Online homework is a great way to give students more opportunities to practise what they’ve learned. But like any homework, it works best when students know what’s expected, teachers can see what’s happening and the routine is easy to stick to.
We’ve helped thousands of schools implement online homework. Here are five things we’ve seen make a real difference.
1. Make it a routine
The schools that get the most from online homework tend to make it a predictable part of the week. That might mean setting homework on the same day every week so students know what to expect and teachers don’t have to spend time reminding everyone what they’re supposed to be doing.
A simple appraoch could look like:
- A core homework quiz every week
- Non-core subjects every two weeks
- Homework set on the same day each week
- A consistent expectation for how long it should take
The exact routine will depend on your school and timetable. What matters most is that it’s clear and consistent.
“We set every Friday, and the homework’s due the following Friday, and we follow up in every case when it’s not done, so we’ve got that routine embedded with our pupils and our parents. There are no surprises; they know what to expect.”Jane Greenham-Smith, Cams Hill School
2. Keep it manageable
For online quizzes, we’ve found that around 20 questions can be a useful sweet spot. It’s enough to give students meaningful retrieval practice without making the task feel overwhelming.
It’s also important to set realistic expectations for scores. Online homework is an opportunity to practise and find out what students know not a test they’re expected to get 100% on every time. A student getting questions wrong isn’t necessarily a sign that the homework hasn’t worked. Those responses can show where knowledge is less secure and where more practice might be useful.
Keep the task short, the expectations clear and the focus on practice rather than perfection.
3. Use the results
You don’t need to spend hours analysing every homework task. Instead, look for the things that are useful for your next teaching decision:
- Lots of students struggling with the same topic? It might be worth revisiting it with the whole class.
- A few students struggling? They may need some additional support or practice.
- Students consistently getting certain types of questions wrong? That could highlight a misconception or knowledge gap worth addressing.
Online homework makes this easier because you can see more than whether a student has simply handed something in. You get a clearer picture of how students performed.
4. Make the first one easy
Introducing a new homework routine doesn’t have to mean sending students home with instructions and hoping they figure it out.
One simple approach is to complete the first quiz together in tutor time or a lesson. Students can practise logging in, finding their homework and completing a quiz while you’re there to help. It also means everyone starts with the same understanding of what’s expected.
A few minutes spent setting up the routine can save a lot of reminders later.
5. Agree what good looks like across your department
A few clear expectations can make online homework much easier to manage.
Agree things like:
- How often homework should be set
- Roughly how long it should take
- What happens if a student doesn’t complete it
- How teachers will follow up on missed homework
- How results will be used to inform teaching
This helps make sure online homework is being used consistently across the department rather than every teacher developing their own approach.
Want more ideas for getting started?
If you’re introducing online homework this year, our September launch guide has more practical tips for getting students, teachers and parents into a routine from the start.
See how other schools are using Educake
Ian Blake, Head of Science at The Wilnecote School, shares how his department uses repeated quizzes to strengthen knowledge recall, setting clear expectations for students to retake quizzes until they reach 70%.
Jen Taylor, Curriculum Leader for Science at Woodchurch High School, shares how Educake helped her team create a new kind of positive feedback loop – the success cycle.
Improving the quality, consistency and completion of homework
Luke Whiting, Head of Science at Carre’s Grammar School in Lincolnshire, shares how his department uses Educake to make homework more consistent, improve completion rates and support retrieval practice without adding to teachers’ workload.
