Going paperless provides a unique opportunity for my students to grow as digital citizens. Thinking back to yesterday’s post about ISTE standards, having a paperless class would be the perfect opportunity for students to expand their digital literacy. One way to start going paperless would be through Google Docs. You can share assignments and even send grades back electronically using various Google Apps. Teaching students to use applications like Google Docs helps develop a basic understanding of technology and the cloud. It promotes collaboration, prevents mistakes like forgetting to save or the “my dog ate my homework” excuse.
There certainly are some restraints like having one device for every child. Unfortunately this prevents me from attempting it at my current school but a partially paperless class is still better than a Y2K classroom. There are ways around 1:1 devices like BYOD and everyone learned to share in Kindergarten right? Okay, well maybe not in Korea but there are still ways to jump on board the digital revolution. It will only help you and your students to give it a try!
