Monday, March 16, 2015

Redefining Homework in the Modern Language Classroom

Description of Student Work

Students are expected to use the online program Memrise Students are expected to use the online program Memrise to practice for French class.  Through the program students practice with teacher-created content.  Students can add pictures to help them remember the concepts, review material that they are currently learning, have learned, and will learn.  Students earn points for correctly using the material.  Students can compete with each other to see who can earn the most points.

Screenshots of Memrise Content


Example of words to learn
 Example of how vocabulary is presented to students

Example question

Example of Leaderboard


How this fits with SAM-R

Memrise helps redefine homework for students.  Without technology, students would practice with the material in workbooks or creating flashcards.  Students who wanted to study with someone else would have to go to that person's house.

With Memrise, students can get tailored help with their studying.  The program identifies which words each student does not know and repeats those words more often according scientific research about the memory curve..  This is something that would be nearly impossible for students to do without the aid of technology.

Memrise awards students points for answering a question correctly.  More points are given to words that students need to review, as opposed to words that they already know well.  This feature allows for students to quantify the amount of time and quality of studying the students are doing.  This is something that they could not show without technology.  This feature also allows students to compete with each to see who gets the most points; another feature that is not available with traditional studying.

Overall, using Memrise for homework helps redefine the works that students.  Now, students and teachers can get valuable feedback about the quality of studying that is happening at home.  Students can feel more empowered about what they are studying at home as they receive information about what they know in a way that would not be possible without technology.


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