Tactics for teaching (almost) paperless

A faculty member at Florida Atlantic University describes attempts to teach a writing class in an almost paperless way (the comments on his post are useful, too). Some tips:

  • use two monitors to make it easier to view multiple pages/documents at once
  • bring a laptop/notebook computer to class to have instant access to all student work
  • voice recognition software may make commenting on student papers easier
  • use rubrics pasted into the student documents as a way to have their work and the grading scale co-located
  • use the learning management system to collect and return work, rather than by email
  • use Google Docs for student peer commenting and feedback.

Some down-sides are that students may still print everything they need from class, but this faculty member still estimated that paper use in his class was down 65% in the first attempt.