our homework helper app 

our homework helper app

Effective Strategies for Supporting Students with Homework: A Comprehensive Guide

1. Introduction to Homework Assistance

The role of the teacher or tutor is to support students so they can complete assignments both at home or in the classroom. We have designed a comprehensive approach to help tutors, educators, and parents improve student performance and improve their study skills, and to also help teachers stay informed about where and how they can be most effective. Ultimately, the effectiveness of homework support is reflected in the prompt completion of accurate homework without the need for help. The strategies presented in this guide are designed to maximize the student’s motivation to ask for and receive help so they can be increasingly more independent. At the same time, tutors and teachers are responsible for monitoring the quality and quantity of homework, so students can improve their understanding and acquire new knowledge while taking responsibility for their work.

These strategies: a) seek to improve student organization and self-regulation; b) are designed to provide rapid assessment of student understanding of assignments; c) balance the frequency and nature of support with the timing and quality of instructor feedback; d) help avoid powerful negative reinforcement patterns by calling for better use of mandatory study time, teacher detention, and alternative consequence procedures, and parent involvement; e) use data collection to organize and prioritize support plans and determine response to intervention; f) encourage attention to homework by teachers, tutors, and parents to help students make the transition from needing assistance to becoming independent; and g) promote a task analysis of desired student performance and use that information to track progress and continually adjust instructional plans.

2. Understanding the Challenges Faced by Students

Students report several other major challenges that reduce their motivation for tackling home learning. A great deal of work has been done to determine the degree to which students feel adequately supported in their learning, and this has thrown up a series of common recurring concerns. Worryingly, they are not the only group to identify these stressors. Likewise, recent research in the United States carried out on parents reports a similar set of concerns which all seem to converge on larger social and economic issues.

The atmosphere and culture surrounding students completing homework in general seems to be very different depending on which country they are studying in, and in some, research into this area is perceived as having the potential to highlight issues of inequality. Talking to students and parents in the U.S. revealed widespread concerns including the damaging effects on family life, the negative impact on the student themselves, the excessive amount of homework, and the questionable quality of the tasks set. It is concerning how many students are scaling back their involvement in family and community activities because of their homework, and there are associations with doing many hours of homework and physical health complaints, especially stress, and a general lack of balance.

3. Research-Based Strategies for Effective Homework Help

As with other areas of study, the research on homework is only as good as the data. Of the three primary types of homework research (meta-analyses and syntheses, lists of best practices, and research that describes specific generated homework practices), meta-analyses are the least helpful because of extensive overlap and small effect sizes sample sizes. That is, most meta-analyses examine only 4-16 specific homework practices and each research study within each meta-analysis measures its effectiveness in gaming small sample sizes, typically fewer than 50 students. Syntheses, which is another type of research study, are slightly more helpful but are also limited because they screen out many studies that suffer from threat-related validity concerns to share potential confounds such as teacher bias, group differences and threats related to the specific type and amount of homework assigned. Although syntheses are helpful when evaluating whether a specific type of homework assignment strategy is effective, the bulk of the research in this volume, which includes a comprehensive list of validated effective homework practices, describes specific generated homework practices.

4. Utilizing Technology and Online Resources

The use of technology and online tools can be an effective strategy for supporting students with homework. In fact, research has consistently shown that the benefits of having meaningful access to technology – especially programming and high-quality, shame-free use – are vast. If students don’t have access at home, after-school programs and other programs can serve as an alternative, encouraging students to share logins and engage in positive ways of using technology that help them academically. For instance, technology provides students with access to necessary content that they might not otherwise be able to access; delivers more engaging content, which increases the likelihood that new information will be retained beyond the scope of the homework assignment; checks students’ understanding of a certain topic (e.g., study guides and games that ask students questions about a certain topic to gauge understanding); and teaches students important supplementary skills like typing and basic coding.

In order to help set up a beneficial and organized learning environment for students studying at home, a judicious use of technology plays a role in potentially democratizing homework for all families. If students have access to their own technology, there are multiple ways to help them manage their time, from basic online calendars to setting reminders and utilizing online planning tools that keep students organized without having to have their parents and caretakers do the work for them. Online data allows students to track completion of different pieces of the assignment as well as different skill levels, and online communication tools are beneficial for students who have questions that aren’t answered at school. Robotics and engineering kits and model instruction are tools that are particularly engaging and valuable, letting students’ hands-on academic work translate more easily into a clear goal. Even smaller investments in technology, such as a basic camera or microphone on a device, lead to a sort of democratizing effect in which students can share ideas and their work in a new way they might not ordinarily have been able to access. By flipping the traditional roles of teacher and student, the use of available technology redefines the basic tenets of homework.

5. Creating a Positive Homework Environment

Creating an atmosphere where students feel comfortable and are able to concentrate is important for successful homework completion. You can work with both parents and students to create such an environment, whether the student is at home, in a child-care center, or at an after-school program. This environment should include a regular quiet place to study, internet access, pencils, papers, and a reference book. There should also be an agreement about how much adult help the student will get. The best outcomes are reported when adolescents are given enough autonomy to organize their own effective routines. More direct parent involvement may become necessary for some younger students or when difficulties arise.

To facilitate a better focus on homework, you can work with students to help them understand how their environment affects concentration and learning. “Afterward, ask students if they feel they have enough quiet time and a place to be by themselves. If any student answers no, you might ask if there is something that could be done to change the situation and then help them make it happen.” If feasible, the after-school program space may also limit the kinds of distractions that could interfere with effective homework completion.