The other day I was talking to a school administrator about an upcoming hands-on workshop and she asked if I could e-mail her the schedule to handout the morning of the event. For some strange reason I just said “Nope. No paper.”
After a short silence, she said, “Oh…ok.”
“No, I mean it,” I said. “We’re going to be spending the whole day online; there is no reason to bring paper.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“No paper,” she said, thinking, finally adding “How exciting!”
Now I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of no paper as exciting, necessarily, but I continue to find myself more and more eschewing paper of just about any kind in my life. My newspaper/magazine intake is down to nearly zero, every note I take is stored somewhere in the cloud via my computer or iPhone, I rarely write checks, pay paper bills or even carry cash money any longer, and I swear I could live without a printer except for the times when someone demands a signed copy of something or other. (Admittedly, I still read lots of paper books, but I’m working on that.)
Yet just about everywhere I go where groups of educators are in the room, paper abounds. Notebooks, legal pads, sticky notes, index cards…it’s everywhere. We are, as Alan November so often says, “paper trained,” and the worst part is it shows no signs of abating.
At one planning session I was in a few weeks ago, twenty people were all furiously scribbling down notes on their pads, filling page after page after page. The same notes, 20 times. (I’d love to know where those notes are now.) At the end of the session, I gave everyone a TinyUrl to a wiki page where I had stowed my observations and asked them to come in and add anything I missed. Two people have.
At the end of a presentation a few days ago with a couple of hundred pen and paper note taking attendees (and the odd laptop user sprinkled here and there) I answered a question about “What do we do now?” by saying “Well, first off, it’s a shame that the collective experience of the people in this room is about to walk off in two hundred different directions without any way to share and reflect on the thinking they’ve been doing all day. Next year, no paper.”
I don’t think most were excited.
It all reminds me of the time last year when I got to an event and the person in charge had copied, collated, stapled and distributed six paper pages that she had printed of my link-filled wiki online to 50 or so participants.
“It’s a wiki,” I said. “You can’t click the links on paper!”
“I know,” she replied. “I just need to have paper.”
Um, no. You don’t.
Does anyone think most of the kids in our classes are going to be printing a bunch of paper in their grown up worlds? If you do, fine; keep servicing the Xerox machine. But if you don’t, which I hope is most of you, are you doing as much as you can to get off paper?
(Photo “Magnus Christensson’s notes” by Jacob Botter.)
Yeah, I don’t like paper either. As a teacher I do all my planning on Google Calendar and Google Docs. I email people stuff, and if people send me paper I send it to Evernote and recycle it.
Someone at school asked me today why doing stuff that’s ICT based takes so long. I replied that au contraire – it’s paper that takes the effort and maintenance. I had to laugh when one teacher who’s particularly technophobic and mocks me about my digital ecosystem lost their school planner and was totally at sea for the day… 😉
Like you, I avoid paper, but because my typing skills are so poor (mea culpa) I usually carry a small notebook. These notes often wind up transcribed to a machine, which I know is a duplication of effort.
When it comes to a workshop/presentation follow-up, nothing beats a blog post, wiki or tag. If no one else uses it, at least it’s there for me.
Maybe we need a tax on paper, as I believe you folks used to have on tea 😉
Not to put too fine a point on the tax on tea versus paper, but historically it was the Stamp Act of 1765 which did require a tax stamp on various forms of paper – legal documents, diplomas, almanacs, broadsides, newspapers and playing cards. This act in many a historian’s view taught the American colonists the rudiments of organization, protest, and put forward the principle of no taxation w/out representation. These lessons in the 1760’s set the stage for protests and rebellion against further acts of the British including the Tea Act of 1773.
Hello, Will,
Interesting frame around this, and I found myself nodding in agreement most of the way through, except for one thing: on a personal level, I find value in a paper notebook as a transitional medium.
At the risk of engaging in narcissistic navel-gazing, in my personal workflow, one of the most valuable tools I have is the old yellow legal pad. It’s where my starting ideas go; ie, it’s where I dump stuff before I put in into a wiki or our groupware.
And for real planning, I still use a couple whiteboards to expand the space offered by the yellow notebook. Reducing paper use is a great goal for reasons related to the environment and efficiency; however, if the frame could be shifted to one of process where we examine where the information ends up, we could start talking about a real shift in how we include, by design, collaboration into our workflow. If the information ends up in a place where it can be easily accessed (good) or easily remixed (better) by anyone, then we have done something good.
Paper is a dead end because it’s a dead end. It’s more difficult to share and distribute. However, as a transitional medium, it has its uses.
Cheers,
Bill
In a way, it’s kind of a moot discussion. I like legal pads and whiteboards, but what if I had a couple wireless tablet PCs and a nice smartboard? I’m sure there’s a witticism in there somewhere about waiting for new technology to catch up with old technology.
It’s only moot if we live in a world where socioeconomic inequalities don’t exist.
The setup you describe is beyond the reach of many schools for both teachers and students. It requires both a technological shift and a paradigm shift, and requires a significant amount of new investment.
