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Teaching and homework effectiveness
Student learning improves when homework serves a clear purpose and is matched to
both the skills of each individual student and to the current topics being
taught in class. Feedback improves the effectiveness of homework, especially
when given in a timely manner (within 24 hours). Effective feedback improves
student learning by correcting misunderstanding, validating process, and
highlighting errors in thinking. Embedded comments provide much better feedback
than a mere grade at the top of the paper. Homework must be concentrated to be
effective: mastering takes days or weeks of practice. Fifty-percent mastery may
be achieved after 4 practice sessions, but it takes 28 practice sessions to
achieve approximately the eighty-percent mastery level.
Another way teachers can be more effective is by alerting parents to their
students' homework, giving parents a chance to become familiar with the material
and their child's progress. This also encourages parents to become involved in
the homework process. Messages tend to get lost in transit or even altered when
using "pupil post" (passing verbal messages or written notes back and forth
using the student as courier), and therefore direct communication is much more
effective and prevents frustration all around. Methods available for directly
reporting homework assignments (to both students and their parents) include the
phone, email, and centralized web-pages.
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