Distance Learning and Teaching: Using The Paperless Writing Workshop Approach

Going Digital With Writing Workshops

There are countless advantages to ditching paper in the classroom in favor of going digital. Digital resources increase the quality of the learning experience because they offer a means for greater collaboration, independent learning, self-pacing, and accelerated productivity.

Here is a closer look at paperless learning.

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1. INDEPENDENT AND SELF-PACED LEARNING

One of the greatest advantages of paperless learning is that students can learn at their own pace. Let’s be honest. People can only truly learn at their own pace. If a student is forced to go too fast, they will, inevitably, miss vital parts of the lesson. Conversely, if they are forced to go too slow, they will miss the opportunity to meet their potential. Highly supportive, digital materials can allow motivated students to work independently, at their own pace. This frees the teacher to give extra attention to struggling students.

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2. STUDENT COLLABORATION

Technology is a great vehicle for deep collaboration, especially in 1:1 classrooms. You can take peer evaluation to a new level with a few button clicks and some well-prepared materials.

Here’s an easy and fun way to allow peer evaluation on Google Slides:

Set up a Google Slide with a blank template (make a text box for their name), and a rubric template. Then duplicate both templates so there are enough for each student to have one of each.
Share the Slide on Google Classroom or another LMS.
Have each student claim their blank and rubric template by adding their name. Then they will paste their essay into the blank template. They may duplicate the blank if they need more room.
Now, every student can see every essay and they are ready to evaluate! You can assign evaluators however works best for your classes. I like to simply tell them to evaluate the essay below them; or they can evaluate the 2 or 3 below them. You will be shocked at how quickly students learn from each other!

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SAVE TIME AND ENERGY!

With the explosion of technology in the classroom, digital interactive workshops are becoming increasingly common, and with good reason. Teachers are purging hours of meaningless tasks from their busy schedules and freeing up time for the important business of actual teaching. Hours spent at the copier and passing out, collecting, storing, and dragging home papers is no longer necessary. Unexpected perk: You will likely notice that your desk becomes less messy! More Great Paperless Resources