Paperless Classroom

http://gcmouli.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/paperless_it.jpg

With all the budget talk, as well as talk about a paperless classroom. I thought I would take a moment and describe how I removed handling papers in my class this year. (BEFORE you stop reading please read the next couple of sentences.) From this list I’m going to develop a summer workshop for teachers who would like to learn how to convert their classrooms to either paperless or almost paperless. With budget cuts and the student laptop this is very doable.

1. Starting with the easy solution … Assessment (test/quizzes). I used http://www.quia.com for all my tests and quizzes. Quia allowed me to create multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank, short answer, and essay questions. I could import charts, maps, graphics and even sound clips as part of my assessment. By setting up a class in Quia, students logged in and took the tests, but more importantly, it archived the tests for the student. This way rather than hand back the test they could log in again to see the results of the test. Yes, if they needed a hard copy it would use more paper than a normal test, but they really shouldn’t need a hard copy. Most of you already have Quia accounts.

2. Study Guides/Worksheets .. there are several ways this can be done.

• One is with Quia.com where students submit the answers, but there are drawbacks to this (cover during the training). A better way for me was to create the study guide/worksheet in a Word document format and place that document so students could download it onto their laptops. This is easy to do. Simply place the file in your web folder and provide the student with the URL (through iCal, iWeb, Moodle or other means). By downing a “Document File” students simply typed on it, saved it and return it to me through e-mail or dropbox (more on dropbox below). When I graded the paper I simply typed in a different color as I graded the paper, saved it and sent it back. (There are better ways!)
• Using Moodle makes it easier to manage. The student would download the word document and then upload it back to Moodle with done. There Moodle organizes it’s placement (not so hard to track). While you still have to open the document to grade, Moodle has a box where you can type your comments and submit a grade.

3. Blogs (WordPress) .. for the first time I used blogs in my classroom. http://wildcat.wordpress.holton.k12.ks.us/ Blogs allowed me to do several things:

• I asked my students to develop a film project. Directions, list of movies, etc. were all provided through the blog. Students could even submit their final project within the blog if they so chose. (More on projects later).
• Critical Thinking .. each month I asked students to post their thoughts on a subject I selected. Sometimes it was historically related, sometimes it was just something I thought the students could relate to.
• Discussions … students were asked to comment on other students’ posts to create some dialog between the students.
• I even used the library book review blog for my students’ book reviews. I provided my grade through an e-mail. Note … I really believe if you want to go paperless you will find that student work submitted via a blog is easier to grade than a bunch of Word documents (clicking and opening and closing). If  you wanted to, however, you could copy and paste the blog to a Word document, add your comments, and then return the document to the student (either in Word format or as a  pdf). I haven’t yet figured out how to grade items just posted on a blog (w/out the Word transfer.)

4. Blogs (Moodle) .. provides the ability for you to setup a discussion thread. The extra power of Moodle over WordPress is the “threads”. The ability of students able to easily comment on other select students comments.

5. Collecting of Material from students … how students turned stuff in.

• E-mail was used most of the time for smaller or document style assignments.
• For video and audio collection I used the “Homework Hand In” (dropbox-more later).
• I offered to accept CDs of material as well but no student chose to hand an assignment in that way.

6. Delivery of Material … This is the means by which I provide material to my students.

• Used my website http://www.holton.k12.ks.us/abeam/collegeamhist I designed my website with DreamWeaver but would highlightly recommend you consider using iWeb. The material available on my website included by not limited to PowerPoints, study guides, study resources, outcomes, reading assignments, notes, classroom activities, maps, terms, links to documents, links to video clips, links to other sites related to the topic, current event links, links to other blogs, links to other podcast and general links.
• When I wanted to students to watch a video clip I tried several things but the only way it seemed to work the fastest was to give students the videos on a cd. If I place the video on the web and all the students tried to access it at the same time I had problems.
• I did do one assignment using Moodle

7. Grading … this is one of the challenges of trying to do paperless. We are so use to having the paper in front of use to write on. A few items follow:

• Word documents … you may or may not be aware but Word allows you to add tags. These tags can serve as a way to highlight text and add comments.
• Pages allows you to add tags as well.
• Moodle … has a system built in where teachers can add comments and assign points based on how the teacher set up the point value per-assignment.
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8. Projects … … I used the “Homework Hand In” (dropbox) for powerpoints, podcasts, video productions, book reviews, etc.

9. Wiki … this is an area I haven’t spent much time with, but I know it offers a good solution as well. My plan is work with this and have more to offer this summer.

10. Tools:

• Teacher Delivery Method .. Moodle (free), Web design (free sites, iWeb -Holton teachers have, DreamWeaver (costs), e-mail, place work in the dropbox, Wikis …
• Assessments .. Quia.com (cost), Moodle (free), textbook service (costs and is only available to a  those that bought this resource when textbooks were purchased)
• Documents Submissions … Word (e-mail, dropbox, upload on Moodle), PDF …..
• Written Word … Word  (e-mail, dropbox, upload on Moodle), Blogs such as WordPress (free, supported by district), Blogger.com (free but not supported by district)
• Student Projects … PowerPoint or KeyNote (dropbox), podcast or other audio clips (dropbox), video productions (dropbox); Other software programs in the building may require a short study to determine if projects can be placed in the dropbox,  but most likely any file should be able to be dropped and pick up by an instructor.
• Student Projects #2 … there are number of websites that allow you to set up student accounts that can be viewed by the instructor. a) U-Stream does video, …
• Misc. Tools.  zamzar.com

Summer Training (NOT SURE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING)

I will offer a couple of summer training sessions on how you can convert your classroom to paperless or almost paperless. I encourage everyone to consider attending. If you have questions on whether it will work for you, please ask – don’t assume it won’t or will.

• Choose a Delivery Tool: How will you provide material to your students?
• How will you collect student work ?
• What is this Blogging world you speak of?
• How do you convert a hard copy worksheet into a digital one?
• What about projects - how can I handle them?
• Bonus stuff

The goal is to cut our copy cost by HALF! Yes, I said by half. This would be a savings of 10,000.00 dollars for the district. To help motivate everyone to work toward this goal I’ve been thinking (yes, that’s scary). If we reach the goal I  would like to throw a …..