How Class Tasks make homework less work

Holly Bradshaw, Curriculum Leader for Science at Marple Hall School, spoke to us about how Class Tasks are giving students confidence and helping overall with homework at her school.

“When I saw the email explaining what Class Tasks were I instantly knew that it was going to be something we were very interested in because the only aspect to Tassomai that we had found to be a little bit frustrating was that there was no feature where we could set something very specific that we wanted to test the students on.

We've seen phenomenal results with the retrieval practice and interleaving side of Tassomai, and the way the algorithm tailors to pupils, but it's nice to have some reliable data to show that pupils have learned something specific from a lesson one week and we can test them on it as and when we want, rather than it just coming up at random.

This year we've changed our homework policy to make it mandatory that all teachers have to set a Class Task each week alongside the four Daily Goals. If we now see a big change in grades then the only thing that has changed is using Class Tasks in Tassomai. We've not had any staff changes, nothing has changed in the syllabus or the way we teach it. So if there's a positive change then I’d say that it is largely, if not solely, down to Class Tasks.

What do students think of Tassomai?

It's been much more popular with students than some of the other platforms that we have used in the past. We weren’t using Tassomai properly when we first implemented it and I think the kids picked up on that and they weren’t massively engaged, but since we've done more we’ve really seen the benefit. The buy-in has been phenomenal and I think it’s starting to filter down from year 11 to 10, and so on. They are seeing a lot of success and finding it is translating to their exams results as well.

Obviously Tassomai is quick and simple and they can do it wherever and whenever they want to, which has always been something that's been popular, but we also try to run incentives at school as well. We reward pupils who are most consistent, or most improved – trying different approaches to keep them consistent.

Success leads to more success

By giving students Class Tasks as part of their homework each week, where they get an accessible resource that they can either read or watch to help them, they're already feeling some success before they even start to do the rest of the Daily Goals. We are now also seeing a bigger number of Daily Goals completed and an increase in the overall accuracy.

But even more impressively, in the lower ability and foundation classes, we are seeing a sharp increase in homework being done and hopefully that leads to more success because of that, so that's definitely been a huge win-win.

Data-driven insight to direct teaching

Class Tasks give us some very quick and reliable feedback on how pupils have dealt with a lesson that we've recently done and they highlight if there's anything that needs to be retaught, or a misconception that's come up. It’s fairly clear from the data, particularly if you get a lot of people who are getting the same answer wrong.

Again, for lower ability classes or those students who are more reluctant to do their homework, if they feel like they're going to be successful on the most recent aspects of what they've been doing in class then they're more likely to give the rest of the Daily Goals a go. And a proper go, rather than just clicking and not thinking about it and just going through the motions. It’s giving pupils that feeling of achievement, which then leads to them engaging better as a whole.

Bite-sized practice makes permanent

It’s amazing what a difference retrieval practice makes across the whole school, with pupils getting that constant feedback and being shown topics that they've done very recently. With Class Tasks, there is a real benefit to being able to test that and it's really engaging the students.

Class Tasks are a really nice length being only 12 questions, and there's one resource for them to watch or look at that's a nice bite-sized, chunk and it lends itself to them doing it on the bus on the way in the morning, or then quickly sitting there and doing it for 15 minutes.

It’s little and often, it's manageable, it's on something that they know that they can achieve, and then it's more likely to lead them to have a better attitude about homework in general.

Class Tasks Version 2.0

The plans for the Class Tasks update sound brilliant. One Class Task per teacher, per class, per week was a bit of a limitation, and being able to set our own start and end date for each Class Task gives it the flexibility we need in different departments. We love the way the Tassomai team really listens to teachers and takes onboard our ideas and feedback.

Tassomai works, ClassTasks makes it even better

We don’t have any concrete evidence yet on how it’s helping grades but we’ve definitely noticed a drop in the number of sanctions we've had to give out for a lack of homework. We have seen overall the engagement of pupils seeming to increase.

Last year Tassomai wasn't mandatory, but we've now onboarded all of the year 10’s and 11’s so we’re starting to get a few week’s worth of data. Early next year, with more of that data, and after the mock exam results, we can revisit this and give you some more feedback and more concrete data.

Read more about the initial launch of Class Tasks and NEW Class Tasks Version 2.0.