Teachers
The paperless classroom John Weiner believes that pupils have to see the point of change Back in the day when I used to watch Buck Rogers, the world of the future was always presented as a fantastic place (albeit with a fondness for metallic décor) and certainly one where electronic screens had completely replaced paper. It seemed a given in any sci-fi worth its salt that the societies yet to come would have stopped chopping down forests and information would be instantly transmitted to the user in a handy electronic device. The rise of iPads and their ilk has made this prospect seem more and more realistic over recent years, yet despite the increased propensity of schools to embrace tablet computing, we still seem to rely heavily on the trusty old photocopier. Why? Maybe it’s to do with our own unconscious reluctance? I’m sure you’ve all heard the terms coined by Mark Prensky of ‘digital natives’ (those who have grown up with technology and can access it intuitively – our pupils) and ‘digital immigrants’ (those of us young enough to learn it – most of us teachers). Perhaps we just don’t see the opportunities for paperless solutions in the same way that our pupils do and convince ourselves that paper is better. But I’m not completely persuaded by that explanation. Most teachers I know are more than willing to give things a proper go and are invariably open and flexible to new approaches that can help our pupils. In fact, in my experience, it is sometimes the pupils that are reluctant to leave their physical folders behind, despite the back pain it may cause. For example, in our economics department, we opted for e-textbooks on iPads instead of physical copies for our lower sixth students last year. The text is identical to the paper copy and also includes useful things like a search function. The result? The biggest single item raised in our regular departmental survey – “Can we have paper textbooks, please?” So where does this leave us as teachers and school leaders? Our pupils are growing up in a digital world and we need to prepare them for this. Should we be willing to stick with paper, or should we drive on with digital resources? Much of the answer to this depends on whether we are enhancing or replacing. Young people are a canny bunch – if a resource broadly replicates something that they already have, they will not only question the point of the change, but may even be resistant to it. This is largely because the opportunity cost of the time invested (even if it isn’t long) in working out how to use an e-textbook, say, gives them virtually no marginal gain. In essence, it is therefore completely rational for them to moan at a change that we might see as forward looking. However, if pupils can see a material benefit from a resource, they will embrace and even encourage its use. For example, a few years ago, we started posting all of our class
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John Weiner. notes, essay resources and more on an online portal, as well as homework tasks and useful current issues. The fact that this was a ‘one stop shop’ for our economics and business pupils meant that they liked the approach, would ask for things to be posted on there and some pupils even posted their lesson notes for their peers as well. The ‘enhancement’ was that the platform made life easier for them, therefore they could see a marginal gain to using it, resulting in the general acceptance of a digital approach. You may have come across Lewin’s change management model. In this, he argues that before change can be successfully implemented, you must ‘unfreeze’ the existing situation. In other words, a motivator for change must be identified and given to the pupils as an explanation as to why the existing method of doing things should not carry on ad infinitum. In this scenario it might be through making their lives easier or convincing them how interactive resources may be more effective. It will be very hard to create this motivator if we are simply replicating digitally what we used to do in paper form. Although ‘green’ issues and cost savings to the school are valid general arguments for going digital, most students will not see these as motivators for change. Furthermore, if pupils can’t see the point of a change, a resource may lose some of its impact as a learning tool and the process can end up being counterproductive. Only once pupils have accepted the need for change can it occur, before being ‘refrozen’ into the new standard way of working. So what about our trusty old photocopier? It seems to me that, although we may be moving towards less reliance on physically produced worksheets and the like, we are still at the transitional stage where a mix of paper and digital is in our pupils’ best interests. With improving technology, however, the trend is clear and it is vital that we are open to the enhancements that can be accessed through embracing technological solutions. That said, life will be far less exciting without the photocopier jamming three minutes before lesson one! John Weiner is director of sixth form at Caterham School, having worked previously in a variety of academic, pastoral and leadership roles in independent schools.
Autumn 2016
*CCR Vol53 no3 Autumn 2016.indd 26
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