One of the considerations of whether to assign mandatory homework is whether students are doing it for the right reasons. If homework is to serve a positive function in a class, it is important to have a critical mass of students who see it as beneficial and worth doing for the sake of learning. In my experience, this is more easily achievable than one might imagine, but it requires a multi-pronged effort:
1. Redefining the purpose of homework to serve as preparation for in-class conversational learning.
Giving students choice so that homework is more likely to be at an appropriate level of challenge and usefulness for every student.
Offering open work time and flexible deadlines to free up students to be self-directed and manage the timing of completing their work in class.
Cultivating a positive form of peer pressure by making homework completion a prerequisite to the study group’s ability to function. When four out of five students in a group have completed the work, they will exert real pressure on the one who didn’t.
Redefining the purpose of school to help students believe they are there to learn and grow, and that a reasonable amount of homework is an important part of that process.