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Pen and paper use may be declining in many schools, replaced by increasing dependence on digital devices, but local private college Wentworth in Gulf Harbour is defying the trend.
Head of Wentworth, Philip Lee, says most classes only use electronic devices “on occasion”, as the college aims for balanced use of devices alongside many other teaching strategies.
The school has banks of computers (which it calls computers on wheels, or COWS) that are taken into classes when required for research and subjects like computer science and digital art.
Lee says while a small number of students may work on a computer throughout the day if their learning needs require it, for most it is just one of a range of techniques which include pen and paper, textbooks and information delivered by teachers.
“When students start at Wentworth College they tell us how different their experience is in the classroom, compared to their last school,” Lee says. “They say they enjoy learning without the heavy reliance on computers – they are more focused and their screen time has decreased.”
He says recently when the college had 28 junior students sit entry tests, many struggled to formulate and write their answers after 30 minutes because they were not used to working without a computer.
“New students settle into our systems and become used to working with pens rather than spending most of their days on devices. One student showed me her blister from writing so much in her classes.”
The Cambridge International exam curriculums that Wentworth teaches are another reason that pen and paper skills are needed. Most final assessments for senior students are conducted through hand-written exams set and marked in England.
“We know that electronic devices are engaging and that teenagers like to spend many hours online,” Lee says. “However, during the school day we want our students not to be distracted.”
By contrast, Ōrewa College was an early adopter of a bring your own device (BYOD) policy.
It initiated this in 2011, making BYOD compulsory, starting with Year 9 students. This was the beginning of phasing in one-to-one computing as the predominant mode of learning and submitting work at Ōrewa. Since then, Principal Greg Pierce says pen and paper use is declining among all year groups but as students progress from Year 7 to 13, this disproportionately changes towards heavier use of digital devices.
He says in Years 7-10 more assessments are done via pen and paper, but in the senior years (11-13), increasingly NCEA exams are on digital platforms.
Whangaparāoa College began increasing its BYOD component with an e-learning trial for Year 8 classes in 2013.
Principal Steve McCracken says currently the majority of information dissemination and resource delivery at Whangaparāoa College is done through online platforms, such as Google Classroom.
As learners progress through the school, this increases.
“There is still a need to learn the fundamental skills of writing with pen and paper, particularly fine motor skills,” McCracken says. “Ensuring good letter shape and formations is still a skill that needs to be reinforced, particularly in Years 7 and 8.”
Assessments are being completed both online and on paper and while most are still completed using pen and paper, over the last two years the number of online exams has increased proportionally.
McCracken says devices and online platforms help teachers and learners communicate and receive feedback immediately, and regularly.
He also points out that with student engagement an issue for schools following Covid-19, e-learning has advantages.
“We need to look at using these platforms to their potential to engage learners.”
