In the past few years, there have been many schools taking steps to 'go paperless' by introducing more and more technology to their students. As a college student, who graduated high school the year before the school decided to distribute laptops to each student, I have mixed feelings on the idea. I know there are a lot of school districts that have made laptops, chrome-books, or i Pads available for each student to use throughout the school day. I also know that there are many benefits of the switch to go paperless, but as a future educator, I have not decided how I feel about the increased use of technology in our students' lives.
As far as environmental benefits go, I am sure that the schools that have made laptops and tablets available to each student have saved tons of trees. Cutting back on the hundreds of paper homework assignments and notebooks that get used during the year is a great thing. However, I have observed classes at the high school level, and noticed the many exceptions that teachers had to make for students that had complications with their laptops. There were students that did not bring their chargers to school, or lost their chargers. There were complications with connecting to the school WiFi, and there were students who forgot to bring their laptop in the first place. This means that half of the class worked on their computers, and the other half worked on paper. To me, this appeared to cause a lot of distraction at the beginning of class, because the students had to figure out HOW they were going to complete their assignments. And it also seemed like the teachers were still using just as much, or close to the same amount of printed work as they were before laptops became popular.
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Another thing that concerns me about my future students having to complete their homework and tests via computers is whether or not their family has WiFi, or internet access. If a student doesn't have an internet connection at home to do their assignments, the teacher will have to make and print separate assignments for that student. This may not be very difficult for the teacher, but I can see how it might cause stress for the student. There might also be complications with the students' laptops or tablets if there is a power outage. Not having internet, or not having power to charge a computer are both things that a child cannot control. If a student cannot complete an assignment due to one of these reasons, they might have to take a grade cut, and that is completely unfair.
My last concern about schools going paperless is whether or not it is healthy for a child to be hunched over, looking at a computer/tablet screen for 6-7 hours at school, and then another few hours for homework, after school. I keep hearing about how recent research is proving that looking at a bright computer screen for too long can effect eyesight as well as sleep habits, which ultimately cannot be healthy for a young student.
I know that there are many great benefits to students being given personal laptops and tablets for school use, but I still think it is important for us adults and educators to think about the complications that could arise as well. Personally, I am still undecided about the paperless movement. I know there are environmental benefits, but do we really want our students to be even more attached to their electronics? Who knows, maybe I'm just old school and eventually paper and pencil will be looked at like the Flintstones' stone and chisel.
