Maryland school welcomes paperless learning

Hagerstown, Md.-based St. Mary's Catholic School recently became the latest educational institution to take steps toward going paperless, according to WHAG-TV. The school recently received a grant of more than $41,000 from the Marion I and Henry Knott Foundation to purchase iPads for its middle-school students and their teachers.

"In the last couple of years, we added smart boards to all our classrooms, and then the next step in our vision was to go from [a] one-to-one computing system so that each student would get be able to have their own iPad and really be active and more engaged in their learning," said Patricia McDermott, principal at the school, as quoted by the news source.

To streamline the transition toward a paperless process, the school launched an iPad camp to teach students how to navigate the various apps they'll be using throughout the academic year, as well as the mobile devices themselves. Eventually, St. Mary's hopes to go entirely paperless.

"It's a technology-rich world and we need our students to be able to be successful with the technology, and also this gives us a chance – especially as a Catholic school – to talk about how to use technology ethically, responsibly and respectfully," McDermott told the media outlet.

Tablets helpful for learners of all ages
Leveraging tablets can also be beneficial for adult learners. In a recent piece for ADDitude, graduate student Beth Main detailed her road map toward paperless organization, which included the use of an iPad, Kindle textbooks and the accompanying Kindle app, a Bluetooth keyboard, a stylus, the free Google Calendar and Google Tasks tools based in the cloud, the Notability note-taking app and, of course, cloud storage for optimal document management.

"Although it took me a while to get my system set up, I am now paperless," Main wrote. "No notes, no textbooks, no printouts of PowerPoint presentations, or PDFs. That means no filing, no lost assignments, no 'Where the heck did I put that paper?!' I am organized!"

Students of all ages can quickly become overwhelmed when determining what books they need to take home and which can stay at school, especially during the end-of-day rush. With ebooks, learners can access their entire library of educational resources through one device.

"The main draw of the Kindle is that I always have the right book with me," noted Main.

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