The type of shift I describe fits more cleanly within the workflow of schools, and doesn’t require much of an investment, in either new infrastructure or new processes.
And, as I think about this more, the real point centers around how the work can be accessed and reused once it has been stored. Paper offers fewer options than digital, but we all knew that already. Really, it’s about process, and how we can move people toward an end goal.
Cheers,
Bill
I agree, Bill, that there is a very creative sense that comes from pen to paper, and I love to draw my way into ideas sometimes…lots of lines and arrows. But that’s not paper, necessarily. I miss my Tablet PC at times…wish Apple would make one.
My gut reaction was to tell you this is the wrong approach, and I’m a millenial who’s about as techie as they come.
But the more I think about it, the more I think you’re spot on with this. I wanted to say that I like taking notes on paper because I can write text or draw pictures or draw lines connecting or flip to a new page for a new topic, or pick up the paper and start writing immediately, because those are strengths of paper. But flip that idea around…right now, some of those things are weaknesses of computers, but most of them are on their way out. I can make little sketches in most programs. There are lots of programs with lots of ways to indicate a new section for a new topic. Devices like the iPhone are gradually bringing these programs to a platform that can be picked up and used immediately, without waiting a couple minutes for a computer to boot.
And then you have all the things that paper just can’t do: the multimedia, the links, the global access to resources, etc. I used to think that there were tons of cases when a computer couldn’t beat a legal pad. Now there’s just a handful. In a few years (or sooner if you’ve got money to spend) there will be none.
With my Tablet and Verizon wireless card there are no cases where paper trumps computer.
I have the privilege to work with some of the most progressive thinking professional development minds anywhere–the SC Math and Science Coaching Initiative. However, they LOVE chart paper. Reams and reams of the stuff. All over the walls, wherever and whenever they meet. I have set up wikis, tried to model, etc. but they don’t budge. Somehow teachers are such tactile folks. We want to hold it in our hands, place it in a file, add to the cabinet, hang it on a wall–as proof of something–of what can be debated I am sure! Making the transition to use web tools for collaboration is difficult with this highly evolved group–and with classroom teachers I also work with even more so. Wish I knew how to help them “get it”. Thanks for helping me feel not so alone in my quest.
Will,
Just for the sake of historical accuracy, I assure you that Alan November is not the originator of the notion that educators are “paper trained.”
Fred D’Ignazio, the father of student-created multimedia was using the term twenty years ago.
So noted.
Will,
I share your frustration. This year, more than ever, teachers at my school have been burning up the copy machines to the tune of several hundreds of thousands in the 1st quarter of the school year alone. I experience the same looks and dumbfounded expressions when I conduct in-service sessions and do not provide a handout. The first question asked by nearly everyone walking through the door is “Where is the handout?” When I tell them there is no need for a handout because it’s all online, I get the same reaction.
I COMPLETELY agree with you. I have been fighting this battle at my school for the past 6 years. I am the technology coordinator at my school and disseminate information via email. We have many teachers who ignore them or don’t even bother to check their email. I sent out an email to our entire staff recently with information on our new online gradebook. My new principal asked me to print it out and put it in the teacher mail boxes. Not on your life!
You have to get a Kindle. It’s the best new thing I’ve gotten in a long time. It not only has greatly reduced my paper consumption, but it’s increased the quantity and quality of what I read.
But how flexible, copyable, annotatable, etc. is the Kindle? I want an e-book reader that I can cut and paste with (for personal research reasons, of course.) The Kindle can’t do that, I don’t think.
My Tablet has Microsoft Reader and can do all that you speak about…copyable, annotatable, it will even speak words you don’t know how to pronounce and provide a definition to words you don’t know. You can also set it up to read to you.
A Kindle allows you to make clippings, highlight, and make notes. I research a great deal and highly recommend it.
On saving cardstock:
I’ve been asked numerous times in recent years for my business card. Since the cards purchased by my employer do not include the details I’d requested, I no longer distribute them.
My response these days, is that “I’d love to keep in contact, you can find me online.”
I’ve been meaning to get some new mini-cards for some time, but I’m not so sure that I’ll get around to it…
Yeah, I’m so happy about this–and I feel better about my decision to go paperless at conferences and presentations. People still resist and ask for handouts, but I tell them how to reach my blog and give them my delicious links so they can follow everything that I presented, and use only what they need.
I really liked your point about the 20 copies of notes going in 20 different directions, never to collaborate again. I am going to use that argument with some of my paperless presentations, and ask people to talk back about the notes and information.
Although I agree with limiting the use of paper, I also feel the need to use paper when I proof something- I scan when online and don’t pay enough attention to detail. This, perhaps, is something I can train myself out of. I also live in an area with no cell phone access, so the Iphone or other small device is not a workable solution. Teaching 7 different grade levels, 2 subjects in 2 different buildings- I cannot use a computer to take that quick note- I don’t have time to check email, etc. until the end of the day.
