(January 27, 2003) — Imagine working in school without paper, surfing the web, and most importantly, having all your work done with a computer. After all, how could we, dependents of technology, possibly subsist without them? Many students at Clark rely on computers to make schoolwork easier, but will Clark’s technology advance as far as a paperless classroom? In such a classroom students use laptops and turn assignments in on floppy disks, as opposed to writing or typing assignments and turning them in on paper. Students do assignments on the Internet and take notes in class on a laptop. One school in Kentucky is experimenting with a paperless classroom by having students use handheld computers in their classrooms. The school’s administration hopes this will organize learning for students. Students in this school use textbooks as well as laptops in some classes. However, in science classes, lessons are heavily based on Internet research and classroom experiments. The outcome of this classroom will be later known, for the school is still experimenting with this new idea. Some argue that Clark being a technology school is more likely to lean towards such a paperless classroom. Already, in some classes, teachers are using the Internet as a source of learning and a replacement to paper-based textbooks. Spanish teacher Victoria Marcucci assigns Internet homework on subjects that correlate to her class. Students go to studyspanish.com and study grammar lessons, vocabulary, and take quizzes and tests. At this site, grades and completion of assignments are posted on virtual report cards. To check the students’ work, Marcucci must type in her password, and she quickly learns what each student has done, and what grades they have received on the tests. No paper is required for this activity, and sometimes she even takes her classroom to the library to allow students to work on the computers while she is around to help them. “I’m taking a small step [toward a paperless classroom], but I still grade essays and other written work,” commented Marcucci. She said the Internet homework is beneficial to both the students and teacher alike because it helps to re-enforce lessons for the students, and makes grading a lot easier for her. Math teacher Verjina Karnik has her students visit easygeometry.com where they take geometry quizzes and tests. This website is closely aligned with their textbooks. Upon completion of the quiz, students e-mail their results to the teacher. English teacher Carol Pettegrew said that her “step” toward a paperless classroom consists of giving her students more presentation based projects versus written assignments. She tries to assign projects on programs like Power Point or have her students make a video. Also, each Clark teacher has an e-mail address where students can e-mail any problems or concerns to the teacher, instead of writing their questions down. While some teachers do not check their mail on a day-to-day basis, students are still able to convey their thoughts and questions by e-mail. Clark might not become a paperless school, but many teachers are taking steps toward it. Some examples of paperless technology: Avid machines give students the ability to edit their media projects at school. Using VHS tapes and the Avid software they can create professional multimedia presentations. On-site computer labs provide connections to networked hard drives and give users the ability to access software. Work can be finished at any computer in the school so long as users knows their user name and password. AlphaSmarts are small, lightweight, portable electronic notepads that enable the student to type up essays without the use of a full-fledged computer. The AlphaSmart is simply a word processor that has a wireless infrared port so that you can print to the classroom printer when you are done. Currently, Clark has a dozen or so of these and loans them out to students who require their use.