To start off, teachers regularly give students the option to use paper, and there is no structured way to use the Chromebooks. The purpose of the Chromebooks is not to only save paper but to enhance students educational experience.
In some classes, such as math, students are given handouts to take notes on. For each section there are about two handouts and on average chapters have about eight sections. That is sixteen handouts per chapter; with twelve chapters, one hundred and ninety-two handouts. A total of about two hundred sheets per student, not even counting multiple page packets, is not saving paper.
However, in other ways embracing technology is saving paper. History classes often exchange test and quizzes done on paper for presentations or other collaborative projects done through Google Drive. Labs in science classes are often done online, and English assignments can be shared through Google docs.
Part of the problem is the students as well. Chromebooks are continually brought to school uncharged leaving the teachers unable to plan many lessons on them. Obviously, teacher would not want student to fail, and as a result worry the unprepared students would fall behind very quickly.
In the case of note taking, it is entirely dependent upon the teachers’ preferences. Classes can be conducted using paper handouts and note packets to encourage structured note taking. Other classes require no notes to be taken; the teacher simply provides the content and the student is tasked to record it. In these classes, roughly forty percent of students can be observed regularly using Chromebooks. A select few teachers, however, use and encourage online note-taking.
Overall, more can be done to save paper, but the school is moving in the right direction. It should also be noted that large scale technology usage is a fairly recent addition to the school. That being said, steps should be taken to speed the process.
Students use a lot of paper despite having Chromebooks.