Building an Understanding of Family Literacy: Changing Practices Regarding Homework and Other Forms of School-Home Engagement

School to home communication has often been seen as a one-way path, with homework and other materials serving children and families while teachers were the facilitators. When schools were forced to rapidly switch instruction from face-to-face classrooms to entering kitchens, living rooms, and other spaces to deliver virtual instruction, teachers were suddenly "in" the homes of their students. Findings from this qualitative study of11 practicing teachers showed a new appreciation for family literacy efforts. Virtual doors were opened so that teachers had increased opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of cultural and academic practices in the home. Teachers now had access to families' funds of knowledge to enhance classroom curriculum and practices in the virtual space. As schools reopened and teacher, parent, and caregiver relationships returned to a more distant space, these participants described small but significant changes in the way they planned to engage parents and caregivers in the future.

Blended Learning to Support Minority Language Acquisition in Primary School Pupils: Lessons From the -Taking Gaelic Home Study'

Gaelic is a minoritised indigenous language of Scotland, with its traditional heartland in the rural north-west of the country. The education system, and in particular Gaelic Medium Education (GME), has been recognised as an important strand of the language maintenance and support initiatives. The provision of GME has grown significantly since its inception in the early 1980s, it remains on the -periphery' of the education system, with around 0.9% of all primary school pupils enrolled in GME settings. The ongoing language shift from Gaelic to English, a process that has been particularly pronounced in the traditional heartlands of the language, and the resulted decline in the use of Gaelic as the language of the home, the family, and the community, raises the question of how GME can contribute to a sustainable future for Gaelic. This article will discuss the findings of a small-scale mixed method practitioner enquiry study, which incorporated parental questionnaires, classroom observations, class-based language assessments and focus groups, to explore the use of blended learning approaches to enhance the development of language skills. The results of this study, conducted initially to evaluate the impact of the Covid-19 school closures on the linguistic proficiency of children in Primary 1 to Primary 3 enrolled in GME, show that pupils who were actively engaged in online learning activities showed a greater confidence and proficiency in their use of Gaelic compared to their peers who had not used these materials to support their learning, as well as increased involvement of caregivers in these Gaelic homework tasks. These findings allow for a re-imaging of approaches to homework in minority language immersion contexts to support the acquisition and use of the minority language beyond the classroom. © Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Education. All Rights Reserved.

Influence of the school context on homework during Covid-19: Families' perceptions

Faced with the new scenario caused by the period of lockdown, schools and teachers had to redirect their education methods with regard to different aspects, including homework. The main objective of this descriptive-inferential, cross-sectional, non-experimental and quantitative study is to identify the quantity, difficulty and types of homework done during the period of lockdown, according to the type of centre, stage of education and the presence of educational needs, with a sample of 1,787 families. The results show that parents perceive that homework during lockdown was characterised by a greater quantity, difficulty, individualisation and technologization. Regarding school variables, the stage of education significantly modifies the perception of the difficulty, quantity and types of homework. Moreover, the presence of special educational needs influences the difficulty, and ownership of the centre influences the exercise of individual or group tasks. In conclusion, the need is highlighted for families to be counselled in Secondary Education and for teachers to receive better training with regard to homework for pupils with special educational needs. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.

Collaborative Behavior or Collusion? Investigating Unpermitted Collaboration on Homework Among College Students

Although postsecondary students' rate of academic dishonesty has been consistent over the last 50 years, the most significant increase in cheating has been in unpermitted collaboration. Given the changing learning environments necessitated by COVID-19, this study investigates how 12 college students at a highly selective Research 1 institution view collaboration, specifically unpermitted collaboration on homework, and how their attitudes are shaped by faculty guidance or lack thereof. We conclude by discussing how both student and faculty perceptions of collaboration may be affected by the impact of COVID-19 and how academic integrity may be influenced by this impact.

The Construction of Intelligent Homework System in Schools under the Concept of Wisdom Education

The mega-scale online education conducted nationwide during the COVID-19 epidemic has enabled online learning to move from individualized participation to full participation, practicing and advancing the development of wisdom education to a large extent. In the post-epidemic era, a new educational order that integrates online and offline learning is gradually taking shape, and online learning has become a new norm from emergency. The popularization and promotion of online education has been the general trend. The "double reduction"policy has led to a trust dilemma, a communication dilemma, a cooperation dilemma and an organizational dilemma in the practice of home-school-society collaborative parenting, and an unprecedented challenge for school education and teachers teaching. This study proposes an intelligent operating system based on big data and adaptive learning traction model, rooted in rich pedagogical theories, to solve the above-mentioned challenges in online education by virtue of "wisdom". © 2023 IEEE.

