Homework during Emergency Remote Education (ERE) due to Covid-19 Pandemic: Teachers’ Perceptions

Marina Kougiourouki^1, and Zinovia Masali¹

¹Department of Primary Education, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece

Cite this paper:
Marina Kougiourouki and Zinovia Masali. Homework during Emergency Remote Education (ERE) due to Covid-19 Pandemic: Teachers’ Perceptions. American Journal of Educational Research. 2022; 10(7):452-458. doi: 10.12691/education-10-7-4

Abstract

The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic that suspended the educational process on all levels of education in many countries, together with the need for access to a safe teaching process, has created an emerging and massive turn towards remote education. This new condition surprised teachers, who were obligated to use new technologies to design and implement their teaching along with assigning homework. This research investigates the views of ten Greek teachers of primary education regarding the issue of homework assignment in the framework of remote education (synchronous and asynchronous) due to the aforementioned conditions. More specifically it investigates their views regarding the homework objectives, the amount of homework assigned by teachers and the portion of assignments completed by students, the content and the way of assignment “creation”, and the method of solving, correcting and assessing them. The tool for this research was the semi-structured interview. The research findings show that the teachers continued invariably to assign homework, as they did in a physical classroom, strived to make students practice and kept them in constant touch with the educational process, whilst being lenient regarding its evaluation.

Keywords:
homework emergency remote education (ERE) covid-19 pandemic teaching instructional design parental involvement

