Paperless Homework

Thursday, September 27th 2007, 6:00 pm

By: News On 6

Some Tulsa students are getting a next-generation education. News On 6 anchor Scott Thompson reports middle schoolers are going high-tech at Tulsa's Monte Cassino School. It is part notebook computer, part notebook and part of each of the students' education at Monte Cassino School, located near 21st and Lewis.

"You can do graphs on it, you can use it for video animation, if you wanted to, you can do PowerPoint presentations. It just makes it a lot easier just to do anything," said Monte Cassino seventh grader Max Sanders.

Max Sanders is one of 250 students using tablet PC's in the classroom. Itâ€™s an all-in-one mouse, pen and eraser. Eighth grader Tanner Burke couldn't wait to get his hands on it. Tanner gave up part of his summer to put the computers together.

"Instead of losing a paper and then not having it at home, and not having your homework in the morning, it's saved on your computer, so when you get home you just pull it up and it's always there," said Tanner Burke, Monte Cassino eighth grader.

American studies classes are using theirs to publish historical newspapers, students in Spanish and math use theirs for homework. But teachers say some still prefer the old-fashioned approach.

"At least in math, I think the students feel more comfortable doing their homework on paper. The science class, they're doing a lot of it on their tablets," Monte Cassino math teacher Jean Springs said.

"You just go home, sit on the couch, do your homework on your tablet and you're done in like five minutes," said Sanders.

Max and Tanner have mastered their tablets. Now they're part of the school's tech team, looking for glitches and ways students can cheat. Teachers and students say it all adds up to a 21st century education.

"We will be using computers all the time in the workplace, and I think using these skills will really help us in the future," Max Sanders said.

"Things that we weren't able to do 'til college, they're able to do in middle school. Now that's pretty amazing," said Springs.

Each of the computers are wired to the web and to the teacher's PC, so they can monitor the sites students visit.

Watch the video: Next Generation Education