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FEATURE: HOMEWORK


not enjoy or perform in as well as other pupils, and this often carries over to the way they consider their homework. This can lead to them feeling uninterested in their work or reluctant to keep practising their newly acquired skills. To address this, a lot of edtech companies have tried to bring fun into their approach to learning so that children can start viewing their work as something playful and develop a positive attitude towards learning. Choosing a platform that gamifies learning is a great way to keep pupils engaged even when they’re at home as it gives them an incentive to keep logging on to digital apps and turns homework from a chore into a fun activity.


Make it easy for parents and teachers Parents are some of the busiest people out there, there’s no denying that. Tech tools can be a great way to save them time, but sometimes the set-up is so time-consuming that it becomes a deterrent, resulting in some parents who may be less likely to ensure their child keeps practising their skills outside of school. To avoid this, look for apps that require


minimal effort to set up and use at home, both for yourself and for parents. Ideally, you’ll want a platform that is as easy to download and use on a laptop as it is on a tablet or mobile phone. Make sure you also communicate the importance of online practice with your pupils’ parents. Helping them realise the value of learning through games and apps, especially as opposed to spending hours on YouTube, social media or aggressive video games, will help make sure they see how easy it is to make their child’s online time more valuable.


Make it little and often Studies have found that frequency of learning is much more impactful than amount. This whole concept even has a name: spaced repetition. According to psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, 90 percent of information or knowledge learned will be forgotten within three days. The trick is to revisit skills and knowledge regularly to make the forgetting curve longer. For your pupils, this translates into regular short


bursts of practice that ideally become part of their routine rather than big homework assignments. Ideally, this would be one of their regular pieces of homework so it becomes part of their routine, which in itself is easier to memorise. A study we ran confirmed this: a simple 30-minute practice session per week on Sumdog can almost double a child’s fluency progress.


Something for everyone We all learn differently, whether that’s in terms of pace, method or how quickly we can take on new information. And it’s the same for children, so it’s no surprise that we often see them respond differently to new knowledge — some will be quick to adapt to it while others will need more


April 2022


time to grasp new tasks and skills. This is why it’s essential to consider their learning preferences when setting them work and personalised- practice platforms are perfect for that. They’re designed to adapt to the pupils' levels, which is key to ensuring their learning journey is right whatever their ability. They also remove the burden from your shoulders — you no longer have to come up with differentiation based on each child’s level — and are reassuring for parents, as they no longer have to worry about helping their children if they get stuck or having to play the role of the teacher at home.


Address the digital divide The pandemic has highlighted many inequalities amongst school children, and one of them is digital exclusion. A Cambridge study found that only 51% of households earning between £6000- 10,000 had home internet access compared with 99% of households with an income of over £40,001. During lockdowns and school closures, children without access to the internet were struggling to remain connected to their peers and access work set digitally by their teachers. But now that restrictions have ended, a whole new world of opportunities has opened up for pupils outside of schools. While some children might still not have access to computers, tablets or wifi at home, libraries and community centres have reopened and can be utilised to make digital learning into something to get excited about. Encourage parents to take their children out to computer labs, making learning online into a fun day out and building up excitement around getting to play with digital apps. You can also remind them that there are many ways in which that excitement can be brought back home, regardless of what technology they have access to. As a teacher, you can either encourage your pupils to find free downloadable times tables practice cards or recommend some yourself for them to print out and learn with at home, so not all practice is on screen.


Turn learning into a game A lot of children associate in-school learning with strict practice, especially for subjects they might


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Incentivise their progress Rewards are always a great way to motivate children. When in school, it’s easy to reward them with extra access to the activities or with physical gifts like stickers and treats. But how do you keep that up when your pupils are at home? A good way to keep incentives going is to encourage parents to share their children’s progress or feedback through social media so the school can share it on their own accounts. You can also create certificates to give to children who complete certain tasks at home so they see a reason to keep up their good work after school. Whatever you decide to put in place, it’s key to


ensure that you take into account what tech devices pupils have available at home and keep your pupils’ levels in mind when assigning work. While some of them might benefit from parental support with their homework, others might not and setting work that allows them to work at their own pace, such as adaptive learning platforms, and with as little support as needed is a great way to ensure attainment gaps don’t broaden and learning remains fun!


uwww.gandceducation.co.uk uwww.sumdog.com


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