As Manildra Public School principal Steve Wilkinson now knows it’s one thing to dream of a paperless classroom, pictured left – quite another to achieve it.

“Even though my kids were cluey, the first 10 weeks of this project [early this year] were manic because it was like changing your thinking,” said Mr Wilkinson, who teaches 22 Year 3 to 6 students at the two-classroom school between Orange and Parkes.

“By week five I started to have doubts as to whether I had made the right decision, but by week 10 the students had adjusted beautifully.”

One by one Mr Wilkinson ironed out the issues. Daily handwriting lessons were held to ensure students continued to write correctly and legibly. Students were given strict saving protocols so they could track down their files.

“Lo and behold, by weeks six, seven and eight, we were really on the money,” Mr Wilkinson said.

His idea wasn’t so much about the environment (that was just a side benefit) but about arming his students for a technology-based future so they will have the competitive edge needed for high school and future careers.

Mr Wilkinson started thinking about his paperless revolution when he realised the adage “use it or lose it” was true with technology.

“The kids had email addresses but weren’t using them … other than to email their parents to say hello,” he said.

So he decided to upgrade the school’s equipment and installed a server at the school, a computer at each student’s desk, and re-cabled his classroom.

Now students complete schoolwork on computer and have a project, minimised on the taskbar, to work on independently if they finish tasks early.

Mr Wilkinson also emails homework to students. “What they do have now that other kids don’t have is a wholistic, complete understanding of what digital means and how it works,” he said. “They still forget things, but they’re not frightened to take on new challenges, new software, new ideas and run with them.”