PDC Roundtable 9/24/2013 -- Effective Homework

PDC Thursday Roundtables—September 24, 2013:

Topic:  Effective Homework

Attendees:  Rachel Stone, Zoe Blatt, Ann Williams, Solomon Fleckman, Sarah O’Neil, Hans Doerr, Maria Bowditch, Rob Merrifield, Eric Lunger

Reading:  The Atlantic focus on Homework, September 2013

Thoughts:  There are challenges with any one approach to homework – does the assignment engage all students?  How does one assignment address the variety of learning styles present in each of our classes?  Do we know how to construct the most effective assignments?  How do our assignments integrate with assessment?  The conversation was fruitful and raised more questions than it provided answers.  That said, the issue how we best use student time, energy, and focus beyond the classroom is clearly one that deserves consistent conversation and attention by the faculty.

Particular questions and issues that were raised:

•  AW, RS, and others noted that reading is a challenge for kids.  HD suggested more focused work on efficiency in reading and homework as part of a study skills curriculum.
•  Should we teach kids that there is a natural time limit to effective work?  EL noted that he tells his students to work for 45 minutes and then stop.  This helps kids prioritize the work and provides valuable feedback to the teacher about the amount of time an assignment requires.  SO asked if our kids are over-loaded and thus have too much work?  AW noted that the best  Blair students have a tendency to not stop, they keep pushing to complete assignments regardless of what they are told.
• SF pointed out that the most important part of any assignment is providing explicit directions and immediate feedback.  Kids should always know why they are doing an assignment.  Movements exist to make sure that nothing new is covered in homework while others suggest that homework is the primer for the actual practice of the discipline in the classroom.
• Rachel asked if we are preparing our kids to be Good Students or Good Learners?  With life-long learning as a goal, how do we help students earn an appreciation for our disciplines?  We don’t want to create a culture of dishonest students, but long homework assignments do lend themselves to cheating.  AW noted that 90% of AHC cases revolve around overwhelmed students.
• Do we as teachers actually understand the demands made on a Blair student’s time?
• Should we focus more effectively and intentionally on reading skills and learning skills? 
• SF asked how much we are meant to prepare kids for the kid of instruction they receive in college, especially if that kind of instruction isn’t always as good as what we can provide here?
•  Let’s ask our alums about their college experience to get a real feel for how prepared they are and understand what types of skills they really need!
• Stress vs. Challenge:  do our kids know the difference? 
• If we enforced a lower limit on homework (Hotchkiss has a strict 30 minute limit per class), would that help?  Do our grading policies help or hinder kids in their approach to homework? 
• What do college professors want from their students?  How can we best prepare them?

Action Items:

1.          Encourage departments to have regular conversations about homework types and policies that work best in their disciplines.
2.          Continue to reflect on how we can best prepare kids for the types of work we ask of them – reading and study skills.
3.          Encourage departments to reach out to college professors to get a sense for what they are seeing in their classrooms and what types of preparation they would like us to cover with our kids.  (The History Department hopes to undertake this task in the Spring.)