4 Challenges of going paperless

Asked recently by a teacher on what were some of the toughest challenges to going paperless:

1. First problem I had was that short worksheets were out. You know, worksheets where you would circle the verb, or do a quick matching exercise. I could create them on the computer, but the time it took to create those, then the time to get on the computers (even in a digital classroom), then the extra time to do the exercise electronically (it is much quicker circling with a pencil)... it made it not worth it. Which meant...

2. Having to develop deeper, more rigorous work. Yes, it is where we need to go in education, but that doesn't make it easy. Making the identification of verbs a rigorous, authentic, quadrant D activity wracks your creative brain. But perhaps the biggest change for me...

3. A big change in the way you give student feedback. Admittedly, some teachers teachers don't use written feedback on student work, but for those that do, it becomes a lot harder in a paperless environment. Circling and arrows are tough to do in a Microsoft Word file (time to break out your drawing tools). Google Docs made this easier for me, but it was still different. Feedback isn't the only difference...

4. Tests don't work. Well, there are online quizmakers you can use, and they worked okay. But, for most educators, the way they create tests are not the way you should create tests online. Tests online have the advantage of built in feedback or dynamic functionality (a different question based on which answer you gave previously). This was hard for me to shift my thinking, as it is for many educators making the jump.