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Making homework count

By Stephanie Hirschman

October 8, 2024

Homework and independent study can make a massive contribution to students’ progress, particularly when classes don’t meet daily, or students aren’t living, working or studying in anglophone environments. There are several issues to consider when setting homework.

Why students are doing homework is a fundamental question which can cover a wide spectrum of reasons. The most obvious is that it offers both teachers and students a chance to check on learning and identify areas for further review and consolidation. Exam preparation courses make use of homework to consolidate and accelerate learning and deliver results. Finally, some institutions require teachers to set homework and some clients, for example parents, believe that a course with homework offers better value for money.

Whatever the reason behind setting homework, be clear with students about how they’ll benefit from the assignment, how to do it effectively, how long they should spend on it and how it will be marked.

The homework that many people expect from a language course is “more of the same” exercises, that is, those that offer extra opportunities to practice grammar or vocabulary from the lesson.

It is also possible to bring in practice from other online or print sources, but this can sometimes be problematic, especially for lower levels. Make sure that the resource you choose maps onto the lesson content without placing extra demands on students, for example, by introducing a completely different context or topic with unfamiliar vocabulary to practice a grammar point. You also need to make sure that terminology is consistent – students who are expecting to practice present continuous may not recognize that it is also called present progressive. With lower levels, go over the instructions and/or demonstrate one of the exercises so they know how to get started.

It's worth mentioning here that flipped learning may also be a useful approach to homework. This is where students preview part of the lesson plan (like a reading or listening task) or research a general topic independently before class in order to maximize opportunities for communicative activities during the lesson.

Other types of homework include semi-controlled practice of target language. Students could write personal sentences including vocabulary items or grammatical structures from the class – note that they may need training to do this. A sentence like, “The milk went off,” is not as effective for learning as, “We had no milk for the coffee this morning – it went off because we didn’t put it in the fridge last night.” You may wish to provide some question or example prompts as support.

An unusual and motivating type of speaking homework is a personalized bingo game. Students create their own bingo card, which might be a 4x4 grid. In each cell, they write a key word or structure from the lesson that they wish to practice during the next few days. They carry the card around in their pocket, and every time they use an item of target language, they can tick it off, aiming to complete a line. This is especially suitable for students who are living, working or studying in anglophone environments. Teachers can monitor progress regularly and even offer small prizes.

The question of what teachers actually do with homework also has multiple possible responses, which will depend on the teaching context. At one end of the spectrum, if there is good buy-in from the students, teachers may only need to point them towards a selected set of “more of the same” exercises and make sure the answers are accessible for self-checking. Make it clear that you welcome questions if anything isn’t clear and test regularly to check understanding.

Whatever choices you make about homework, here’s one final tip. It’s best to complete assignments the day after receiving them and not on the same day. Research on spaced repetition shows that reviewing information after around 24 hours, “just before you forget it,” is the most effective way to boost retention.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/blog/post/makinghomework-count

Acesso em 25/10/2024

A Construction Technician is a skilled professional involved in construction processes. They can be in general construction or more specialized roles such as drafting, inspecting, and managing, depending on their training or experience. After going through training programs, their scope may extend to monitoring build progress, preparing sites, and drafting blueprints using CAD software. Once they accumulate years of experience, they will be tasked with supervising the contracting team and project.

This professional’s responsibilities include: the management of all remodel activities; the enforcement of safety requirements to implement safety conditions at work site; the creation of reports about qualitative and quantitative methodologies; the hiring of contractors for maintenance work and upgrades.

Many hard and soft skills are essential for success and crucial for a construction technician’s day-to-day tasks. Because they have to interpret complex information and transform abstract ideas into tangible products, the number one technical skill necessary for success in construction is excellent communication skills, both receiving and delivering accurate and relevant information.

(https://www.zippia.com/construction-technician-jobs/.10.06.2024. Adaptado)

A Construction Technician is a skilled professional involved in construction processes. They can be in general construction or more specialized roles such as drafting, inspecting, and managing, depending on their training or experience. After going through training programs, their scope may extend to monitoring build progress, preparing sites, and drafting blueprints using CAD software. Once they accumulate years of experience, they will be tasked with supervising the contracting team and project.

This professional’s responsibilities include: the management of all remodel activities; the enforcement of safety requirements to implement safety conditions at work site; the creation of reports about qualitative and quantitative methodologies; the hiring of contractors for maintenance work and upgrades.

