Hello, my name is Hillary VanSpronsen and I am a faculty member at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine.
I have been using Hawkes software for almost 10 years in various math classes, including Precalculus and Calculus. If you are like me, you may be onboarding several new instructors or you yourself may be new to using Hawkes software. Here are some tips for supporting student success with Hawkes.
Support Starts on Day 1
At the beginning of each term, I spend about 5 minutes having students log in to the Hawkes platform; I’ve found that students who log onto Hawkes early are far more likely to complete their first homework on time because they have the chance to familiarize themselves with the platform before any work is due. During this time I highlight features students will see and follow up on any questions they have, and any pointers from faculty for a successful start.
Tip from Hawkes: Have students watch Dashboard and Beyond for a quick intro to the platform!
Before the first assignment, remind students often of the best ways to use Hawkes. Let them know that they should start in Practice mode, preferably doing the entire assignment, and move to Certify only after they feel confident with the material. Even after they have certified, they should complete the remainder of the questions to make sure they’ve seen everything. When issues arise and students have questions, remind them that Practice mode is a good place to revisit.
Responding to Student Concerns
In the past 20 years, I have used most major competitors for online mathematics software. I have found Hawkes to be the most intuitive, the most user friendly from both student and faculty perspective, and overall, the best value. This message is one we reinforce consistently to students throughout the term, making it clear that we, as faculty, value what Hawkes brings to them.
In my experience, most student complaints about the software actually stem from real problem-solving mistakes or misconceptions that would also have also given them trouble on a paper assignment—with Hawkes however, they have the opportunity to correct those mistakes and learn from them in real time. If we are gentle but consistent about having students correct their own mistakes, while also having a positive attitude about the platform, students will have a more positive outlook on the value Hawkes offers as well.
Learning at Their Own Pace
Hawkes makes it seamless for students to work at their own pace because they can start an assignment, pause, and resume later. You can choose to allow unlimited pauses to the Certify attempts as well. It can be beneficial for students to be able to walk away, think, tend to personal business, attend another class, or anything they might have going in their world.
Save Yourself Time & Effort
From the instructor’s standpoint, one tool I recommend to help students stay on track is setting auto reminders from Hawkes. I prefer to set a reminder to send to students if they have not completed the assignment by 24 hours prior to their due date, and again if they are more than five days late. The best feature of these reminders is that I can push those notifications to myself as well, helping me see at a glance who has not completed an assignment. This saves a lot of time and effort.
Most importantly, as an instructor using Hawkes, it’s helpful if we complete the homework ourselves in student mode. It provides insight for tips that we can pass to students!
I hope that you find these tips helpful and I wish you a successful semester using Hawkes!
Recent posts