But, that said, I was very happy to revise our school’s parent teacher conference schedule to a series of google spreadsheets linked by a blog page. It just went live today and almost everyone is thrilled. We used to send teachers a form to fill in break times, retype it, post them all on big whiteboards, parents had to come in and sign up, the sheets were taken off and copied, distributed to teachers, etc…
As we get more technology into schools, we will find ways to use it to solve problems, and to help save paper, reduce waste. We now use email to communicate at school. You don’t check yours- you miss deadlines, important info, etc. But it was like pulling teeth at first.
The issue is not clear cut- it is not simply a knee jerk reaction to change, but there are real fiscal and logistical issues. Technology may be part of our lives,and of our students lives, but it is not a part of many of my colleagues lives. This change will only take place incrementally as they see a true need for it. Is tech always the better mousetrap? Kevin Honeycutt’s decidedly low tech idea of keys to technology is a big hit. Can’t dismiss all paper just because…
One frontier I haven’t crossed is the digital student assignment. I can’t bear to think about marking an English paper that way. Are there answers to this conundrum I should be considering?
Paul
I use Moodle for assignments with my afterschool tech for teachers course. I like the way you collect them, with timestamps and can give feedback. I haven’t tried it with students, however.
We teach teachers to do this with our students in many classes such as http://www.nycdoe.org/site_res_view_folder.aspx?id=cd0b1a7a-79e6-4cdf-8461-a9de2aa98daa. Like Will and others said, paper is dead. Like Alan November said, “Hand it in,” should be replaced with, “Publish it.” A digitally marked paper by the way can have voice comment messages from peers and the teacher, highlighting, digital comments, links and more.
Google docs easily allows for sharing documents online. You can add inline comments and highlight sections. I find I am quicker at editing my student’s writing online than I am with paper and pen.
It seems crazy that so many districts pump wheelbarrow loads of $$$ into setting up complex computer systems only to have weekly updates, staff meeting agendas, staff meeting minutes etc printed out and put in every staff member’s box. In one district I worked for, the only folks really using the in house system were those who worked at the board office. Made me wonder if they got the in-service that most of the rest of could have used…
@Maureen Tumenas–I love the idea of using Google Spreadsheets to set up conference times!
@Paul C–I have a few students who hand in digital assignments (mostly word files) and I used to use the mark-up feature in Word to mark them (highlight text, add comment boxes etc). Now I use Adobe Acrobat and a Wacomm Pen Tablet(not an inexpensive solution I know)–I can use the mark-up tools or handwrite using the tablet. The student gets the file back as a pdf with all the comments on it. I like it.
Environmental concerns aside (not to dismiss them, but it will take more than that to persuade the non-believers), the best argument I have for eschewing note-taking via legal pad in favor of note-taking via laptop/tablet is that all of your notes are indexed. I tend to lose legal pads and even if I keep them around, it takes me forever to find the notes I need from a meeting that happened twelve months previous. I LOVE that with an application like MS OneNote (one of the best piece of software Redmond ever produced, in my opinion), I can do a keyword search through all my notes. Show that to your administrator friends who are so reliant on paper and pencil…
We all spend so much time talking about how great it is to search the social network and I think that’s important, too. But I also like that with digital technology I can network my own thoughts and observations…
Yea, about Onenote, half way through a presentation I was attending my computer just stopped. I never could get the notes I had on Onenote, (including audio and video from my web cam) back. Maybe it was my fault, I just don’t know. I finished in my composition notebook. It did not fail, (though the pen did) I like Onenote and my tablet pc, but that thing gets hot and the look and feel is quite right, (maybe if I had learned on it) although the advantages of paperless are huge (read the comments) paper is fail proof. The technology is rapidly advancing, but the most popular seats are still near plugs. There is a security about paper that does not exist with computers. Until computers are percieved as trustworthy (whether or not they are trustworthy is another question)) I think people will stay paper bound.
I recently attended a social-media unconference. I brought my laptop, iPod Touch, cellphone, and a plain-ol’ ordinary (recycled) notebook. Because of battery life and ease, guess where all my notes ended up…in the notebook.
I’m as digital/online as they come, but I still think pen and paper still has it’s uses.
p.s. The moment I got home, I scanned all my hand-written notes into Evernote and tagged them, then uploaded them to Flickr to share with fellow attendees.
Thank you so much for writing this piece. I am an ITRT at a high school in Virginia. I have spent this fall trying to get the faculty of my school to give up paper. We are moving forward, but many days it is still such a struggle. Reading your views made me feel so much better to know you are just as frustrated as I am some days.
i use wikis and blogs for students to receive and give back information. We use smartboards and use snapshots to post to the wiki. Very few students need a paper or pencil. Some students like to organize thoughts there first before finally placing on a wiki – seems strange, since that medium is excellent for revising on the fly.
Sometimes I make little notes on paper but it is not effective. Most of my students agree with me. Parents on the other hand are not sure. After all, what can I be teaching them if we do not use a book formally or do not have paper?
I use very little paper and as a result, very little associated supplies.
Buy a kindle. It is the best investment I have made.
