Homework Overload

 Matthew R. Lucas

 Overview

This case study examines the relationship among student cognitive load, teacher pedagogy, and  teacher collaboration.  The materials presented during the MEd in learning and instruction are examined with the end result of finding solutions to mitigate the harmful effects of teaching methodologies that negatively affect learning.

Abstract

The most pressing challenge is that students, most of whom are already busy working, are overwhelmed with an unreasonable amount of math homework and find it difficult to find time or focus for verbal homework, which commonly requires more of their attention than does math homework.  It appears as though math teachers equate assigning as much homework as possible to teaching well, but it is important to take into account the busy lives of our learners.  I believe this problem stems from the lack of a uniform pedagogy and the lack of teacher collaboration at my organization.

One possible cause of this predicament is the flawed teacher training at Kalvirs.  The training employed  consists of a basic understanding of the lesson material, but skips methods of lesson delivery.  Just because a person knows grammar or math and is aware of some of the tricks featured on the GMAT exam does not mean that this person con effectively teach the material. It is important to consider that math is not the only skill tested on the GMAT, and students must divide their attention between both sections in order to do well on the exam.  I believe that the training given at my workplace should include standard pedagogy, including a reasonable amount of homework; if students are taking both math and verbal classes, there should be a reasonable balance of homework assignments between the two subjects.  A uniform pedagogy would allow teachers of both sections of the GMAT to teach similarly, taking into account the entire exam instead of only focusing on 1 section.

Another possible cause of this issue is the lack of teacher collaboration at Kalvirs.  All of the teachers appear to simply improvise during their 90-minute preparation sessions without coordination with administration nor with other teachers.  The modus operandi of Kalvirs needs to include collaboration among math teachers, verbal teachers, and administration.  There needs to be a balance between the amount of homework assigned by math teachers and the amount of homework assigned by verbal teachers to ensure that students can prepare for the entire GMAT exam proportionately instead of disproportionately.