That’s  the comment I oveheard recently at a parent’s group.  A homework blog is used by many schools, including the school my oldest attends. Teachers post the current day’s homework for the class up on the web.  Some felt that the students never read the blog, but that it became a place where parents read the blog and then made sure the kids did their homework. The concern being that it  absolved the students of being responsible for their own homework.

There’s a couple of ways of looking at this.  I do think that if it’s only the parents using it and the kids are never encouraged to write it down at school, nor keep track of it themselves, there is a risk for them to become complacent. However, if the students see it as a resource, then it’s highly beneficial. Sick days, days when the student has to leave early or ran out of time writing down the details, it can be very helpful. Not to mention students who may have extra challenges where writing down homework isn’t feasible.  It can also cut down on paper distribution in the class.

In the adult world, we often use other resources to help with our work. I use basecamp, a web based project management system to keep track of our projects, schedules, to do lists and so on. During our weekly conference call, we all discuss items and take our own notes. But then everything is also uploaded on basecamp for verification, record keeping and just in case. No one would say we were being coddled because we put everything in a centralized place for everyone to check. So why not give students the same sort of tools for helping themselves organize their homework.

Like anything in technology, it’s a tool. And with tools, it all depends on how they’re used. I think that having a homework blog with wiki links on the sidebar and videos of events held in class make for a richer classroom experience.

I won’t get into the “should there be homework” issue or the “shouldn’t students be learning through doing” discussion. There are other experts out there that are doing a great job tackling that issue.