I struggle daily with the paper conundrum. While working with a teacher the other day, I whipped out my trusty notepad to sketch out ideas, but the computer got in the way. Frustrating. Today my students were jigsawing an assignment. They put their ideas on large pieces of chart paper. I did realize, however, that getting each student to copy that information down wasn’t going to work. I encouraged them to use cameras or cellphones to snap the pictures they needed. I think the quest to lose the paper is going to be a gradual process for most of us.
I have to admit that I am not completely off paper note taking. When it comes to some things I am pretty at ease with writing notes on the computer but other things I need to have written out so that I can visualize them to remember them. I sort of zone out when I type on the computer and really do not remember the notes as clearly as I would if I wrote them out.
I would be much more organized if I did keep my notes and things on the computer for I am continually loosing things or being cluttered with the mass of notes that I have. Somethings are just easier to jot down quickly.
I will agree with you that students today are moving into a paperless world so it will be necessary for them to adapt to that type of learning environment, but I still believe that they need to understand how to write things out clearly for their own understanding capabilities.
This has actually been my principal’s mantra this year too. No paper! When we came back to school the first day, instead of a faculty handbook we were given a flash drive with all of our “forms” downloaded. Surveys are done online, weekly news from her is done online and she is blogging. And even though I find my finger hovering over the print button at times, I resist and stick with it!
Kia ora Will
We all know what the ‘right’ answer is to all this, and for a ream of different reasons. The fact is that the paperless office was envisioned over a hundred years ago.
There was even an invention that was meant to put paid to paper memos. There have been many papers written about this and most cite Edison’s invention and his failed attempt in the 1800s.
I’d be more philosophical about extrapolating into the future, 10 or 20 years frankly.
Oh, I’m not a carmudgeon. I too believe that paper should be reduced and if possible eliminated in our communications. And not just in the office. I clean out my letterbox every day with reams of junk mail – all of which is of a ‘higher quality’ than newsprint. And there’s the newspaper of course.
And so it goes on . . .
. . . and on and on.
Statistically there needs to be a ‘real’ crisis (imagine) that brings to a halt the availability of paper, for there to be any significant change in the upward trend that’s been observable since Edison’s days.
I know. It is heresy to say this today. Sorry. But it’s also in the same category to talk about stopping burning carbon based fuels. And we do. But that too is still on the increase, nevertheless.
Ka kite
from Middle-earth
Fantastic post. One of my first blog posts was, “How I Lost 20 Pounds in One Month On A Paperless Diet (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-i-lost-20-pounds-on-paperless-diet.html). I manage professional development services for the NYC DOE and despite much protesting at first from the paper-trained, we went completely paperless about four years ago. No notes are EVER necessary. Everything is posted for participants which I show them as class begins…Facilitator guide outlining all content presented, materials, links to resources, a participant agenda, a presentation, and links to every single document we use. They can jot deeper thinking on the existing notes, but the days of writing down what the facilitator says is sooo 20th century. It’s time to get to the thinking faster and move beyond copying down what the presenter says and thinking about it, commenting on it, and begin producing, creating, and acting on it right there in the class. The days of audience as a transcriber are gone. Instead when I’m speaking I ask participants not to regurgitate what I am saying by copying it down (I provide this), but instead to think about concepts, post the thinking to discussion boards I’ve set up such as http://iteachilearn.ning.com, or since participants have freed up their time now that they’re not taking notes they are producing work they can use back at schools i.e. action plans, videos, audio casts, Voice Threads, Vokis’s, etc. After the presentations I usually write to participants encouraging them to keep the conversation going and stay connected on the discussion board, social network, blog etc that we used in the class. I’m also looking into using http://wiffiti.com for larger audiences that may have cells, but not computers. Especially with the advent of sublaptops I think it’s high time schools ditch the paper and copy machines in exchange for a $300 or less laptop that will last 3 years and eliminate the need for all paper, handouts, textbooks, and books, mags, newspapers in general. You can read about how one school is doing this by reading about, “The Power of 21st Century Teaching and Learning Brought to Life at Bronx Middle School CIS 339’s Open House†at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/06/power-of-21st-century-teaching-and.html. That said, there are those who are set in there ways as I experienced a while back when a participant called to say when she clicked on the link nothing happened. I walked her through the process a few times and it didn’t work. When I asked her what browser she was using she sounded confused. After some digging I realized she had printed the materials out and was literally tapping her paper. No joke.
The biggest downside of digital is the most obvious one, power. Computers, phones and other digital technologies need to be feed. Constantly. I love my MacBook but no power, no Mac. I live in a part of Dublin, Ireland where demand for power sometimes exceeds supply. This power failure or my broadband connection failing make me still use paper. Plus there is a usability factor. Paper can be given to people who are not computer literate. Having said that i am using paper less and less.
I have a difficult time doing away with paper altogether. I make assignments and other paper work available online, I provide wiki spaces and encourage blogs and the like, but my students do not all have access to computers and as a result I have to take work from them on paper and give things to them on paper. Also, as long as students do not have computers to work on in class, work done in class has to be done on paper. I think it is important for students to write, I believe the adage that writing is thinking, but I do not believe all writing needs to be done on paper and that we have the resources available to do away with paper altogether. Most word processors and online document tools that I have used have spell checks and other things that gives students immediate feedback, which I also think is a good thing.
