Going paperless, or as close as an artroom can be to paperless, has long been a dream of mine. I've been trying everything I can think of to use less paper in my artroom. Not only to help save a few trees, but also to save a few $$. It is unbelievable how much paper you can go through in a school year. I've saved a great deal with the addition of laptops and an interactive whiteboard to my classroom. The ease of uploading student images and working digitally has helped. I've done my best to recycle, work small when possible, and take advantage of resources within the community that are willing to donate. Getting publications and artist resources online has eliminated the need to buy endless books and magazines. One of my biggest problems, besides an ancient color printer that has such a delay on it most students end up printing things twelve times, is the repeated requests by students for project handouts and grading rubrics. I've used Moodle and various other options for posting and organizing class information, most of which require the student to remember passwords, or take far too many clicks of the mouse to find, and usually require me to wait and wait for access from the powers that be to post. I have found that asking high school students to be patient, remember extra passwords/codes, or navigate endlessly within a site does not work out so well especially if you are trying to give them easy access to pertinent information for class. Needless to say, there was little to no traffic on the sites I was trying to use. I still had students using the excuses "I lost the handout. Could I get another?" or "I couldn't remember the password" or "Where was that again?... I couldn't find it".
Recently, I posted my handouts,examples, rubrics, syllabi, and resource links in LiveBinders (thanks to my student teacher, who also happens to be a library media specialist, for introducing me).
http://www.livebinders.com/
Wow, what a difference. Students went to livebinders.com and were able to find handouts and examples easily just by searching the class name, my last name, school,...you get the idea! I posted the link to all the other places I used before, just in case someone was still looking there. Many of our resource and EEN teachers have used my livebinders when they are working with my students outside of class. I no longer have to give out repeated project description handouts, syllabi, or rubrics. Now if I need a handout for use in class, I only give out one :) If the students happen to misplace them or need to review examples they can easily access them online from their phone, home computer, friends computer, library, etc. I think they might be learning a little independence, while taking responsibility for their education...woohoo, every teacher's dream!
Extra bonus...parents can also easily access all your classroom information.
Even better....LiveBinders.com allows you to search other people's livebinders and put them on your shelf. You can create a whole library of resources at your fingertips (or at your student's).
Yes...You can password your folders for those of you that like keeping things a little more private.
And let's not forget...It's a great tool for getting organized as well. I might be able to get rid of a filing cabinet or two!
Check it out. It's not fancy or beautiful, but it sure is useful!
http://www.livebinders.com/
btw...It's free!!!!
