way to challenge your students into going beyond the class material? Is your department interested in "scouting" for new talent? Are you looking for an easy way to allow students to make up for missed work? Then consider adding a table of bonus point projects to your course wiki on Rhea.



Why should I offer bonus point opportunity to my students?

Bonus points opportunities are a great way to

  • encourage students to go beyond the material presented in class
  • help the students to learn better: after all, there is no better to learn something than to teach it!
  • help students practice their communication skills
  • give an opportunity for students to build their e-portfolio
  • etc.

By reading the various projects created as part of these bonus point opportunities, instructors can

  • Get an idea of how students think: what they understand well, what they struggle with, their misconceptions, etc.
  • Find quality material that they can share with future students
  • Learn what is happening in other classes around campus
  • Scout for hiddden talents among their students.
  • etc.

I am convinced. Now what should do I do?

  1. Decide up to how many points you are willing to award for a bonus point project, and put this information on your course syllabus.
  2. Create a class wiki page for your class. (Login with your career account and then click on the "create a new course page" link on the left-hand side of the screen.)
  3. On your class wiki, put a section titled "Bonus Point Opportunity". In that section, put a table of proposed topics, names, and deadlines. Here is one such table from a course on linear algebra:
Topic Number Topic Description Student Name Deadline
1 Matrix Multiplication and coordinate systems Your Name Here At Final
2 The inverse of a matrix Your Name Here At Final
3 The determinant Your Name Here At Final
4 Linear dependence Your Name Here At Final
The syntax for the above table is the following:
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
 |-
 ! Topic Number 
 ! Topic Description 
! Student Name 
! Deadline
|-
| 1 
| [[Matrix multiplication MA265S12Walther|Matrix Multiplication and coordinate systems]] 
| Your Name Here 
| At Final
|-
| 2 
| [[Inverse MA265S12Walther|The inverse of a matrix]] 
| Your Name Here 
| At Final
|-
| 3 
| [[Vector spaces MA265S12Walther|The determinant]] 
| Your Name Here 
| At Final
|-
| 4 
| [[Dependence MA265S12Walther|Linear dependence]] 
| Your Name Here 
| At Final
|}

Where can I see some examples?

The following course wikis feature a bonus point opportunity.

Click here for a list of all Bonus Point Projects featured in Rhea.


Alumni Liaison

Abstract algebra continues the conceptual developments of linear algebra, on an even grander scale.

Dr. Paul Garrett