Paperless

With the division down to a single working printer and a broad mandate to go paperless, I looked at my one remaining primary use of paper: a clipboard that drag around outside in the rain for role call, conversion tables to use in the field, and field notes. 

I informally polled the division with an email asking what technology they would need to go paperless. I was thinking of both software and hardware to replace whatever portions of their curriculum were still paperbound. Only one faculty member responded to the email, a faculty member who for over two years has requested but not received a Wacom pen digitizer tablet for use in conjunction with upper level mathematics courses. I took the non-responses of the rest of the division as entrenched opposition to attempting to go paperless. 

I looked at my clipboard and then outside my window at the tropical rain falling. I had tried using my mobile phone in the field, but the screen was too small to be functional and my device is not rain ready. I realized I needed a tablet that could function in the field, operate off of WiFi on cellular data, and survive the occasional bumps and bangs that come from being used in the field. 

Those specifications led me to the Tripltek eight inch screen Pro X30 with 4G LTE, 256 GB storage capacity, a brightness of 1200 nits, 8 GB RAM, Android 10, a 12200 mAh battery, waterproof to the IP68 standard. With the term over field testing will have to await a future term. 

The price of the unit is a reminder that paperless is not necessarily a cost savings, just a change of cost centers. That said, the enterprise printers the college requires are running $1500 each with a supply of toner adding another $1000 to the cost once shipping is included. Printers last, as best, five years, and usually less because the routine regular maintenance printers might get elsewhere is not available here. A $4000 Lexmark 911de was unable to be returned to action after some sort of failure after only a couple of years of use. And those costs do not include the high cost of paper here. 

Whether the tablet will last long enough to offset the acquisition price remains to be seen. Of greater interest to me is whether the tablet will provide new pathways for instruction in the field. Tech has tended to provide new capabilities and is usually most effective when it is not used as a mere substitute for an existing functionality but rather used in a new and unforeseen ways that enhance the ability to deliver the curriculum.