Writing Over Typing

Have you ever thought about how the human race is slowly but surely, losing the skill of writing? Or that the distractions that a computer holds are sometimes irresistible, therefore decreasing the efficiency of the work that we do? Or that you could irreversibly lose IQ points because of these distractions? Well these are all proven facts, and the horrible truth is that this could have a major effect on how the future generations can read, and how knowledgeable they turn out to be.

Writing helps stimulate the human brain in many ways, that typing and using computers to complete simple tasks simply don’t. Scientists believe that with writing becoming less and less popular with the human race, the ability of future generations can possibly be hindered, according to Anne Chemin. In this same article, ‘Handwriting vs typing: is the pen still mightier than the keyboard’, she wrote that in the June of 2014, a British survey of 2000 people went out, and 1 out of every 3 people who responded, said that they had not written anything by hand in the past six months. On top of that, she says, “Cursive writing – in which the pen is not raised between each character – has been dropped from the Common Core Curriculum Standards, shared by all states.” Additionally, writing notes by hand has been proven to help further improve your understanding on the topic at hand. This is because writing works your brain more, as it’s slower to write, allowing the information to get to your brain, whereas when you type, you type fast, and this is merely putting words with no meaning onto the screen.

Using laptops also hold the risk of getting distracted, and can offer much more temptation to multitask, which, according Larry Kim, is very unhealthy for us, as our brains are designed to focus on one thing at a time, which unfortunately means that multitasking lowers the quality of your work and your efficiency. It also leaves you mentally exhausted, because of the stress hormone, cortisol, that is being released. Humans have a naturally occurring tendency to take shortcuts, which is, as stated, scientifically proven to be very deleterious to our brains. Furthermore, using laptops to simply take notes during class, or whilst watching a video can obstruct your ability to learn the very possibly important things that you are being taught. Personally, I feel this as I am very tempted to take notes on my laptop, but I find that when I take notes in a notebook or on a piece of paper, I can remember more of what is being taught.

Along with distractions, focus problems, and the lack of brain stimulus, eye problems and loss of IQ points are also some problems associated with doing a lot of digital work. It is a proven fact that grown men can lose 15 IQ points from multitasking, and this can bring their brain level down to that of an eight-year-old. These changes can sometimes be irreversible. Moreover, two common eye problems, computer vision syndrome and digital eye strain, are both caused by your eyes not getting enough movement, as all the major movement can happen with the swipe of two fingers on the trackpad, which doesn’t stimulate your brain to move your eyes, whereas when you read books, and write on larger pieces of paper, your eyes have to move more, to see what you are doing or where you are reading. “According to a 2015 survey by The Vision Council, 65 percent of American adults reported having symptoms of digital eye strain.” Over time, with the use of laptops and electronic devices increasing, the amount of people with the computer vision syndrome and digital eye strain has also increased. (Heiting, 2016)

As well as having all these unhealthy and distracting components, computers and electronic handhelds can also provide a whole selection of helpful and useful elements, such as the wonderful google, quick communications, and a quick way to do just about anything. They also save your expenses on paper and pencils, with various choices of online unlimited storage, hard drive storage, going to save the planet.

All in all, I feel as though computers should not be a crutch for students to lean on to do their homework, but instead a learning tool for them to use for small things.

- "Multitasking Is Killing Your Brain." Observer. N.p., 02 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

- Chemin, Anne. "Handwriting vs Typing: Is the Pen Still Mightier than the Keyboard?" The Guardian. N.p., n.d. Web.

- "4 Benefits of Handwriting Notes Vs. Typing on Laptops - Zebra Pen." Zebra Pen. N.p., 02 Sept. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

- "Computer Vision Syndrome and Digital Eye Strain." All About Vision. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Homework Balance

In a world where students are receiving increasing pressure to perform well academically, one of the biggest points of arguments that this pressure shows up is in homework. For many students, this drudgery seems like a torturous repetition of the already long school day. But even the students who hate homework most seem to acknowledge that there is some benefit to doing homework. In fact, for many students homework is a necessary reinforcement of concepts learnt at school through practice. But what is really going on? Is homework a great tool for students to continue learning even at home, or is it just an enormous time sink in the lives of already busy students? The evidence seems to say that schools should not give too much homework to students as this can cause stress, lack of personal time, and lessened interest in academics. Instead, schools should occasionally assign a small amount of balanced and relevant homework based on the individual student’s needs. This paper will argue in favour of a balanced and differentiated approach to homework, that hones in on the needs of individual students without overwhelming others with the unnecessary workload.

The first reason students should not receive too much homework is that it can cause stress. According to Youki Terada, a research trend tracker who holds a Master’s in Education and has studied educational research, one of the biggest drawbacks of homework is the fact that it can cause “...physical and emotional fatigue…” (Terada, 2015). He also mentions that homework “...can cut into sleep time…” and “...can increase pressure from parents to perform well…” The fact that we see homework causing fatigue and actually cutting into sleep time for students shows that there is a problem here. What is most important to see is that the homework that causes the most stress is rote memorisation homework - similar repeated exercises with only small amounts of changes. These repeated exercises tend to be, from my and other students’ experiences, very tedious and long tasks that are unhelpful to learning reinforcement. All this kind of homework does is cause stress without benefit. Instead, what should happen is a small but focused amount of homework - for example, according to Monica Fuglei, an adjunct faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, effective mathematics homework “...should have a small number of varied exercises.” (Fuglei, 2013). The small amount prevents any possibility of stress while the varied exercises are even more effective for students to reinforce understanding and make analytical connections between concepts.

