Homework

I have changed the way I am giving homework. Before I would tell students what to do, and warn them to be careful about believing that my assignments would be enough to guarantee learning. We would talk about other things they would/could/should do outside of class to consolidate their learning.


So now, midway into the semester, I have stated that they will decide what/when/ and how they will study. I have created a GoogleDoc for each of them, and they will write a homework diary, stating what they did, how long it took, their score, and what questions they may still have.


The students have access to a wide range of materials that I have created for the course, which are on Pearltrees and on the course portfolio. they also have a textbook, a cd rom, and a workbook.  Deciding what to do should not be a problem.


About half of the students bother to do homework anyway, and I imagine the same people who do homework will write in this homework journal.  So I have decided not to worry about the students who don't bother.  Their test grades tell me they are not interested, and I can't study for them. 


My purpose for doing this is to shift responsibility from me to them, and start creating awareness in my students that they have to decide what, how much, how long.  I  believe they have received enough scaffolding to be able to make this transition.  More later...