U of A education expert weighs in on how to get more out of homework

According to education expert Greg Thomas, when it comes to homework, quality is better than quantity.

Thomas is a professor in the Department of Education at the University of Alberta. He said what children learn is important, but so is how they learn – and it’s time to rethink assignments.

“The guiding thought for me has always been how do we prepare students for a very rapidly changing world where they need to have good dispositions and lifelong learning skills?” Thomas said. “And how does homework fit into the development of these kinds of skills?”

Thomas is an expert in metacognition, ie stepping back to understand why and how to complete a task. He said understanding how and why learning occurs can help equip students with the lifelong learning skills they will need in an increasingly demanding job market.

“We all know that in order to actually manage our survival in the changing world society we live in, we need to learn new things over time,” said Thomas. “We’re now seeing a growing emphasis on micro-badges, online courses and continuous upgrades, which wasn’t as necessary 20 or 30 years ago but certainly is today.”

As the pressure on students mounts, Thomas believes schools should consider how homework can be used to benefit students both inside and outside the classroom.

“We still have to remember that they’re going to grow up to be people, not all of them are going to go to college and we want them to have that broader view of life,” he said.

Thomas says homework works best when it’s properly planned, has a clear purpose, and comes with well-defined expectations. And it should meet the needs of all students – like those who don’t have a study room or internet access at home.

For example, some schools have schedules in place to ensure that students across subjects are only given as much homework as they can handle, rather than random assignments piling up in classes.

There is also the possibility of having extracurricular learning zones, which can ensure access to a study room, internet and help from a teacher.

Extracurricular activities and a social life are just as important to students as the curriculum, added Thomas, who teaches lifelong communication and interpersonal skills.

“If a student gets three hours of homework a night, they might resent it because it keeps them from doing (other) things,” Thomas said.

“What we really want is to try to find that ideal balance point between the demands of formal education and the really important life skills and attitudes they develop outside of the classroom.”

A 10-year study by Challenge Success found that homework is a common stressor for middle and high school students, and found that there was little evidence that homework for elementary school students improved performance in most subjects.

Thomas said he hopes homework can become a tool to teach students to do more than just assigned tasks, adding that it should be part of a broader educational goal of involving students in what they are learning, them Teaching thinking skills, self-motivation and independent learning are other useful attitudes and strategies.

“I know these things work in schools,” he said. “I know that once students start talking to students about how they’re learning something, it can actually improve the way they learn things.”

“Two or three minutes is all it takes in a class, and when every teacher in the school does it, you create a tsunami of change.”