I also find it very difficult to get the folks that run the schools to think 21st century. Even when we use technology it seems we are using 21st century tools to think and work in a 20th century fashion. I admit to being very 20th century much of the time, but where I see a desire and an effort to change in myself and some teachers, I still see too many in education that are frightened by all this stuff.
Cordially,
J. D. Wilson, Jr.
I’ve tried hard to ween my 6th graders off paper … we actually do save paper by being 1:1. However … when they are editing they do much better when they print out a copy and put pencil to paper. I mean MUCH better. They compose on their laptops … that was step one. 100% were composing that way by the end of fourth grade … new students always take awhile … but editing isn’t done as accurately when they only do it on their computers.
Ideas?
I agree that we should do away with the “routine paper” in our offices and classrooms. I was one of the first (perhaps, still, the only one) to have gone paperless at my college. I keep all presentations, assignments and documents on various college servers. My students know to download anything they need from me. However, there is a permanent place for paper in our lives, and that’s with books. I’m paperless at school, but I have a den full of books at home that give me pleasure that no Kindle ever will. Paper provides a tactile experience and portability that is not easily eclipsed by text on screen. I keep a notebook on my dresser, for my kids, of important accounts and insurance policies they might need in the event of my death. I would never trust that to a Blackberry.
Livescribe – http://www.livescribe.com/
Write with this pen. Download your written notes to the computer, post them, share them. Search your written notes via ocr capability. Click on your written notes to hear what was being spoken at the time you took the note. (I don’t know if written links are clickable)
Not quite there … I’d like whatever was being projected to also connect directly with my notes.
Yes, a tablet with audio recording could also do this … but that’s $3000 vs a $200 pen.
Great way to remind us that paper is undemocratic – it promotes ownership and hoarding, isolation and dead-endedness. Whereas wikis and Google Docs promote sharing, bringing people together, appreciating and respecting people’s unique talents and viewpoints. The former is pointless and antisocial; the latter is meaningful and community-building.
I went to a workshop yesterday and I saw hardly anyone taking notes. This was good and bad. I a few people brought recorders and taped it for later, some had their laptops out, and others just sat like trained animals.
I used my blackberry for notes and a few times I noticed that people gave me looks like I was playing games, not taking notes. I don’t think most educators are still able to grasn the fact that phones can be as tools for education, not just calling people or texting.
I have enjoyed this conversation and wonder why we are still having it. I remember when in the 80’s I tried doing this in my class, but others needed paper for assessment. Then when doing my doctoral work in Technology, the profs needed paper and wouldn’t read my webpage submissions. Now it has gotten even worse as we in NYC have very convoluted assessment paper trails in place. We have to document everything, the scholars’ work in paper, writing conferences on paper, and just about everything we do has to be on paper and sometimes in duplicate so we have a record. I still say, just check out my webpages and the webpages of my scholars and I always, yes, always, get the response from some assessor from our esteem NYCDOE, print it out. Paper really does take away the whole experience. I’m still waiting for the leaders to catch up, but alas, I’ll probably be retired before I actually see a paperless school. But then I never thought I’d see a black president in my life. Now i may see a pig fly.
We still haven’t gotten out of the box and we still teach as we were taught. Some things may never change.
I also hear how nostalgia drags this need for paper on and on, without considering the long range affect on our environment.
cheers,
ted
Hey Ted,
Great of you to stop by! Thanks for sharing these ideas and for giving us an inner city perspective.
I also avoid paper, but I face peer pressure at school. We’re supposed to have assignment sheets (some teachers use 2 pages), to print out student papers turned in by email, and to give lengthy reading guides as handouts, but I don’t see the point. In my classroom, we use Word on a projector to do group edits of example papers, and I use the same method to mark papers.
I find that as long as I explain that I do this on principle to be ecologically responsible, I’m just considered eccentric.
Now if I could think of a principle-centered objection to Power Point, I’d be set.
I have gone completely paperless this year and absolutely love it! All assignments done by students are done online via blogs or wikis and all tests are done orally or some alternative assessment that requires technology.
Students do have the option to print my notes off at home but most no longer feel the need do to the fact that they are available online as are my powerpoints and podcast.
I thought there would be some students or parents complain about this but there has not been any. It’s really amazing how students can adapt!
As I was born 1925 and heavily in computers since 1968, the discussion reminds me of the case of punched cards. The floppy disk (do you remember) was invented at IBM by Alan Shugart in 1967. The first serious program I wrote (computation of autocorrellation) was done on an IBM 360 doing 3 passes, each one producing interim output to be input in the next pass.
I mention this because since I am in computers there were comments on the surprising fact that although the punchcard was obsolete its production was on the rise, I believe until 15-20 years later.
Hi Will,
I’m all for going paperless, most of the time. All of the computer classes I teach utilize a wiki that contains course content,our homegrown text, resources and demos, plus student portfolios and student scribes.
