Raleigh teacher goes paperless in wireless world

Raleigh, N.C. — Every month, teachers at Wakefield High School get thousands of pages of paper for their classrooms. Most of the paper ends up in a recycling bin, which adds up to about 4 million sheets a year.

However, Phil Vice is one teacher who isn’t adding to that usage. His computer engineering class is virtually paperless.

Vice's students take quizzes online, and their worksheets and handouts are online, too, taking the place of textbooks.

“It has made me a very organized individual,” he said.

Students log in each day and see the work they need to complete and when it's due. They can do the work at school or at home.

“I like the fact that we do almost everything on the computer compared to some of my other classes, like AP (statistics),” said student Carl Piland. “We have to print everything off the computer. We haven’t even taken midterms yet, and my binder is already full from that class.”

Student Justin Duncan said he feels very comfortable using a computer because he is part of a technology-friendly generation.

“Having everything online and stuff like that for our age helps us to really be able to perform stuff like this … better than (on) paper,” he said.

Vice says he uses paper only for tests.

The content for his class comes from a non-profit organization based in Raleigh called The Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning, and it costs the school $600 a year. The company shares the content using free open-source software called Moodle.

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"What if a student doesn't have a computer? It happens, ya know." - Rev. RB

Well, then as is says in the article, they can do the work in class, instead of at home. They're taking a computer engineering class. Maybe they should offer an online reading comprehension for golo members course.

deduce
March 19, 2009 5:51 p.m.

What if a student doesn't have a computer?

It happens, ya know.

God bless.

RB

Spirit Warrior Woman - Rev. RB
March 19, 2009 3:34 p.m.

Paperless is a whole different way of doing things, and for it to work well you need a whole different set of tools, and the knowhow to use them. It takes time, but eventually we must go there. We have to overcome objections, but in a way that is understanding of the problems.

In particular, I totally deplore the pernicious idea, currently in vogue, that if you really want your information to last, you need to print it out. That's the way to lose it! I've been working with CDs, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs for many years (26, 10, and 6 respectively), and I have no clear indication of any of my discs "rotting." But try finding what you misfiled among 500 manila folders. Even at home, with only 100, it worries me at times.

Besides, there isn't enough paper in all the world's forests to store all the stuff we generate. In a sense, we're already 99.97% paperless. No way to go back.

Not only do I applaud Mr Vice for his methods, but I'd like to get in touch with him to see how we can work together.

mondosinistro
March 19, 2009 3:02 p.m.

I couldn't do my homework because the internet connection was not working. or Sorry class I can't teach you today, the internet or computer system is not working or has a virus or the hard drive crashed.

You could insert allot of excuses into this one. We are going down a stupid scary road people.

Iworkforaliving
March 19, 2009 2:19 p.m.

"His computer engineering class is virtually paperless."

Good for him but lets see someone try to do this with a math class. Do that with a lot of classes and all you have managed to do is push the cost of the paper and supplies off on the kids parents. It is a lot easier to do all the work on the computer when the subject matter itself is about a computer.