Tech Alternatives to Traditional Homework

By Ryan Crawley

Most teachers tend to give homework to their students like their life depended on it. Students slipping out of the classroom at the end of the day without homework just is not allowed. Why do teachers do this? Why do they overload their students with busy work disguised as essential homework? It’s because this has always been done in education. It’s because some educators look at other teachers that give very little homework as not doing their job. It’s because educators encouraging students to think outside the box is viewed as excellent teaching, but a teacher going against the norm is frowned upon.

I’ll admit it. I am an educator, and I do not assign much homework. (I’ll wait patiently until the booing ends from other teachers.) I only assign it when it is essential for students that are failing to grasp certain concepts. I grade way too many papers already, so why would I want to grade more? I also hand them certain books they must read for independent reading time at home. The homework standard endorsed by the National Education Association and the National Parent-Teacher Association is the so-called "10-minute rule". (Much different than the ten-second rule that is common when food falls on the floor.)

They say the appropriate amount is ten minutes per grade level per night. This means 10 minutes of homework for first-grade students, 20 minutes for the second grade, and all the way up to 120 minutes per night for seniors in high school. The NEA and the National PTA does not recommend homework for kindergarten. My belief is that more than an hour of homework a night, even for high school students, is a bit of an overkill. After all, Finland schools are some of the very best in the world, and they have little if any homework every night.

There are alternatives to assigning the regular homework every night. In doing so, it will stress out the students and their parents much less. Teachers give students worksheets for homework almost every night. Students are used to this. This is why they groan when they get these sort of homework assignments. It is time to change it all up! Let’s look at alternatives to traditional homework using only technology.

Email Homework
Every teacher has a school email address. We have them for communication purposes. So let’s have the students email us as their alternative homework. If the students don’t have an email address, their parents sure do. Ask them to send a link to a website that goes along with what was discussed in class. This alternative to homework can be used for any subject area. Then you can carry it over, and the students can present their website to the class the next day.

Google Docs
In case you have not jumped on the EdTech bandwagon, Google Docs is a free Web-based application in which documents, presentations, and spreadsheets can be created, edited, and stored automatically online. Files can be accessed from any computer in the world with an Internet connection. They can be shared quickly with anyone as well.

How simple would it be to ask students to create a presentation using Google Docs on what they learned in certain chapters in any content area? This could be their entire homework for the week. No need to overload them. Then on Friday, all the students can display their presentations.

Google Docs could be used for all homework assignments. There would be no need to hand out worksheets for homework any longer. Save all those millions and millions of trees from being cut down and used as paper just for your homework assignments! The environment will thank you!

Use Websites for Homework
Ask students to spend ten minutes a night on certain websites like Spelling City for spelling words or Grammar Gorilla for parts of speech. Homework is supposed to be used to strengthen skills. If a student does not do well on the quiz at the end of the week in these subject areas after you asked them to spend time at home on these sites, it will be pretty obvious they did not follow your directions. However, they are only hurting themselves! Talk to them one-on-one after the poor quiz performance and lay on the teacher guilt trip.

Tech Math Homework
I know some teachers are reading this right now and saying all of these ideas are great, but math homework has to be completed through math worksheets. I say, “Welcome to the Internet!” There are numerous free sites that students can visit to practice all the different math concepts. Funbrain is a perfect one for younger learners. Math Blaster incorporates video games along with learning math. Hooda Math is another great one that uses games to learn math skills. There are literally hundreds of sites that can be used to practice mathematics. Put those worksheets that you accumulated throughout the years in the back of the room for students that are just sitting there doing nothing in class. That way they still have a purpose!

Ryan Crawley is a writer/educator from Illinois. Born into a family of eleven, he spent most of his childhood watching old reruns of Three's Company and Happy Days. He has his Masters in Reading and Literacy, and is a certified Reading Specialist. He spends his free time writing, working out, and hanging with his two dogs Flair and Smoosh Face.