Many hard and soft skills are essential for success and crucial for a construction technician’s day-to-day tasks. Because they have to interpret complex information and transform abstract ideas into tangible products, the number one technical skill necessary for success in construction is excellent communication skills, both receiving and delivering accurate and relevant information.

(https://www.zippia.com/construction-technician-jobs/.10.06.2024. Adaptado)

A Construction Technician is a skilled professional involved in construction processes. They can be in general construction or more specialized roles such as drafting, inspecting, and managing, depending^A on their training or experience. After going through training programs, their scope may extend to monitoring build progress^B, preparing sites, and drafting blueprints using CAD software. Once they accumulate years of experience, they will be tasked with supervising^C the contracting team and project.

This professional’s responsibilities include: the management of all remodel activities; the enforcement of safety requirements to implement safety conditions^D at work site; the creation of reports about qualitative and quantitative methodologies; the hiring of contractors^E for maintenance work and upgrades.

Many hard and soft skills are essential for success and crucial for a construction technician’s day-to-day tasks. Because they have to interpret complex information and transform abstract ideas into tangible products, the number one technical skill necessary for success in construction is excellent communication skills, both receiving and delivering accurate and relevant information.

(https://www.zippia.com/construction-technician-jobs/.10.06.2024. Adaptado)

A Construction Technician is a skilled professional involved in construction processes. They can be in general construction or more specialized roles such as drafting, inspecting, and managing, depending on their training or experience. After going through training programs, their scope may extend to monitoring build progress, preparing sites, and drafting blueprints using CAD software. Once they accumulate years of experience, they will be tasked with supervising the contracting team and project.

This professional’s responsibilities include: the management of all remodel activities; the enforcement of safety requirements to implement safety conditions at work site; the creation of reports about qualitative and quantitative methodologies; the hiring of contractors for maintenance work and upgrades.

Many hard and soft skills are essential for success and crucial for a construction technician’s day-to-day tasks. Because they have to interpret complex information and transform abstract ideas into tangible products, the number one technical skill necessary for success in construction is excellent communication skills, both receiving and delivering accurate and relevant information.

(https://www.zippia.com/construction-technician-jobs/.10.06.2024. Adaptado)

A Construction Technician is a skilled professional involved in construction processes. They can be in general construction or more specialized roles such as drafting, inspecting, and managing, depending on their training or experience. After going through training programs, their scope may extend to monitoring build progress, preparing sites, and drafting blueprints using CAD software. Once they accumulate years of experience, they will be tasked with supervising the contracting team and project.

This professional’s responsibilities include: the management of all remodel activities; the enforcement of safety requirements to implement safety conditions at work site; the creation of reports about qualitative and quantitative methodologies; the hiring of contractors for maintenance work and upgrades.

Many hard and soft skills are essential for success and crucial for a construction technician’s day-to-day tasks. Because they have to interpret complex information and transform abstract ideas into tangible products, the number one technical skill necessary for success in construction is excellent communication skills, both receiving and delivering accurate and relevant information.

(https://www.zippia.com/construction-technician-jobs/.10.06.2024. Adaptado)

Cell culture experiments are widely used in biomedical research, regenerative medicine, and biotechnological production. Due to restrictions on the use of laboratory animals by animal protection laws and the strict implementation of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) formulated by William Russell and Rex Burch to improve the welfare of animals, it can be expected that the general use of cell lines will further increase during the next years to substitute animal-based research. However, it should be noted that cell culture experiments, if not properly conducted, are prone to errors. Therefore, it is essential that cell culture studies are performed with good cell culture practice (GCCP) to assure the reproducibility of in vitro experimentation.

In particular, inter- and intra-specific cross-contamination and cell misidentification, genetic drift, contamination with bacteria, fungi, yeast, viruses, or chemicals, and lack of quality control testing are widespread fatal cell culture problems that contaminate the literature with false and irreproducible results. Rough estimates suggest that the number of published papers that used problematic cell lines is about 16.1%. Moreover, the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) lists 576 misidentified or cross-contaminated cell lines in its latest register released in June 2021.

(Weiskirchen S, Schröder SK, Buhl EM, Weiskirchen R. A Beginner’s Guide to Cell Culture:

Practical Advice for Preventing Needless Problems. Cells. 2023 Feb 21;12(5):682. doi: 10.3390/cells12050682.

PMID: 36899818; PMCID: PMC10000895. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10000895/. Adaptado)