Explaining inequalities of homeschooling in Germany during the first COVID-19 lockdown

Current studies suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening existing social inequalities in the field of education worldwide. In this paper, we argue that the pandemic is especially challenging for students from socially disadvantaged and educationally deprived homes, as parental engagement and resources are very important in terms of guiding and supporting students' learning processes during this school closure period. To examine how well parents were able to help their children with schoolwork during the homeschooling period in Germany, we used data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, n = 3,714) collected during the first such period in May/June 2020 when students were in Grade 7. Taking known mechanisms of inequality of educational opportunity into account, we explored the effects of parents' aspirations and cultural, social, and economic capital on their ability to help their children. Our results showed that although the majority of the examined parents were able to provide good schoolwork support, as expected, we found inequalities related to social background. Parents with low education were twice as likely as highly educated parents to be unable to provide sufficient support. In our multivariate analyses, family resources had a significant positive effect on the likelihood of a parent being able to help. Moreover, regardless of the social or cultural capital endowment of the parents, good household technical equipment was associated with a higher probability of support. Thus, ensuring that students have access to technical home equipment could be a way to promote an educationally supportive learning environment across all social groups.

Staff quality of working life and turnover intentions in municipal nursing care and social welfare: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Nurses and social workers are two common professions with a university degree working within municipal nursing care and social welfare. Both groups have high turnover intention rates, and there is a need to better understand their quality of working life and turnover intentions in general and more specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study investigated associations between working life, coping strategies and turnover intentions of staff with a university degree working within municipal care and social welfare during the Covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional design; 207 staff completed questionnaires and data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Turnover intentions were common. For registered nurses 23% thought of leaving the workplace and 14% the profession 'rather often' and 'very often/always'. The corresponding figures for social workers were 22% (workplace) and 22% (profession). Working life variables explained 34-36% of the variance in turnover intentions. Significant variables in the multiple linear regression models were work-related stress, home-work interface and job-career satisfaction (both for the outcome turnover intentions profession and workplace) and Covid-19 exposure/patients (turnover intentions profession). For the chosen coping strategies, 'exercise', 'recreation and relaxation' and 'improving skills', the results (associations with turnover) were non-significant. However, comparing the groups social workers reported that they used 'recreation and relaxation' more often than were reported by registered nurses. CONCLUSIONS: More work-related stress, worse home-work interface and less job-career satisfaction together with Covid-19 exposure/patients (Covid-19 only for turnover profession) increase turnover intentions. Recommendations are that managers should strive for better home-work interface and job-career satisfaction, monitor and counteract work-related stress to prevent turnover intentions.

Schoolsucces when the schools are closed? A study into the role of teacher and parent support during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this questionnaire-based study, we examined the experienced school success of students in the upper levels of primary education (N = 667) and how that was predicted by the support they received from teachers and parents during the Dutch school closures in the spring of 2020. We also asked children's parents (N = 174) how they experienced the relationship with teachers during the period of remote education. We defined school success as motivation, self-regulation, and self-reported achievement ( "how much did I learn "?). The results show that teacher support was related to motivation and self-regulation. Parent support was related to all three indicators of school success. Parent-teacher relationship was only related to motivation. A surprising finding was that students indicated to have learned as much as they usually learn in typical situations, even though prior research has shown that average test scores fell behind during the period of school closures. Finally, we found that older students (grade 5 and 6) reported lower experienced achievement and motivation than the younger students (grade 4). We discuss implications of our findings for remote education, but also for when the schools are open.

Working from Home: Before and After the Pandemic.

Hilary Silver on pandemic trends.

A systematic review of factors influencing student interest in online homework

Online homework has been emerging with the popularity of online learning. The significance of online homework has been recognised, especially during the outbreak of COVID-19. Although it is regarded as one homework format, studies explicitly targeted at online homework are limited till now, particularly in student interest. As interest is defined as the driver of student learning, it is important to explore the factors influencing student interest in online homework to promote this technology use. Thus, a systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify studies on student interest in online homework with the guide of PRISMA. Based on 23 selected studies, this study unveiled the included studies' characteristics and the informed factors influencing student interest in the online homework system or the homework assigned or completed online. The findings of this study showed that background variables, adult guidance and monitoring, and the role of students in the process impact student interest in online homework. As online homework is delivered via technology, other factors, such as content design, the ability of technology use and homework submission methods, are also associated with student interest in online homework. Relevant educational implications are elaborated. Further studies and limitations are also included in this study. © The Author(s).