There are plenty of times, though, when paper comes in handy. It remains, for me, a matter of a choice of tools and finding the right tool for my needs. Sometimes, the more digitally competent we are, the more important it is for us to get off the grid when planning and brainstorming. Paper comes in handy; so does drawing in the sand or on the back of a napkin.
Am in total agreement re: note taking. One scribe, many scribes, but all scribe via wiki or Google Docs or something digital where the sharing is immediate, can be added to by all, and is easily accessible.
You may be aiming to do away with reading paper books. I savor my paper books. I’ve willingly made the transition to reading newspapers online because it’s faster, provides more diverse perspectives, and lets me skip the articles and ads that are of no interest (without thinking about all that wasted paper!) But I have no desire to give up the comfort of curling up with a good book, of folding down a corner of a page to mark my place, of writing in the margins (of my non-fiction books), or of enjoying organizing my favorites onto our book shelves for our children to peruse. Having those books there for them to read the titles, touch, and then grab some to read, has opened ideas and authors to them who they might otherwise never have met.
Cheers,
Laurie
Hey Laurie,
Thanks for that perspective. I love books too, but I wonder if my kids won’t feel just as comforted by a Kindle-like computer screen, taking and sharing digital notes, etc. I don’t think one is necessarily better or worse, just different forms for different times. Just a thought…
We’re in the middle of a transition and it’s going to take time. I’ve made the switch and am 95%+ electronic … but occasionally have to resort to paper.
Ebooks rock for various reasons:
– Always available b/c I carry my Treo 680 with me everywhere. Great for when I’m sitting stuck waiting somewhere for 10 or 20 minutes.
– Backlit so it’s easy to read in bed / dark
– I can carry many (i.e. hundreds) of books around with me and be reading a couple at a time
– I can take notes, etc. and then export them to a memo and send / share that any way I want.
– Not killing trees
It took me four years to do it but I’ve actually converted my father-in-law and others. As I said, we’re still in a transition. Not all books are available electronically. And, truthfully, not all books work as well electronically. If it has a bunch of graphs / diagrams then the screen is just too small.
I also use my 680 to take notes in Word and then can share them. That also handles the power issue since it can run all day. But it’s still not perfect because obviously I can’t type as fast as on my laptop … which when I try to use that has the power limitations. So, I typically start on my laptop until the juice runs out then beam it to my 680 to continue.
We’re all headed that way and need to press others to do so … but it will be a long time (if ever) before we make it totally paperless.
All of this is great and I’d love to go paperless. But until the digital divide is closed, it is never going to happen in public schools. To go paperless, all kids would need some kind of electronics with them. My district cannot afford it! Will, I love your ideas and in theory they, along with this one, are great ideas. Due to cost and anal-retentive BoE members, I doubt this will happen any time soon.
Gee, I love the idea of paperless notetaking, but I’m troubled by the frustration some commenters seem to have with note-takers in general! After all, they’ve POSTED everything they’re going to say! I recently returned to graduate school and was appalled at the way professors lectured. There was no longer time to take notes – we were expected to absorb the content at once, aurally and visually, and then visit it again if we needed a reminder. Give me a legal pad and time to take notes any day! It’s far easier (for me and I would expect for others) to remember content when one has taken notes about it. Taking notes (on a computer or on paper) is the fastest way for me to understand content and think about it. That writing/typing process is essential to my learning process. It’s the reason I learn so much more from a lecture than from a TV program. Why are posters so frustrated with people who use the tools they know to facilitate their learning best? How is it rejecting modernity rather than self-knowledge?
Hi there Will. You are now the second person that I have heard rant about no more paper. Iam a university student in Dean Shareski’s class at the University of Regina. It has been difficult for me but I have been attempting to embrace technology with the help of this class, and Dean has been extremly helpful. This post that Iam responding to enrages me, and I hope that I can explain it properly. I understand that many teachers are frustrated when they give out hand outs that just wind up on the floor, and that documenting is very well organised on a computer. BUT… two things; 1) What about students who cannot afford to have a labtop in grade 4- or are have you always worked at schools where money grew on trees? 2) Maybe Iam alone here, but my most creative moments have begun on a piece of paper, NOT infront of a bleak computer screen. So I guess my question is; do you assume that everyone is like you will be fine without paper? I understand that you use technology everyday, everywhere and in every way.. But please do me a favour and before you go to sleep tonight or continue on with your day, pull out a piece of paper and leave a note on it for someone you love- put it in their pocket as a reminder of how much you love them. Write them an email with the exact same experession and tell me which was the more effective (or PERSONAL) out of the two.
I apologise that this may seem like an attack, I promise that it is quite the opposite- more of an experiment really. I hope that one day I can be a balanced teacher that considers technology as a tool, but not as our only tool. Balance must be created I think, to create a word where people can be free.
Thanks for listening, Meg Peterson
Moose Jaw, SK
This is one point of Will’s argument. People have been conditioned to believe that they have to have paper to learn and be creative. Is it the paper that brings out the creativity or the person? Paper is a tool as is a computer. It is no better than working on a computer and in many ways, is much worse.
