Most people complain about having to go home and finish an online homework assignment, PowerPoint presentations, or turning something in on turnitin.com. Though these online homework assignments can be frustrating, they benefit students more than they know.Because online homework is, well, online, it decreases the odds that students will lose their homework or forget it at home. This avoids point deductions for being late, which can mean a difference between a 100 and a 50.The fact that online homework isn’t on paper also means it can be graded faster. Some websites, like Quest, grade the homework as you do it, so you don’t have to wait with anticipation to find out what your grade is. This is also helpful to teachers because then all they have to do is look at an online list and type the grades into the gradebook.
Online homework also provides the major benefit of later deadlines. Most teachers who give assignments on Moodle or turnitin.com make the due dates on Saturdays, usually at 11:59 p.m. This gives students an entire extra day to finish that assignment they probably just started because they were too busy with other homework.
Doing homework online, especially projects, takes away a lot of extra work for students. Instead of working on a giant poster, trying so hard to get it perfect that you forgot about the essay that goes in the middle, you can make a PowerPoint. PowerPoint presentations allow students to get all of the information on the slides and then make it look great and creative with a few clicks of the mouse.
The next time someone complains about Quest, PowerPoint, or whatever it is, tell them to think about how hard the assignment would be if it were on paper. Then go start that Moodle assignment that’s due on Saturday.
