Parents what do you think to online homework

[Ladybug85789]

We received a letter from school advising of the dangers of too much screen time, and to not watch screens before bed as can affect sleep. Do any parents feel as torn as I do, my children watch tv, iPads etc but then when I turn it off and say time for homework it’s all online. This makes me feel like we can’t get a break from the screen I know it is new technology and everything is online. Thoughts

I dont do online homework with our primary aged DS. I have explained to the school i dont think its necessary so he wont be doing it.
He reads a physical book and he does maths on paper. I show evidence of this, they are fine with it.

I agree with you OP.

But on the other hand I do actually think my son only does it because he loves his screen time. If he had to get a text book out and write the answers and take them in, I actually don't think he'd bother.

In the US they have moved to fully screen homework and class work and kids struggle to hold a pen. I have nephews in grade 1-8 and the eldest kids can barely write a note, their handwriting is slow and very basic.
the primary schools I know of in London (my kids and friends’) are using a mix of handwriting and on line. Mainly handwriting a school and homework are split between the two. In my kid school on line homework is just on prep for secondary school tests as some schools do it on line.
We need to be really careful with moving on-line as we do not know how it affects knowledge and the brain. Learning to work on a compute is fundamental nowadays, the effectiveness of learning on a computer we do not yet know.
even multiple response test dumbs kids down as they can just guess and the working out is considered not important. A serious school should ask for the working out and score based on it.
as per screen time, OT needs to cut in internet, TV etc that is not educational. Kids can play or read books they do not need daily screen streaming.

I would strongly urge those parents asking for the homework on paper if that is not how it is being set, to consider the implications of that. You are making additional work for already overloaded staff who are leaving in their droves. Online homework is efficient in terms of marking. It does take time to set but it also provides very clear and easy to access assessment data. You are doubling workload for this teacher by asking for something separate as then they have to spend time sourcing the extra tasks, copying it and then marking it. If you don't want to do it- fine- but do what the previous poster does of buying a suitable alternate book yourself. Personally, I don't think there should be homework at Primary level anymore given how overloaded and hard the curriculum is. Children are exhausted when they get home and school is so full on now. Reading should be the focus.

Depends on age and purpose.

Maths homework at Secondary... its great. Instant feedback on whether its right, link to explanations... its very effective.

At Primary, TT rocks tars and spelling practice it was also good.

Reading books online... its only an advantage to the school because its cheaper. Like it or not... the children get access to more books that way, schools can't afford to keep replacing reading books.

DD1 was also moved to a lot of computer based work in Yr6 as part of her SATs access arrangements (she got a scribe in the exam, but used to dictate to the computer for classwork). It was fantastic for her, as her written ability didn't natch her actual ability. And now her written work has caught up a lit at Secondary, she doesn't need that.

Short answer... not all tech is bad.

I hate it. I just don't think it helps to remember things in the same way.

I did an OU maths module which was all online and I hated it so much I printed out the entire thing, which was hundreds of pages.

Yes, good point. There are research studies that support that too.

I'm a teacher and a parent and no, Idon't think it's a problem if it'shandle well. Online school work is useful and efficient. My rules would be no underage use of social media, no devices in rooms at night, and with younger kids, ideally doing their online homework with a bit of supervision, not in their rooms where they can get distracted. Also, making sure they do plenty of stuff in their free time that's not screen-based.

Apparently not (schools have been provided with Co2 monitors but no one seems to be actually reporting readings or taking action if levels are too high).

The action is taken by the individual teacher, by opening the window! How else would you monitor and report it or take action? Levels rise and fall all day every day in every classroom in every school in the country.

Teachers have to make time to produce paper copies as not all children will have access to a computer. Doing homework on a phone should never be the norm - dreadful for your eyesight.

Teachers have to make time to produce paper copies as not all children will have access to a computer. Doing homework on a phone should never be the norm - dreadful for your eyesight*

No they don't- because those children (and it is very rare- even in the most poverty stricken schools) are given the opportunity to access devices at school instead. All children have access to some form of device now. Those who don't ware supported by schools and devices sourced where possible.

Last school year, I told the teacher that I didn't want DS1's homework online anymore as my old laptop was lagging on the site and I couldn't afford to replace it. Another parent told her that their laptop was costing too much on the electric. Our kids were provided with homework books immediately, and I saw other kids with books as well.

We have a mix, but all written homework has to be written out, a photo taken and then uploaded to Google classroom. I would rather just send the piece of paper it was written on back to school.

The thing I hate is Numbots and TT Rockstars. My daughter has "dyslexic tendancies" (still too young for a assessment) and she struggles so much with the timer on these "games". It takes her longer to read the question than other children, and by the time she has (and got the right answer as she is amazing at maths) the timer is out so she can never progress to the next levels. Just gets the same level over and over again. We have now given up with this homework and I have told the school why. I class this as a reasonable adjustment and we do other maths and times table games at home instead in an analogue way with no timers.

I am a primary teacher in p7 (yr6 equivalent i think) and I dont set homework for various reasons.

1. the kids who would benefit from completing homework dont do it anyway.

2. children often go to childcare after school, have activity clubs after school etc. I dont want to add to their work load or take away their down time.

3. parents simply dont like it. If its on paper, it getd ripped/wet/lost, if its online they don't like it, if its traditional academics its too hard for them to help, if its creative like making a volcano they dont have the materials etc. Parents have enough stress without it!

4. its just adding to my workload when my time would be better spent elsewhere, on things which will actually benefit my class.

I try to encourage them to read at home and love to hear about it, about their novels, comics, even the sports pages. Unless they are lower school where they need a reading book/phonics book and writing practice, homework is just a stress for all concerned.

Schools don’t have budgets to source laptops (former school governor) and although the majority of families have a mobile phone - it shouldn’t be used for homework. If children have to do homework on a school device they are missing out on break times. They shouldn’t be discriminated in this way. Schools do provide paper copies if requested. As a reminder homework in primary is optional.

It's ridiculous, and lazy teaching. They don't need to set homework online but it's already made for them. No effort.

For my child from year 8 onwards it definitely has been an advantage. It gets marked in real time and instant feedback which is essential in GCSE years. I admit it's not essential in primary school.

It's ridiculous, and lazy teaching. They don't need to set homework online but it's already made for them. No effort.

What an idiotic remark. I'm sitting here on a Sunday slogging through marking 180 mock exam papers. I'd better stop and create some on-paper homework for all my classes this week instead, eh? No matter that the online homework gives them just as good practice and allows me more time to plan interesting lessons for my 11 classes of nearly 300 students, and do my marking, or that some of the online homework I set is created by me, I'll set paper homework anyway, just in case anyone might think I'm lazy. You are either a troll or just completely clueless.

I mean... teachers are leaving the profession in their thousands because the conditions and workload are unmanageable. But I know - let's tell them that doing the few perfectly educationally valid things which reduce their workload a bit is lazy. That'll help the recruitment and retention crisis!

I make a distinction between using a device to complete a particular task, and mindless scrolling. The latter is the one that can be much more harmful in my opinion.

I would rather my kids sat down and used a family laptop to complete homework than doing it on a phone ideally.

I think it depends on the subject.

I think it depends on the subject.

I think there are probably good online homework tasks for all subjects (except maybe PE - and even then I expect it'sfine for GCSE PE). Obviously that doesn't mean that all homeworks for all subjects should always be online.