I agree that a personal written note is more personal than an email, but I am sure that way back in the day when paper was just developed, people were thinking that paper was the downfall of face-to-face communication.
Will,
In response to Meg’s comment, I respectfully suggest that instead of a paper note, you send that same person you care about a plant for their Facebook garden! 😉
P.S. I think the next presentation I give will feature a Google doc for notetaking.
P.P.S Thanks for the Tweet, @shareski
Hey Meg,
Thanks for chiming in. I don’t in any way begrudge your love of paper…I love it too in certain circumstances. What I am suggesting, however, is that we’re not preparing kids for a digital world if we continue to work in an analog one. Not saying all paper will go away. And I absolutely hear you about some classrooms that don’t have the technology or access to do this. I do suggest, however, that as educators in this moment, we need to hold ourselves to a different standard if for no other reason than to model for our kids a workflow that is without question going to be more similar to the way they will work in their futures.
And finally, as I said above, this is just different, not better or worse. Is it impossible that a “love text” can be just as special as a “love note”? Maybe for us, but not so sure about my kids. These are the technologies of their times, and as educators, we have a unique responsibility, imho, to embrace the changes instead of fighting against them.
Really appreciate the push, nonetheless.
One word …..differentiation. I think it is important to allow each learner to approach learning in their own way; electronic note taking or paper Presenting them with alternatives but allowing them to choose the method that suits them is key.
I think you bring up a very interesting point, and I also try not to use any paper. This works very well for me, but I know that it does not work well for everyone. I would be concerned about forcing this idea on people. For teachers, this could be too far out of the comfort zone and slow down any progress regarding innovative technology integration. For students, it may impact learning. I could not agree with you more about the benefits of electronic text, especially regarding hyperlinks. I just wonder if the solution is to gradually transition people from paper to electronic text as opposed to suddenly saying no more paper.
Eliminating paper is one of my main goals in the years to come as an educator and in my efforts of going green. Without being real technologically inclined I am trying to develop different aspects in the classroom to eliminate paper as much as possible. When reading this blog I could not help but to remember a school district that I used to work at, where every in-service day and faculty meeting people where getting numerous handouts and note taking on their personal tablets. Then when the meeting would be over we would get an email with all the same information they just handed us. I would think to myself why did they just hand out all these papers? As an educator I know that I have cut down on my paper usage over the past couple of years and I hope that my district lets teachers start using more of the blogging sites so I can interact with my students and contribute to the paperless society of the future.
Paper is a tool for communication, why blame the tools?
For someone to print out a wiki demonstrates that they don’t understand a wiki as a tool for continuing conversation. You can tell them “paper is bad” or you can demonstrate how to use the tool effectively and then let them make up their own mind. If they truly do need tactile feedback maybe they are kinaesthetic learners? Maybe they just need a scanner and OCR to gain all the benefits of digitizing content while still retaining their freedom to learn in the manner they are most comfortable with? Maybe they would prefer to contribute via voice or video rather than typing into a wiki?
I’m all for searchable, copyable, linkable, archivable, mashable content if it aids communication. If I can communicate faster by writing a postit note I’ll do it. If I’m in the same room as someone I’ll talk to them as it’s a more efficient form of communication regardless of it’s inability to be linked.
Paper has many faults that online wikis or blogs do not have–they can get lost and can be very hard to read.
You also have to remember a huge point of going paperless–saving trees and money for the school district.
My school district pretends that it is going paperless by “forcing” them to use e-mail and blogs and whatnot. The teachers don’t even have textbooks to use, but the teachers still print out literally thousands of pages of info and worksheets, etc. for the kids to use on an almost daily basis. Trees are still being killed by the thousands by districts that say they are going paperless.
I certainly agree with and personally enjoy the benefits of going paperless, but sometimes the thought of our collective consciousness being accessible only via web-based connections to data warehouses outside of our control is somewhat disconcerting sometimes. Not everyone is connected 24/7… and when that day comes,… what’s that saying about putting all of your eggs in one basket?
I am proud to announce that my first quarter American History class was completely paperless! It is easy to convince students that paperless is the way to go, but not so easy with teachers. Just the other day I had a conversation with a fellow teacher who inquired about where students were going to keep their notebooks when we move into our new building next month. I felt like asking her why they could not keep everything online. We are implementing a 1:1 initiative after all!
I would like to start with eliminating 15 pound textbooks and all the ancillary products that come with them (we’re going through textbook adoption for English right now and each company has a copy of the book and workbooks and discs and such just as samples that will get thrown away- what a waste!) The companies know every resource they could produce could fit on one DVD…I can’t stand them.
That said, I have a real equity problem at my school. Some students don’t have computers (can’t afford them) some students have iphones. Quite a disparity. I would love to go paperless and online for everything (reading/writing) but can’t because not every student has equal access.
Suggestions?
(and I’ll take my comments off the air)
This is a very interesting post. (I’m a student, not an educator, so I hope it’s OK that I’m responding.) I find myself using less and less paper, both because of the convenience and the fact that it’s less wasteful. I’m in a laptop English class, and every note we take is digital. About the only documents we use paper for are vocabulary quizzes and essays. Personally, I love this because it’s much easier to keep track of the notes if they’re all organized in a nice little folder on the computer. I always end up misplacing notebooks or sheets of paper. And one of my math textbooks is on a DVD, so instead of a heavy textbook I have a simple disc.
