How to Create a Paperless Classroom

Currently the idea of a paperless classroom is still a future concept for many educators, whilst traditional educators still cannot recognize the advantages of a paperless education. What are the advantages of going paperless, and how can students benefit from it?

One obvious saving is environmental. Schools, Colleges and Universities often promote the idea of environmental awareness, but the often excessive use of paper by these institutions, is itself harmful to the environment. Going paperless helps our environment.

Traditional Educators depend on printed textbooks, this resource is often outdated once they have been printed, and many students can access more up to date resources on the

Internet. eBook textbooks are the answer, as traditional publishers today are going electronic, future textbooks could be sold in eBook form, and printed form.

The advantage of eBook textbooks are obvious, they save paper and money. eBooks are cheaper than often academic printed textbooks. If ordered from overseas, printed textbooks are also subjected to local import duties, increasing the price. eBooks can be simply downloaded, anywhere in the World. Only publishers and bookstores benefit from the need to purchase a printed textbook.

Laptops are getting cheaper, and smaller. The affordability of a laptop means more students can afford one, and often for the price of several textbooks- you can purchase a reasonable laptop. The savings to students in the long term are considerable, as they also save on notepads, stationary and time.

The future is online for most people, technology is getting cheaper. The current generation being educated for the future are internet savvy, and prefer MP3's to CD's, YouTube videos to DVD's, and in many cases eBooks to traditional books. So why not embrace the future, instead of protecting the past?.

Creating a Paperless Classroom

1. Use textbooks that are in eBook form, and source materials relating to the material through the internet- much of this is free. You can supplement this material through YouTube, national geographic and other video resources.

2. Insist on homework and projects being written and created in word. This could be emailed, saved in a flash disk. Corrections can be made more easily, and each student could have their work in a PDF file- once the term is completed.

3. Powerpoints are the future, and they are getting more sophisticated. After teaching, students can store it for revision on their laptops.

4. Imaging, Charts, and diagrams are not done by hand anymore- They are created on computers. Replacing the antiquated, time consuming method of creating these on a computer is common sense.

5. As the online community gets larger, digital art is replacing traditional art. Teaching students how to create digital art is way forward- often leading to a possible career or business for many artistic students.

Embracing the future in Education can place yourself and your students to create a life after studying. And this is the aim of every educator to create useful citizens, who are ready, and skilled for the future. Traditional educators may dispute this, but all trends show that technology savvy people, have a better way to survive and thrive, then those who reject technology.

(This Article is part of the authors 21st Century Education Series)