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Faulkner, J. and Blyth, C., “Homework: is it really worth all the bother?”, Educational Studies, 21 (3), 447-454, 1995.
[2]	Chatzidimou, D., Homework. An empirical approach, Kyriakidis Brothers Publications, Thessaloniki, 1995. [in Greek].
[3]	Chatzidimou, D. and Taratori, E., Hausaufgaben. Einstellungen deutscher and greichischer Lehrer, Peter Lang, Frankfurt AM, 1995.
[4]	Chatzidimou, D., Stravakou, P. and Kougiourouki, M., “Elementary school students’ attitudes regarding homework: an empirical approach’, in D.C. Chatzidimou, K.G. Bikos, P.A. Stravakou and K.D. Xatzidimou (eds.), 5th Panellinio Synedrio Elliniki Paidagogiki kai Ekpaideftiki Erevna, B΄, Kyriakidis Brothers, Thessaloniki, 227-235, 2007. [in Greek].
[5]	Chatzidimou, D., Taratori, E. E., Stravakou, P.A. and Kougiourouki, M., “Homework from the perspective of primary school students of Alexandroupoli – A comparative research study”, in A. Trilianos and I. Karaminas (eds.), 6th Panellinio Synedrio Elliniki Paidagogiki kai Ekpaideftiki Erevna, A΄, Atrapos, Athens, 924-932, 2009. [in Greek].
[6]	Galloway, M., Conner, J. and Pope, D., “Nonacademic Effects of Homework in Privileged, High-Performing High Schools”, The Journal of Experimental Education, 81 (4), 490-510, 2013.
[7]	Dettmers, S., Trautwein, U. and Lüdtke, O., “The relationship between homework time and achievement is not universal: evidence from multilevel analyses in 40 countries”, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 20 (4), 375-405, 2009.
[8]	Deveci, I. and Ӧnder, I., “Views of Middle School Students on Homework Assignments in Science Courses”, Science Education International, 26 (4), 539-556, 2015.
[9]	Ongun, E., Altas, D. and Demirag, A., “A Study of 8th Graders’ Perceptions of Socio-Cultural Perspective of Creativity by Using Information Technology Tools in Realisation of Homework Goals”, Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10 (3), 21-26, 2011.
[10]	Maharaj-Sharma, R. and Sharma, A., “What Students say about Homework – Views from a Secondary School Science Classroom in Trinidad and Tobago”, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 41 (7), 146-157, 2016.
[11]	Amran, M.S., “Psychosocial risk factors associated with mental health of adolescents amidst the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak”, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 68 (1), 6-8, 2022.
[12]	Clausen, J.M., Bunte, B.L. and Robertson, E.T., “Professional Development to Improve Communication and Reduce the Homework Gap in Grades 7-12 During COVID-19 Transition to Remote Learning”, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28 (2), 443-451, 2020.
[13]	Hebebci, M.T., Bertiz, Y. and Alan, S., “Investigation of Views of Students and Teachers on Distance Education Practices during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic”, International Journal of Technology in Education and Science (IJTES), 4 (4), 267-282, 2020.
[14]	Doorn, D.J., Janssen, S. and Obrien, M., “Student Attitudes and Approaches to Online Homework”, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4 (1), 1-20, 2010.
[15]	Dodson, J.R., “The Impact of Online Homework on Class Productivity”, Science Education International, 25 (4), 354-371, 2014.
[16]	Tam, V.C. and Chan, R.M., “Parental involvement in primary children’s homework in Hong Kong”, The School Community Journal, 19 (2), 81-100, 2009.
[17]	Echaune, M., Ndiku, J. and Sang, A., “Parental Involvement in Homework and Primary School Academic Performance in Kenya”, Journal of Education and Practice, 6 (9), 46-53, 2015.
[18]	Goudeau, S., Sanrey, C., Stanczak, A., Manstead, A. and Darnon, C., “Why lockdown and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap, Nature Human Behaviour, 5, 1273-1281, 2021.
[19]	Hong, E. and Lee, K.H., “Preferred homework style and homework environment in high-versus low-achieving Chinese students”, Educational Psychology, 20 (2), 125-137, 2000.
[20]	Farrell, A. and Danby, S., “How does homework ‘work’ for young children? Children’s accounts of homework in their everyday lives”, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36 (2), 250-269, 2015.
[21]	Carrington, P., Lehrer, P.M. and Wittenstrom, K., “A children’s self-management system for reducing homework-related problems: Parent efficacy ratings”, Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 19 (2), 1-22, 1997. EJ548750
[22]	Hoover-Dempsey, K.V., Battiato, A.C., Walker, J.M., Reed, R.P., Dejong, J.M. and Jones, K.P., “Parental Involvement in Homework”, Educational Psychologist, 36 (3), 195-209, 2001.
[23]	Walker, J.M., Hoover-Dempsey, K.V., Reed, R.P. and Jones, K.P., “ ‘Can You Help Me with My Homework?’ Elementary School Children’s Invitations and Perspectives on Parental Involvement”, in the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 2000. ED 443581.
[24]	Adams, W., “Conducting Semi-Structured Interviews”, in J.S. Wholey, H.P. Hatry and K.E. Newcomer (eds.), Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (3rd edn), Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 365-377, 2010.
[25]	Wilson, C., Interview Techniques for UX Practitioners. A User-Centered Design Method, Morgan Kaufmann, 2014.
[26]	Verma, G. and Mallick, K., Researching Education: Perspective and Techniques, Falmer Press, London, 1999, 123-124.
[27]	Gall, M.D., Borg, W. and Gall, J., Educational research: An introduction (6th ed.), Longman Publishers, New York, 1996.
[28]	Stemler, S., “An overview of content analysis. Practical Assessment”, Research and Evaluation, 7 (17), 1-6, 2000.
[29]	White, M. and March, E. “Content Analysis: A Flexible Methodology”, Library Trends, 55 (1), 22-45, 2006.
[30]	Berelson, B., Content analysis in communication research, Free Press, Michigan, 1952, 18.
[31]	Krippendorf, K., Content Analysis. An Introduction to its Methodology (2nd ed), SAGE, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2004, 18.
[32]	Ekici, F.T., “Elementary School Students? Views on the Homework Given in Science Courses”, Educational Research Review, 9 (17), 594-605, 2014.
[33]	Amiryousefi, M., “Homework: Voices from EFL teachers and learners”, Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 4 (2), 35-54, 2016.
[34]	Tunstall, M. and Bull, P.H., “Using Multimedia with Kindergarten to Increase Homework Participation”, Journal on School Educational Technology, 7 (3), 31-38, 2012.
[35]	Cui, S., Zhang, C., Wang, S., Zhang, X., Wang, L., Zhang, L., Yuan, Q., Huang, C., Cheng, F., Zhang, K. and Zhou, X., “Experiences and Attitudes of Elementary School Students and Their Parents Toward Online Learning in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Questionnaire Study”, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23 (5), e24496, 2021.
[36]	Marchetti, D., Fontanesi, L., Mazza, Cr., Di Giandomenico, S., Roma, P. and Verrocchio, M.Cr., “Parenting-Related Exhaustion During the Italian COVID-19 Lockdown”, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 45 (10), 1114-1123, 2020.