Also, it’s not only trees that go to make paper: it’s water as well. Why not conserve our resources and take advantage of the convenience at the same time?
We were joking today in the office that we kill so many trees in a month that we will need to plant a forest each year to compensate.
In Will’s post, he states:
“I gave everyone a TinyUrl to a wiki page… ”
Where do you post your notes for groups to look back and update? Wikispaces? Google Docs? Blog?
Forgive the silly question, I’m one of the newly converted!
I have to admit I’m am extremely careless paper waster. Yea I think about how all the paper I waste kills tree, but then I some how convince my self that we have to many trees. In my English class we try our best to live a paperless life. The internet has certainly made this capable. Hopefully, in the future many more people will start using the computer and not wasting paper. Until then I’ll try my best to be much more careful!
Hey Michael. Great to have you commenting here. I think paper is an attitude to a certain extent, and, not that were the poster family for this, but we recycle or compost just about every piece of paper or cardboard that we use, from cereal boxes to egg cartons to school worksheets. That mindset makes it easier to use less in every part of my life, and it would be great (I think) if my kids were seeing that at their school.
I am moving to a paperless classroom as fast as I can. Every year at some point in the discussion of US history and technological change, I inevitably tell the students how differently their children will experience school — no books, no paper, no pens, no scantrons — everyone will carry something like a laptop but better. I always add that they will have a great time telling their children about how arduous school was for them — heavy books, papers falling everywhere, and the snail’s pace of writing out their assignments…”so quit your complaining and do your homework” they can say with gusto. Ever since I began doing this, I am amazed watching their faces as they try to grasp that change. At least half of them can’t imagine it. I teach in a low-SES area and my students simply aren’t “wired” yet. While I think it’s our duty to bridge that gap for them in school, I can’t even think of going paperless yet because of the burden that puts on them, especially my 7 kids who have no Internet access or computer at home and the 20+ kids who have dial-up. I’ll be poised and ready to be paperless when it won’t exacerbate the growing divide between the technology haves and have-nots.
I’m proud to say that I teach two classes, neither of which requires any paper. My class is a NO PAPER ZONE!
http://www.debrennersmith.com
While having access to the internet and computers is the norm for many of the readers and writers here, it is not the norm for my students. My students do not have computer access. I wish they did. The adults I teach are struggling to put gasoline in their cars and feed their children at times. If I went paperless in my presentations, and only provided computer support, I would not meet their needs. I think we need to consider our audience. Are we leaving some of our students behind without meaning to?
You are absolutely right. Going paperless assumes that your students have access. You have little control over that situation and you obviously do the best you can with the resources available. Ensuring that every student has access is a topic for a whole other conversation. But, I think it’s a conversation that all districts should have. No doubt, in our current state of affairs, money will be even more of a problem. In that situation, the conversation becomes one of priorities. Many tough choices.
I leave for NCTE in a few hours, one presenter posted that she hoped that everyone would be prepared for paperless and computers only. The problem was no free wireless except in the lobby of the hotel and not enough electricity. It is a complicated issue. Recently I was in the mountains with my Kindle. I could not access the cell network to download a new book. Computers and technology are wonderful…… when they work. Another example, I worked with a student teacher recently who had no idea how to teach a lesson without technology. Teachers need to know how to teach without the gadgets too.
I teach printing technology at the technical center where I work. I spent twenty-five years of my life shooting tree pulp through a printing press. I’ve been teaching paperless for the past five years – my students moved me in that direction – using Moodle has helped significantly in that effort. My lab runs a high speed copying center and my students have been making appeals to staff members to go digital rather than copy. We just bought a high speed scanner that is capable of scanning directly to pdf (36 sides per minute). A video is out on this site: http://www.netvibes.com/altucker#printing_technologies Now teachers are able to put their presentations, notes or whatever they used to use paper for, directly on their Moodle pages. I just makes sense.
Being a new teacher (2nd grade), I am one of those people that you see at the copy machine day in and day out. I make copies of things so that I have back ups in case of things ending too quickly, in case I need to have a sub on short notice, etc. And then I find myself not using the paper copies that I make. However, my students are required to do a service learning project for social studies this year, and we have decided to collect and recycle all of the white paper that goes unused in our school and that the students do not take home with them. I know that does not compensate for my chronic and compulsive need to make copies, but it does somewhat make me feel better about what I am doing. I hope in the future that I will not be so dependent on the Xerox machine.
@Sarah
After you gain more confidence and experience you will realize that you don’t need to throw worksheet after worksheet in from of your students to keep them busy. It sounds to me like you are in survival mode right now. Imagine you are the student for a moment. What would you rather do instead of worksheets? There are tons of other options out there to help you fill the voids between lessons.
In my present job search there are at least two organizations that require me to send hard copies of my documents. One position is leading an online graduate program. Go figure…