Primary students' online homework completion and learning achievement

Online homework has become an important teaching and learning activity due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions. This study explored the relationship between primary students' online homework completion and learning achievement. It also investigated the moderating effects of key factors including the role of the students and the involvement of their parents on this relationship. Based on a total of 3,210 Chinese online homework assigned in the Spring of 2020 to fourth grade primary school students in Wuhan, China, hierarchical linear modeling was employed to examine the relationship between primary students' online homework completion and their learning achievement. Simultaneously, the effects of potential moderators including students' information literacy, students' prior academic achievement, parental digital self-efficacy, and parent - teacher partnership were investigated. The results showed a significant positive effect of students' online homework completion on learning achievement. Moreover, students' information literacy, students' prior achievement, and parent - teacher partnership positively moderated this relationship. Based on the findings, practical implications for school administrators, teachers, and parents are discussed herein to promote online homework completion and enhance students' learning achievement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Trust disruption and preservation in the Covid-19 work from home context

PurposeThe paper posits that the enforced work from home (WFH) arrangement due to Covid-19 provides a unique setting for the study of trust in changing contexts. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine to what extent Covid-19 WFH changed trust relationships among remote employees, their managers and organisations and how this has taken place.Design/methodology/approachThe study used semi-structured interviews with employees and managers from different organisations across different sectors. Interviews were supported with image prompts as suggested by the storyboarding method, and took place between November 2020 and February 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings identified factors that contribute to trust disruption and factors that led to trust preservation within the changing workspace landscape enforced by WFH environment. Employees reported trust in their organisations, feeling as though their organisations proven resilient at the time of the crisis caused by the pandemic. Interestingly, managers reported trust in employees to remain productive but also anxieties due to the possible presence of others in the household.Originality/valueThe study identified factors that affect intra-organisational trust that have not been previously recognised, exposing tensions and challenges that may disrupt trust relations between managers and employees whilst also identifying evidence of trust preservation in the Covid-19 WFH context. The study has implications for workplace learning within the remote, WFH context, which are discussed.

Exploring middle school students' attitudes and satisfaction about home-based online education during the COVID-19 epidemic and the influential variables

Background: Students' attitudes and satisfaction are important predictors of educational quality, especially under such special situation as large scale home-based online education during the COVID-19 epidemic. Objectives: This study investigated middle school students' attitudes and satisfaction about home-based online education during COVID-19 epidemic and potential influential variables. Methods: Survey data were collected from 788 middle school students in two typical Chinese public schools. Multinomial logistic regression analysis and ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to identify influential variables. Findings: We found that more than half of surveyed students felt that home-based online learning was either the same as (35.9%) or better than (18%) traditional face-to-face learning, while 46.1% felt that it was worse than traditional face-to-face learning. More than six tenth of surveyed students felt satisfied or very satisfied with their home-based online education, while less than one third kept neutral attitudes and very few felt unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. Importantly, the study found some influential variables impacting students' attitudes and satisfaction about home-based online education and they included individual variables (gender, time spent in doing homework, level of learning engagement), organizational variables (school type), and relational variables (time spent on communication and relationship with family members). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Schoolwork in times of Covid-19 lockdown. Family perception as a function of school variables

The debate on homework opens up again in pandemic times to remind us not only of the responsibility of the agents involved, but also of the controversies that exist around the time, emotional exhaustion, benefits and competencies it promotes. With the aim of finding out the status of homework during confinement, an empirical study was carried out with a descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional and non-experimental design. For this purpose, an ad hoc instrument called "Coping with homework in the family during confinement", validated by experts, was administered telematically, in which a total of 1982 families from all over Spain participated. The results show that there are significant differences for each of the study variables (quantity, benefits, competencies and emotional exhaustion) between the different educational stages (infant, primary and secondary), with the academic performance of the students and with the presence of specific educational support needs, except for the quantity variable. On the other hand, no significance was found with the type of school. In this way, both teachers and educational centers have to establish non-mechanistic creative tasks and, in turn, articulate support and collaboration with families in the performance of school tasks, especially those with children with specific needs. © 2023 Asociacion Interuniversitaria de Investigacion en Pedagogia. All rights reserved.

Experience Report on Using WeBWorK in Teaching Discrete Mathematics

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most university classes were moved to online instruction. This greatly stimulated the need for online learning tools. WeBWorK is an open source online homework system, which has been used extensively in a variety of subjects. However, it has not been widely adopted by the Computer Science education community. In this paper, we discuss our experience using WeBWorK in teaching two large online sections of discrete mathematics. Emphasis is given to how we created randomized and auto-graded problems for many topics. In addition, we summarize student performance and feedback. We conclude with our reflections on using WeBWorK and propose future work for exploring its adaptive learning features. © 2023 ACM.

