Probing the Prospects of Paperless Pedagogy by Jason Neiffer

I watched this presentation because I am intrigued with the possibility of creating a truly “paperless classroom.” Jason Neiffer is a high school social studies teacher who requested that his World Cultures class meet every day in a computer lab so that he could create a “paperless classroom.”

Why be paperless? First, as Neiffer rightly points out, teachers and students alike waste tons and tons of paper each year. Second, Neiffer was looking for more efficiency. The more he would assign, the more papers he would carry around with him (as an English teacher, I certainly sympathize with him on this!) – and the greater likelihood of something getting misplaced or lost. Third, Neiffer reasons that working one-on-one with computers will prepare students for their futures in college and in the workforce.

Going paperless also made sense in the context of the content in his World Cultures course, which focuses upon current events throughout the world. While textbooks are good resources for background material, they quickly become out-of-date where current events are concerned. In the past, he found himself printing out articles on a weekly basis to supplement his textbook. Essentially, his course had become a “tree-eating machine” (20 pages of handouts per week x 60 students x weeks per school year).

Neiffer’s goal, he says, was to “exist as much as possible completely online as a complement to my face-to-face classroom.” To achieve this, he posted all his classroom content to his classroom Moodle, which Neiffer lauds as an “excellent blank slate” to post content. Moodle – in addition to other sites – also provide templates for test and quizzes to be taken online: no need to make copies of a simple reading or vocabulary quiz!

At the end of his presentation, Neiffer conducts a self-assessment. He is proud to have achieved a paperless classroom. He also believes that it has increased accountability for both him and his students: there are no more excuses for assignments being lost or misplaced; absent students also have no excuse about missing the material because they can access everything from home. In addition, Neiffer believes his students are more engaged. While engagement does not mean “learning,” he says, it is a prerequisite for it. What he would like to improve: there is still a digital divide. While most of his students have access to home computers, some of them do not have any home access. He also would prefer that students have access to laptops, which they could bring home and use full time: they would know the machine and its tools.

The paperless classroom that Neiffer describes sounds wonderful. I couldn’t help but wonder, however, how the class is conducted on a day-to-day basis. For example, if the students are all seated in front of computers, does it inhibit class discussion? How does he ensure that all students are on-target instead of surfing the Web? That said, I highly recommend that other teachers watch this presentation; it is both useful and informative.