Why are school administrators trying to make paperless classrooms when that inhibits learning?
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Anonymous
| There have been several studies that show reading/writing on paper helps retention and understanding. So why are we going in the opposite direction? These are wealthy school systems (MCPS, FCPS) so they have money for paper. Have they been bought by Google? It almost makes me want to send my kid to private, to avoid all these screens at school. |
Anonymous
| No answer but I hate this too and agree that writing on paper is important. |
Anonymous
| Agree. Drives me crazy to see my 5th grader using a mouse to “draw” numbers on the screen to show his work when he should just be using paper and pencil. |
Anonymous
| It's horrible. I haven't started complaining about this yet because I am so relieved they're back in school. But it stinks. |
Anonymous
| It’s not just money for paper. It’s the printer and copier supplies and repairs. After showing us the numbers, we were asked in 2019, the start shifting to paperless. Students can still take notes on their own paper, but anything I grade is expected to be digital. I struggled with it for four months. The switch to DL really was key to forcing the complete transition. Not going back now. It’s so much cleaner! |
Anonymous
| It’s wrong. Paper can be recycled. Paper and pencil are key for learning. It’s so frustrating. |
Anonymous
 That’s insane.
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Anonymous
| It is because both Microsoft and Google (and now many other software companies - ST math, prodigy, etc) are heavily invested in selling their products to schools. Schools aren't in a place to resist when these mammoth companies come with their expensive marketing campaigns even though they are selling snake oil. |
Anonymous
| It is because the people making decisions are usually not teachers. |
Anonymous
| At our school, we were told no paper is to be used due to it being close to kids faces and the contact of hands on the paper. Covid transmission is the worry that was presented to us. Oh, and making learning equitable with the zoom kids. Our school is split 50/50 with IP and DL student's. |
Anonymous
our kids take pictures of their work and upload those |
Anonymous
And that is fine. But we have been told no paper being passed back and forth in school because of the health concerns. I know I'm not touching any paper. |
Anonymous
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One reason is CYA. Students and parents forever accuse teachers of losing papers and then marking them missing or late. Digital systems make keeping track of everything in a provable way easier.
Also, even some of the wealthiest school districts don’t fund copy paper. Hand to God, there are places that make teachers buy it. If the schools do provide paper, teachers have to punch in a copier code so usage can be tracked. If a teacher uses too much, they get penalized. Also, children are not really prevented from taking class notes on their own paper or in notebooks. |
Anonymous
| But fomites aren't really a method of covid transmission... |
Anonymous
You think you are going to catch covid via paper? Honestly? |