There’s no denying that technology has permanently altered the global landscape across industries, and at Firefly Learning we believe that education should be front and centre of digital progress.
Learning management systems like Firefly Learning enable students, teachers, parents and schools to easily access and manage learning anywhere and anytime – with huge benefits for each.
Technology in the classroom has made significant strides in recent years and has had a proven positive effect on student learning outcomes. But the benefits extend beyond the classroom too by reshaping and disrupting outdated ideas about how homework is set, completed, managed and reported on.
We’ll explore these benefits in detail here, so read on to find out how classroom technology and online homework give teachers more time to teach and help students maximise their potential.
Benefits of online homework
At the outset, online homework frames activities in a context familiar to students, who are far likelier to engage with the digital world than with pens and paper.
But there’s more to it than that.
The Firefly for Students app revolutionises the way students can approach their work. When planning and researching their online homework, students have access to all the resources they could need – and teachers can control what these are.
Moreover, these resources aren’t limited to texts. Videos, images and other rich media are available to students 24/7, encouraging them to manage their use of resources.
Students doing their homework on a learning management system can further supplement their work with resources of their own. Firefly Learning’s ease of use means that embedding rich media is as simple as drag-and-drop, helping them to demonstrate the breadth of their knowledge.
Forgetting homework is also a thing of the past. Submitting online homework is a simple matter of clicking a button and can be done from wherever they are.
How is homework online good for teachers?
From the broadest perspective, lesson- and homework-planning can be visualised, researched and managed all in one place. So when it comes time to set a piece of homework, the preparation can be done well in advance. Setting homework online using a learning management system widens the scope of activities from simple paper assignments. A teacher might want to set an interactive quiz or create a voting system to engage students more immediately. Resources for a student can be anything a teacher chooses and added to the platform with ease.
Online homework assignments can be tailored to individual students as well as designated groups. And if a student is struggling, they can interact with their teacher from home via the app. This means that teachers can give important feedback in real-time, even outside of the classroom.
Giving feedback and marks can be done in whichever way is most beneficial for the student and the teacher. Alongside annotating work and submitting marks easily, teachers can submit audio or video feedback – all of which saves time and helps supplement teachers’ one-on-one time with students in the classroom.
A distinct advantage of this type of working over traditional methods is the ability to track the progress of individual students and whole groups – even school-wide. There’s no need to repeatedly input data as this is automatically done by Firefly, and teachers can quickly identify which students might need special assistance – as well as those whose work has taken an unexpected dip. Further, it gives a crystal-clear way of assessing approaches and the effect that implemented processes are having.
In short, the advantages of a virtual learning environment (VLE) for teachers and schools are many, and all contribute to giving teachers more time to teach.
In online homework good for parents?
Firefly Learning enables teachers to give parents as much access to their child’s learning as they choose. In a step that is particularly advantageous to parents whose one-on-one time with their child is limited, they can use the Firefly for Parents app to check a their child’s progress from wherever they are.
Teachers can allow resources and online homework tasks to be shared with parents, giving them opportunities to engage with their child’s learning at home.
Parents can have unhindered communication with schools and teachers, helping them raise concerns and not have to wait until parents’ evening.
And on a more pragmatic level, parents can be kept up-to-date with school activities and notifications.
Giving teachers more time to teach
Online homework doesn’t only streamline students’ ability to complete homework assignments.
It enables them to use the full scope of their creativity and equips them with wider skillsets, such as researching, substantiating and resource gathering.
It reflects students’ effort and helps teachers quickly assess where individual students excel and where they might need more assistance.
It gives teachers the ability to feedback meaningfully outside of the classroom environment, augmenting the impact of their lessons.
And much more. But, ultimately, online homework gives teachers more time to teach. Given the maxim that teachers are extremely busy people, Firefly Learning is helping them to use their time more effectively, which in turn leads to improved learning in their students.
