What does Homework Look like for Vanier College Teachers?
Teachers are the driving force of our nation. They educate the future leaders of the world! With all the classes and students they tend to, they to have ”homework”. So, The Insider decided to interview a few teachers to find out what that looks like.
On a day-to-day basis, what does “homework” look like for you?
J. G. Toney (History)
“Homework keeps me pretty busy on a regular basis, and requires consistent attention and effort throughout the semester. Probably more now than when I was a student myself! But it’s truly a labor of love. Daily in-class assignments pile up fast, in addition to larger and more substantive work like exams, essays, projects, etc., which require more time and attention. Just like it is for students, the key is organization and planning—otherwise we’re both up at 2:00a.m. writing and correcting homework (and I’m getting too old for that!)” (Toney,2025).
J. Stratford-Abbott (Physical Education)
“I have a lot of prep and assignment creation before the semester starts and in the final third of the semester, I have a ton of corrections. During the last part of the semester,, I’ll do 30 minutes to 2 hours of correcting during office hours, 2 to 3 times per week. Then there’s a final push after classes are done, usually spread over a few days” (Stratford-Abbott, 2025).
M. Garmaise (English)
“What homework looks like for me is mountains of grading; planning, reviewing, and revising content for upcoming lessons; editing and drafting assignments and exams for three classes; reading and responding to student MIOs and Vanier messages sent to my Vanier Webmail. No doubt I left lots more out” (Garmaise, 2025).
What does the homework you assign students look like?
M. Lynch (English)
“I give students a week to complete the work and remind them to consider the ponderation of the homework. I give practice work in class and the homework is to complete the practice. I try to take away the idea of a mark being associated with it because I think there can be more of a temptation to cheat. I try to help them recognize it’s for their own benefit, even if they don’t always get a grade” (Lynch, 2025).
H. Roffey (Biology)
“The homework given helps them prepare for tests as well as achieve the learning outcomes. I allow for the homework to be done in groups considering they complete it after a lab where they are already separated into groups. However, I do assign individual homework when it comes to review for concepts for tests regarding the theory part of the course” (Roffey, 2025).
Do you tend to assign the same assignments year-after-year or do you come up with something new for each semester?
J. G. Toney (History)
“A little bit of both. If the assignment works as intended, I’ll reuse it as long as it is still relevant to do so. However, from one semester to the next, I am continuously revising as I go. Every class is unique, and I’ll make slight adjustments along the way to accommodate the particularities of each group. I try to keep it interesting (and relevant!) for the students and for me” (Toney,2025).
J. Stratford-Abbott (Physical Education)
“I re-use 80% of my assignments each semester. Typically, I’ll update the assignment instructions to account for some common student errors. I try a couple new assignments and usually a whole new course each semester. I do this because of the evolving need of the students, the changes in technology such as AI, and to keep things interesting for myself” (Stratford-Abbott, 2025).
M. Garmaise (English)
“I often carry over assignments from year to year because the questions and instructions which I design are suitable for me and the needs of my courses. When I teach two sections of the same course, I usually give different assignments, especially those which are heavily weighted, to different sections. It often happens that two friends are taking two sections of the same course, so it helps maintain academic integrity” (Garmaise, 2025).
M. Lynch (English)
“I assign the same types of assignments, but I’ve made some changes over the years for variety for myself. Other times I make little tweaks on assignments to improve, but the general format is often similar” (Lynch, 2025).
H. Roffey (Biology)
“I tend to assign the same assignments year-after-year because I’ve invested so much time into them and they are aligned with the learning objectives, so they work well. If students don’t do the work, it’s hard to do well on the tests. However, in the past I’ve changed or adjusted the assignment needing improvement. It’s difficult to put in the time to make new ones” (Roffey, 2025).
How Does AI affect the homework you assign?
