Homework process improvement- what's in it for the teachers?

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Hello,
I am working on the development of my startup. It's an internet based system aimed at improving homework process in a way that will enhance learning and be fun for the kids.
It's supposed to be a free membership site. Nothing like any of the familiar homework assisting sites that your students may be using. One of the objects is to tackle the phenomena of the "google students" or the "wikipedia students"...

The question I am stuck with right now is - what's in it for the teachers?

Can you help me?
Can you guess what's in it for the teachers or simply express your wants, needs and especially dreams such a tool may supply?

[mwnm]

we've been doing a lot of work on our virtual learning environment - putting course specific materials on there and we're hoping to set and receive homework over it in the not to distant... in this way we've been hoping to remove the need for trawling the web - whilst the kids seem to be good at general surfing they aren't very good at finding targetted info... research skills etc are poor... even today I had to show a load of 11 year olds how to use a reference book to find out information

what I think you almost need is a del.ici.ous kind of thing thats full of links to info thats at the right level and is easily searched by course/level/keyword tags by the pupils... then you can aim your kids there as a starting point... I think its important that they still have to learn some researching skills, after all its not just about giving them the answers...

The other problem is getting something online to help them with the higher order thinking skills needed to reach the higher levels of learning... if they have to apply or evaluate information then I don't see many ways the web can help - its a tool to find information, not a tool to help you think...?

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I know that there are plenty of sites around which offer help in homework either by offering a list of links or content (mainly paid).
The problem is that the links' sites usually link to other links' sites and do not supply the needed help.
The problems with the content sites is that a- most of the content is paid and b-the content is often supplied as a ready made answer, essay etc. - so eventually, it help the student deliver the homework but it doesn't help the learning process - nor the research skills you have mentioned.