With eBooks and digital classrooms, Schools can save trees

[Gonzalo Garcia]

Beyond the changes in the educational  experience  South Kent School has seen due to eTextbooks and digital, paperless classrooms, the shift has helped the school move further into the sustainability movement.

When South Kent made the transition to eTextbooks in Fall 2011, the faculty had planned a slow transition to paperless homework, but instead was forced into it overnight.

"Under the guise of a software glitch, we made a strategic decision to not connect the iPads to printers," said Phil Darrin, Dean of Academic and Student Affairs.

Having their crutch removed so suddenly, while causing a few headaches at the time, ended up being a very good thing for the school.

In dollars, the school saw paper cost reduce from $2,200 to $750 between September and January – that’s a 66 percent reduction.

If you do the math to judge environmental impact, that works out to a reduction from 7.5 trees in the fall 2010 semester to about 2.5 trees last fall.

Now re-enrollment forms, staff contracts and even the school magazine are available digitally.

"We are giving people more options so it's not just a piece of paper," said Gonzo Garcia, the school's Chief Information Officer. "You can get it on all of your devices."

[Aubrey Myers]

I was wondering how this works with parents? I think this is an amazing concept, but I work in a high poverty school and little to none of the parents have computers or internet. I was just wondering how you relay information to them. Also, how do you administor report cards? Thanks for your help!