J. G. Toney (History)
“The accessibility of AI increasingly affects course planning and assignments. I’ve had to revise assignments and devise more creative approaches to account for the ubiquity of AI and platforms like ChatGPT. But as my students often allege, AI can also be a useful tool, so I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate it into my curriculum. Now, if only it would do my homework!” (Toney,2025).
J. Stratford-Abbott (Physical Education)
“It has changed what type of assignments I give. I previously gave out more reflection and critical thinking assignments. Now, I try to craft homework that is less easily completed by LLMs” (Stratford-Abbott, 2025).
M. Garmaise (English)
“I do not assign much homework, because of AI. The only way I know that I am seeing honest, unadulterated English writing is when my students write it in the classroom with no access to the internet” (Garmaise, 2025).
M. Lynch (English)
“I have them do less writing at home and the the writing that they do at home is often not graded for content. If it was, I think it feeds the temptation to fall back on AI. Instead, I have them do journal writing, personal reflections, annotations on their readings, or writing that’s more personal. Some of their homework is also done on a Google Doc so that I can see the history of the document” (Lynch, 2025).
H. Roffey (Biology)
“To avoid AI I make them take screenshots of their references so that I can see what they are reading and interpreting. This also makes it easier for me to help them out. Their homework are scientific papers and without doing the work, it’s hard to understand” (Roffey, 2025).
Do you find yourself working on school related tasks at home?
J. G. Toney (History)
“Yes, I often work at home, though there are certainly fewer distractions in my office at school. The ability to “work from anywhere” can be both a blessing and a curse. But my daughters will provide timely reminders and welcomed interventions when they feel I’ve been working too much at home. Speaking of which, now back to Roblox…!” (Toney, 2025).
J. Stratford-Abbott (Physical Education)
“Yes, even though I try to do the majority of my work at the college, I will inevitably do some work at home. This is particularly true of my work connected to intensive courses because I don’t have the time to complete it all at work” (Stratford-Abbott, 2025).
M. Garmaise (English)
“I work mostly at home because most of my books and paper files are at home. And I have no printer in my office. I do not spend a lot of time in my office, but when I come to Vanier to teach, I always check if there are any telephone messages on my office phone. Some employees find a positive social dimension to spending more time on campus, but I do not. I like my office-mate and my other colleagues but I don’t hang out with them” (Garmaise, 2025).
M. Lynch (English)
“I come in on the days I teach, but I do my work at home. I almost always work on Sundays for two to five hours and I try not to work after 6p.m. on weekdays. Oftentimes, I have no choice but to work at home to return graded assignments to students so they can receive feedback” (Lynch, 2025).
H. Roffey (Biology)
“No, because once you’ve taught a course for so many years, the main task left is grading. If you’ve already prepared and your power point lecture, labs and homework are already designed, then all you really have to do is grade. The benefit of this is that it allows me to put more time into meeting with students and grading” (Roffey, 2025).
Is there some advice you would like to share with your colleagues regarding their “homework”?
J. Stratford-Abbott (Physical Education)
“Ask ChatGPT to complete your assignments before giving them to students. Assume most of them will do it that way, then change your broken assignment.
“Consider the student’s experience of doing the assignment and what they’ll actually learn while doing it. Don’t forget the point of it… educating young adults.
“Do the assignment yourself to see how if feels.
If more than 5 students do it wrong, it’s not a problem with the students, it’s a problem with your assignment instructions” (Stratford-Abbott, 2025).
M. Lynch (English)
“Teachers need to be more realistic about how long it takes to correct and grade assignments. We often fall into this trap of thinking we’ll get better and faster, but that’s not always the case. It takes the time it takes. We need to be as realistic with time management as we ask students to be” (Lynch, 2025).
H. Roffey (Biology)
“We need to know that all of the students and teachers are doing homework and we need to be aware of how many hours students are spending on our assignments and consider the time they spend for their other courses as well” (Roffey, 2025).
The Insider would like to thank all the teachers who took the time to answer our questions. We wish them all a good semester and would like to thank them for what they do!
