Online homework in the 21st century

NEVER in my wildest imagination did I ever thought that one day my daughter will no longer be "taking home" her assignment in class, but that it would be waiting for her at home when she comes from school each day.

Gone are the loads of homework from different subjects that were written on notebooks.

And by the way, “notebook” nowadays is not what it used to be, since a very handy one which is even smaller than the big bulky 90+ pages can contain billions of pages in a matter of seconds.

Take note also that there are just an increasing number of children who tag along their Notebooks (PC) in class, not only to record their daily activities, but rather to find, at their fingertips in a matter of minutes, everything that they needed to learn as required by their subjects.

I have a sneaking feeling that the teacher would one day be considered passé too, considering the speed at which traditional education has evolved.

One night, I noticed my daughter seemingly agitated in front of the desktop at home.
She said she was just doing her homework online, in a program called GENYO, which is currently adopted by her school as part of their educational instructions. What she was actually trying to do was finish her assignment online, which she said has a time limit.

She was having some difficulty when she said the page she has been working with was seemingly not moving. And so I suggested for her to text or send a private message to her classmates who were also online at that time. It appeared that her classmates were probably busy and were not able to attend to her at once, and she was beginning to get worried as the time limit of her assignment was ticking close to finish.

Seeing the timer on screen, I became concerned also. Then it hit me that this thing on the computer screen was getting the better of her, including me. So I told her to just take it easy as computer programs are not perfect, and that she only need to ask help from her teacher adviser. But I could sense that she was very agitated to the point that it’s driving her nuts, worried that she might get zero on that particular subject.

That was the last straw, I told myself, as I declared that I would have to see her Grade 7 instructor why these things seems to be not helping my daughter at all. And then she told me that her problem was already solved, and that she was unnecessarily agitated.

Now, perhaps she had found a way out of her difficulties for a while, but what bothers me was that she had been exposed to the internet/computer more than the two-hour limit that we are imposing as a rule at home. For her, perhaps, it was just a matter of finding a way out of the small quagmire as part of their lesson, but for me, it was definitely something else.

A question has started to bug me since, hence, even if I have attended the orientation on how GENYO works, as it was touted to work wonders with kids learning for some time now. Perhaps there is just the need to keep myself updated on these things too, as we, parents are supposed to do in monitoring the children’s development with their scholastic and academic performances.

Good for us, perhaps, who has found a way to connect in the World Wide Web at home.

How about those kids whose parents cannot afford to have their own PCs? Where are they supposed to do their online assignments at night? There would be no other option but the neighborhood internet cafe, perhaps... but what about the risks that they could be facing in doing their homework outside the home?

These and many other questions, I admit, are now beginning to hound me. Maybe things are not really as problematic the way I see it. Still, I am hopeful.