Diminishing Marginal Returns to Computer‐Assisted Learning

The previous expansion of EdTech as a substitute for traditional learning around the world, the recent full‐scale substitution due to COVID‐19, and potential future shifts to blended approaches suggest that it is imperative to understand input substitutability between in‐person and online learning. We explore input substitutability in education by employing a novel randomized controlled trial that varies dosage of computer‐assisted learning (CAL) as a substitute for traditional learning through homework. Moving from zero to a low level of CAL, we find positive substitutability of CAL for traditional learning. Moving from a lower to a higher level of CAL, substitutability changes and is either neutral or even negative. The estimates suggest that a blended approach of CAL and traditional learning is optimal. The findings have direct implications for the rapidly expanding use of educational technology worldwide prior to, during, and after the pandemic.

A Study on the Learning Early Warning Prediction Based on Homework Habits: Towards Intelligent Sustainable Evaluation for Higher Education

Teachers need a technique to efficiently understand the learning effects of their students. Early warning prediction mechanisms constitute one solution for assisting teachers in changing their teaching strategies by providing a long-term process for assessing each student's learning status. However, current methods of building models necessitate an excessive amount of data, which is not conducive to the final effect of the model, and it is difficult to collect enough information. In this paper, we use educational data mining techniques to analyze students' homework data and propose an algorithm to extract the three main features: Degree of reliability, degree of enthusiasm, and degree of procrastination. Building a predictive model based on homework habits can provide an individualized evaluation of students' sustainability processes and support teachers in adjusting their teaching strategies. This was cross-validated using multiple machine learning algorithms, of which the highest accuracy was 93.34%.

Physiological and Hygienic Aspects of Doing Homework: A Review

Introduction: A high level of competition for the quality and quantity of acquired knowledge is observed in modern society. It entails an increase in time children spent studying in school and doing their homework, the latter being an integral and critical component of the educational process. Objective: To summarize and systematize the results of research on physiological, hygienic and pedagogical challenges of doing homework as well as on rationalization and optimization of this type of schoolchildren's activity in the digital educational environment aimed at preventing fatigue and school-related diseases, including in the historical perspective. Materials and methods: Appropriate publications in Russian and English languages were search for in the Russian Science Cita-tion Index, PubMed, and Scopus databases, print editions of scientific journals, and other sources. Forty-two full-text papers published in 1989–2021 were eligible for inclusion in the review. Results and discussion: The data analysis shows that contemporary schoolchildren spend significantly more time doing homework than is recommended, which disrupts their daily routine by reducing the duration of walks and night sleep and deteri-orates health. Distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the situation. A whole number of publications in pedagogy are devoted to didactic issues of homework while little attention is paid to health-related improvement of conditions and organization of this important type of educational activity. Conclusion: Global digitalization and the associated transformation of the education system necessitates hygienic optimization of all the components of the learning process, including homework, the content of which has undergone significant changes. © 2022, Federal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology. All rights reserved.

Pandemic homework Parental perception of changes associated with the digitization of education

This descriptive-inferential research aims to compare the parental assessment of 1,787 families with respect to schoolwork in times of confinement according to the nationality and level of education of the families. The results show that immigrant families identify more changes in schoolwork in all aspects except for emotional exhaustion. In addition, the educational level of both parents has a significant impact on some study variables such as emotional distress, perceived increase in time spent on homework and promotion of the positive effects of homework. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] En la presente investigación de corte descriptivo-inferencial se pretende conocer la valoración parental de 1.787 familias respecto a la transformación que han experimentado las tareas escolares durante el confinamiento en función de la nacionalidad y el nivel de estudios de los progenitores. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que las familias inmigrantes identifican más cambios en las tareas escolares en todos los aspectos, a excepción del desgaste emocional. Además, el nivel de estudios de ambos progenitores incide de forma significativa en algunas variables del estudio, como el malestar emocional, el aumento de tiempo percibido en las tareas o la promoción de los efectos positivos de los deberes. (Spanish) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Estudios Sobre Educacion is the property of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, S.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Reading and math skills development among Finnish primary school children before and after COVID-19 school closure.

This study quantified the possible learning losses in reading and math skills among a sample of Finnish Grade 3 children (n = 198) who spent 8 weeks in distance learning during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. We compared their reading and math skill development trajectories across Grades 1, 2, and 4 to a pre-COVID sample (N = 378). We also examined if gender, parental education, maternal homework involvement, and child's task-avoidant behavior predict children's academic skills at Grade 4 differently in the pre-COVID sample compared with the COVID sample. Children's reading and math skills were tested, mothers reported their education and homework involvement, and teachers rated children's task-avoidant behavior. The results showed, on average, lower reading skills in the COVID sample than in the pre-COVID sample but there were no differences in math skills. Although the COVID sample had lower levels in reading, their developmental trajectories in reading and math skills were not different from the pre-COVID sample before the pandemic in Grades 1 and 2. From Grade 2 to 4, however, the development was slower in reading fluency and comprehension in the COVID sample, but not in math. The predictors of change from Grade 2 to 4 in reading and math skills were not different in the samples. The results showed that the development of reading skills in particular may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.