The second reason students should not receive too much homework is that it takes away from personal time. According to Trevor Pilgrim, a retired Principal of The Lodge School (a secondary/high school in Barbados), homework often “...disturbs family life…” and “...keeps them [students] up late at night…” (Pilgrim, 2013). He also says that it is important for students to “...relax, play and pursue sports and hobbies…”. These are major issues with homework, and how much time students have to spend on them. According to Terada, the average High School Student spends almost seven hours a week doing homework. Doing the calculations (not including weekends, which under most normal circumstances should be free for all students) that means students spend 1.4 hours a day doing homework. After a long, seven hour school day and co-curricular activities or sports for most students, 1.4 hours can often be the 1.4 hours before bed. There isn’t even time for them to go talk with their family or relax! This can often contribute again to feelings of fatigue, tiredness and stress in students - according to Antranik, a personal health trainer, “Stress and the lack of time go hand in hand. When we feel we don’t have enough time, we often panic!” (Antranik, 2013). One of the contributors to this problem is the fact that many teachers, especially in Middle and High schools underestimate what they call a “twenty minute task”. After a school day, student’s minds are tired and this task can take up to thirty minutes. Multiply that by four and we get two hours of homework. This is way too much - some teachers may not completely understand the busy lives of students. However, this can be fixed - homework that is set with outside activities, extra time and the three other pieces of homework from in mind, combined with effective homework practices like varied exercises and relevant work can make homework less of a time sink and more of a helpful tool to foster student learning.

The third reason students should receive less homework is because it can decrease interest in academics. Already mentioned is the problem of most homework being tedious rote memorisation. No student enjoys these kinds of tasks and might end up viewing academical knowledge as mostly just memorised information of no relevance to their own lives. Akshat Jain, a student from UWCSEA has mentioned that with regards to rote math practice, he “...feels frustrated, annoyed and angry with this kind of homework. I think this kind of homework is quite useless for my personal learning.” And it isn’t just him. Many students cry out similar complaints, and the evidence backing up these complaints is definitely stable - many students forget things within a summer of learning them because they have no interest in committing these things to memory. While some skeptics will say that learning to do things that are unenjoyable is an inevitable part of life, this is only true up to a certain extent, and after that, it can, in fact, be a detriment to student learning. Academics on their own in school already seem irrelevant and detached - according to a survey conducted on LiveScience.com, two out of three High School students report that they are bored in class every day, and 75% reporting that they do not find the material they are learning interesting (Bryner, 2007) - and homework is definitely not helping to correct this image.

So what can be done to fix this? Eliminating homework is not an option. John Bishop, author of the book Goal Setting for Students mentioned many important benefits of homework in his article entitled Ten Benefits of Homework. The most prominent include how homework “...teaches students about time management...how to set priorities...how to problem solve...how to work independently…” (Bishop, n.d.). These are things that can’t be learned elsewhere but are important life skills that students must eventually understand one way or the other. By eliminating homework, we throw the baby out with the bathwater. What is important for homework is that we don’t set too much of it, and what we do set is “...engaging, relevant, and supports learning…” (Terada, 2015). The best way to do this lies in several answers. Fuglei lists these examples: the flipped classroom - “...where students engage the lecture material outside of the classroom and then classroom time is dedicated to what would have been homework under the traditional setup. Teachers are then free to allow students to work in groups or individually, visiting each group and testing their mastery along the way.”, spaced repetition - “Spaced repetition covers and revisits material over time in ways that traditional homework has not, revisiting material that has been covered in the recent and distant past to reinforce a student’s knowledge base.”, and retrieval practice - “Retrieval practice can lead to interesting assignments like the role-playing homework described in “How to Create Effective Homework,” in which students adopted a historical persona. Their drive to maintain their character extended into their motivation for completing homework.” The flipped classroom is the most effective way to do this but requires a lot of logistical changes to happen. On the other hand, spaced repetition is something that can be easily implemented into the current homework regiment. Retrieval practice is something that can be done both in and out of class - one example being that of our school, where in Humanities Class, we engage with history through role-playing, like acting out the various parts of the Feudal System, exploring the differences between the English Longbow and the French Crossbow during the Hundred Years’ War by having a simulated battle, and learning about the Age of Exploration by role-playing a selected explorer. These are examples which many students can attest to enjoying, myself included, but yet we learn so much from them. Critics will argue that much of the benefit of homework has been lost by changing its format, and while this may be true in some scenarios, such as standardised testing where rote learning is what is most necessary, for other types of learning like skill development, this type of homework is much more effective. When it comes to assigning effective homework, there is no excuse - teachers are spoilt for choices.

In conclusion, homework is a widely but incorrectly used tool. While there are many benefits and positives to be derived from it, right now, it is overused, as can be seen through its damaging effects on students - effects like stress, detraction of time and boredom. But homework is at the same time a tool with great potential for improving student learning - it has many benefits for rote learning and things which cannot be done in class, as well as providing teachers with a progress chart for viewing their students on. While others claim that the only solution to this problem is to eliminate homework, I contend that that is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and that the true solution for most cases is to instead change the amount of homework quantitatively, and change how it is done qualitatively - so that there is less homework that is more relevant, personalised and interesting for students. This is something that must be done - homework can only be most effective when assigned in a differentiated and balanced manner and it is important for students to get their learning in the most effective manner, so this must be implemented in whatever way possible.

Bibliography

1. Bishop, John. "10 Benefits of Homework." HotChalk Lesson Plans Page. HotChalk Lesson Plans Page, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
2. Fuglei, Monica. "Ending the Homework Debate: Expert Advice on What Works." Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 28 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016
3. Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
4. Terada, Youki. "Research Trends: Why Homework Should Be Balanced."Edutopia. Edutopia, 31 July 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
5. Bryner, Jeanna. "Most Students Bored at School." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 28 Feb. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
6. Antranik. "Time and Stress." Antranikorg. N.p., 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.