One thing that has always bothered me about school is how much paper we use. This year alone, I’m positive I’ve used over a thousand sheets. Handouts, packets, worksheets, lined paper, notes, you know the drill. It’s disgusting. The sheer amount of resources needed for paper, pencils and all that is staggering.
Today I was discussing this with my English teacher, Mr. Rapson, and he agreed. If we could only…get rid of it all. Pencils, paper, everything. Imagine how efficient everything would be. And computers (tablets) would take their place.
Here’s what I propose: every student receives a password and username, that they keep secret. Next, every classroom is stocked with 30 tablets (touchscreens and keyboards included). Kids are never assigned a tablet, they can use any one to log into their name. Once logged in, they are given a choice from their list of classes, and they select the one they are currently attending. The screen then presents the day’s lesson as prepared by the teacher. 
Worksheets are managed are worked on, essays are written, tests are taken, etc. Once a document is finished, it is sent to the teacher instantly. It would basically replace the need for any paper, and be infinitely easier to organize documents. The class would not be tied to this machine though, as any there would still be hands-on activities and all.
When someone is logged into their class, their tablets are restricted, as in no checking their email. Teachers would be able to override all of the screens in the class at any time, allowing them to give slide shows etcetera.
Of course, these tablets would have GPS trackers of some sort to prevent theft. It would not be a privacy concern because the tablets should never make it out of the classroom. If one did, it would be easy to track down. They’d also have to be made of a very durable plastic, and flexible OLED screens.
Homework, now this could be more of a problem. As kids would not be able to bring their tablets home, they’d have to be able to access their data from the web. A web interface would allow them to download documents, upload documents, and everything. This program would probably have to be introduced at a private school where everyone has a computer at home. Otherwise, there would be a library with full access that would be open till…9 pm or so.
One more thing. Would all this actually improve schooling? With all of their data digitized, would something be lost somewhere? A common method of teaching involves students listening to lectures and taking notes. This requires them to actually write what they are hearing. But would teachers still require the kids to type up the notes that they are displaying on their giant screen at the front of the class?
There’s my preliminary outline. Anyone see any gaping holes or have questions? This sounds like a great college project to work on at MIT or something…heh. I can just imagine it, developing the tablet and piloting it in a small private school.
There've been 14 whole comments
8:11 pm on 6/2/2005 1. Jackie
Finally, a post! …and a very nice one too Andrew. I like the idea of saving all that paper, etc. and they way you lay it out makes it seem so simple. However, the one major flaw I see is how simple it would be to cheat this system. I know I wouldn’t be able to…on accounts of my lack of ability with that sort of thing, but I’m sure someone like yourself could easily override things, hack into others’ accounts, etc. etc. etc. And what about tests? Actually, you could probably get the teacher able to lock the tablets into one…um…screen where the students have to stay during the test.
And what about handwriting, would it just…go away. One good thing would be that teachers wouldn’t have to deal with unreadable handwriting anymore, but might we forget how to write by hand…or at least not be very good at it. On projects involving posters and displays the average non-artist wouldn’t quite be able to title legibly. That’s just a note… my main concern would be the copy and paste factor. If we could get that solved though, a virtually no paper system would be awesome…
10:50 pm on 6/2/2005 2. Andrew
Yea, one major problem would be getting kids to not let others know about their password. Perhaps it do some sort of fingerprint scan instead, although that impedes on privacy. How about swiping your student ID card? Except if you forgot it, maybe a teacher could swipe their “more privileged” card and get the student set up right.
And as to hacking the system, it’d be about the same difficulty as any other setup, just like the one we have at school right now. It’s not hacker-proof, but I’d say it’s pretty good.
Also, I don’t think 100% elimination of paper is a good thing. Creativity would be impeded on, etc. So some projects and excercises would still call for paper…We’d still have to be able to write!!
And what do you mean by “The Copy-Paste Factor,” I’m not sure I understand?
6:38 am on 6/3/2005 3. Nella
You know, as long as we can get our act together and make sure all of our waste paper ends up in one of those big yellow bins, I don’t think the use of paper is all that bad. It’s so easy to recycle, if we could just get people to do it.
If the security system is no better than the one we have now, wouldn’t people like Sam be able to hack it in a second? I thought he had already broken our school’s security system.
By far the largest gaping hole is the cost factor. Only the absolute finest private schools would, for the next few decades at least, be able to offer this luxury. I think their are some private schools that already use this, or at least use laptops for all of their work. There’s no way you could even consider something like this for a public school (in this century).
9:21 pm on 6/3/2005 4. Jackie
Copy and paste as in plagarism…cheating…etc…
8:12 am on 6/4/2005 5. Sam
I honestly think that plagiarism is a problem, but I don’t think making it so kids can’t type actually solves any problems. I don’t think making someone have to write something out actually stops them from copying someone else’s work.
8:19 am on 6/4/2005 6. Sam
Well, when I first read that, I thought well that’s partially true, but not completely. At the time I read that yesterday morning, really all I was capable of doing was: if I was locked out of the computer I could break into it and still use it wasn’t something too difficult.
But much to my surprise, one period later I figured out how to access every folder on the file sever. Handy that huh? So, yea security is definitely an issue, considering I don’t really know that much stuff. How easy would it be for a professional? So ya, they’ve got work to do.
3:50 pm on 6/8/2005 7. Anonymous
etceatingsmte>”Copy and paste as in plagarism…cheating…etc…”
Eve 6 is out keep in the technology world….teachers can scan papers and everything and find the EXACT percentageplagiarismrism in a paper. I wouldn’t worry about copy and pasting.
However, you would have to think about security here. What if some student got angry and uploaded a virus to the servers and firewallvall/virus protection, etc. didn’t catch it? Then what? Or what if the server had an error and lost your file? Are you responsible?
Cost if the biggest of all these problems though.
6:13 pm on 6/11/2005 8. Sam
Eve 6?
9:04 pm on 6/11/2005 9. Emm
As far as I know Eve 6 is a band… but I have no idea what “Anonymous” was talking about
9:27 pm on 6/11/2005 10. Sam
Ya that’s what I thought.
9:51 pm on 6/11/2005 11. Sam
There is a program called EVE 2.
6:19 am on 6/12/2005 12. Emm
I was just thinking… if you copy and paste an essay that isn’t copyrighted can you still get in trouble for it, because technically there would be no way to prove that you weren’t the one who posted it on the internet in the first place, right?
7:38 pm on 6/7/2006 13. chat de juarez
I don’t think paper is going away any time soon. Have you ever given a thought to the amount of resources needed to maintain the computer monitor in front of you powered up?
4:26 pm on 5/22/2007 14. anonymous
at my school we have a similar system with passwords it works perfectly