A presentation to EduIgniteRotovegas on April 9 2014. The presentation focuses on changing the approach to homework which can be a bit 'hit and miss' to developing a Prep for Learning, (Preparation for Learning) focus to engage students to be involved in their learning inside and outside of the classroom. The aim is to focus their thinking as part of the everyday learning and teaching process.

1. I DON’T GIVE
HOMEWORK ANYMORE
Justine Hughes
The Innovative E
The eLearning Buzz
@cossie29
justine.hughes29@gmail.com
The Innovative E - Everything eLearning in Education

2. ❏ Learner
❏ Teacher
❏ Lead / lone ‘nut’
❏ Blended eLearning
❏ consultant
❏ Literacy Leader
❏ Masters’ student
- final paper!

3. How many excuses
have you heard /
received for
homework not being
completed?
What’s the
best one??

4. Why Do We Give Homework?
Take a moment and think about this…

5. You may be thinking some of these...
❏ It reinforces what we do in learning at
school.
❏ It is good practise and practice.
❏ Parents / caregivers want it.
A couple of links that support homework:
Why homework is important
Purpose of Homework
What are your thoughts?

6. HOMEWORK ‘TYPES’
❏ Single sheet with lots of different ‘activities’
on it. Everyone gets one of these.
❏ Projects.
❏ Homework that makes an attempt at an
individualised programme of learning.

7. What I Used To Do...
❏ Activities to support in-class learning;
differentiated to a certain extent.
❏ Reading, spelling.
❏ Maths - not differentiated as well as it could
be.
❏ Activities linked to our current Inquiry.

8. Sometimes I think it was received like this (no matter how great I thought
it was...
It did link to classroom
learning...
...but it wasn’t engaging,
stimulating, or motivating.

9. Why was it important to change?
❏ Students were completing it out of compliance rather
than being intrinsically motivated to learn.
❏ It wasn’t individualised or challenging enough.
❏ I was struggling with spending all of my Saturdays
providing written feedback on every little aspect.

10. ❏ Student feedback to me showed there wasn’t the
learning happening that I thought there was.
❏ I wanted to challenge their thinking and encourage them
to take responsibility for their learning.
❏ I knew I could do better for my students and for myself.
❏ It wasn’t matching with my beliefs about how students
learn best but it fitted in with school-wide policy at the
time.

11. Looking At Alternatives
I’ve always used digital tools to support and enhance the learning for my
students so I thought I’d start there.
I began with the students’ individual learning needs. The in-class programme
was very focused on being individualised and I realised that the home part
of the programme was not matching as it should.
I challenged what ‘it has always been done like this so it works’ thinking
because it clearly wasn’t working. I wanted passion for learning not
compliance for doing.

12. ❏ Developing a consistency between the classroom and
home - flattening the walls and flipping the classroom
and valuing anytime, anywhere learning - 2-way
process.
❏ Challenging current school thinking on homework using
evidence and student voice.

13. Talking To The Students...
❏ Using student voice to make a change.
❏ Completing PMIs etc about what they liked about in-
class learning - and current homework.
❏ Asking them about how it could be improved or done
differently.

14. Researching The Options...
❏ Flipped Classroom.
❏ Personalised Learning.
❏ Developing a blended eLearning culture of
anywhere, anytime learning.

15. ❏ Changing thinking about where and how
teaching and learning happens - changing it
for teachers, students, parents, BOT.

16. I Don’t Give Homework Anymore.
Homework - What's the Alternative?
Alternatives to homework – a Chart for
Teachers

17. I Do Give Prep. for Learning.
What’s that??
It’s about…
❏ Connections
❏ Interactions
❏ Questioning
❏ Creating and sharing knowledge
❏ Passion for learning
❏ Critical Thinking

18. ❏ Planning ahead - what learning is coming up or what skills do my students
need?
❏ What questions can I ask to engage them deeply in the learning?
❏ What platform am I going to use? (I use blogs and links to Google Docs).
❏ How is the discussion and sharing of learning going to happen - online,
face-to-face, Blended?
(Reading is still a focus - in fact they do so much more than previously. We use Literature Circles
as one part of this along with instructional reading. Other basics, e.g. maths, spelling are covered
through online activities. Students write constantly - recording thinking, blogging, sharing learning
with ePals, commenting and questioning in online discussion, etc.).

19. It’s real and relevant connections…
...to each other…
...locally and globally.

20. Ok, but does it work?
❏ Student engagement on the class learning blogs was high.
❏ Participation in class learning / discussions showed evidence of thinking and research.
❏ Participation also increased - high expectations of being prepared to collaborate and contribute.
❏ Feedback from students and parents very positive.
❏ Students reading more from a wider range of texts, writing more.
If you’d like to find out more, please contact me at any of the links on
slide 1.