Homework for a digital age: Using instructional technology to make homework more effective

Anna Wicking, Assistant Head (Professional Development) and Biology Teacher, The Manchester Grammar School, UK Issued to make remote education easier for both students and teachers, one-to-one devices have rapidly changed the nature and scope of the work set in many of the lessons and homework tasks assigned in our school. Homework (defined by the EEF (2021) as ‘tasks given to pupils by their teachers to be completed outside of usual lessons’) is recognised to be one of the most powerful tools that teachers can use to support learning (EEF, 2021). Educational research studies on the effectiveness of online versus traditional homework methods on students’ learning reveal mixed results; however, there is a growing body of evidence that, in many subject areas, online homework systems have more than or similar effectiveness to traditional homework in terms of improving learning, and offer significant organisational and time-saving benefits for teachers (Magalhães et al.). The in