School assignments can ultimately be divided into two categories: physical and digital assignments. Digital assignments reigned in the years just after the pandemic, but many teachers are returning to paper-based assignments. While both types of assignments are still used today, students and teachers agree each offers different benefits and suffers their own drawbacks.
Digital assignments provide a more convenient option for teachers and makes organization more efficient, as everything is stored online and allows for a more straightforward approach to grading, sometimes collaborating among classmates, and accessibility. However, the digital approach to assignments has a handful of weaknesses.
Online assignments are vulnerable to network and technical issues such as connectivity issues and file corruption and are more prone to cheating with outside sources such as Chat-GPT and other online tools. Paper assignments triumph in other areas in which digital assignments cannot, such as the level of student engagement with paper-based assignments, which are proven to be more efficient according to Linguist and professor Naomi S. Baron, They also allow for a more focused environment with fewer distractions than the temptation of the internet.
“Paper assignments are more convenient, they’re portable and light, you can take it anywhere[…]. It also provides an environment with less distractions,” social studies teacher Clay Hudson said.
Digital assignments are not as demanding of resources, as they don’t require any new materials other than the device used. Paper assignments on the other hand require a new sheet of paper for each assignment and while one page isn’t too harmful, the accumulation of assignments will end up using a significant amount of resources.
“I think it’s better to have digital assignments; they use less paper and it’s better for the environment. Also its just easier to turn in and go around the obstacles of paper assignments like assignments getting lost,” sophomore Cooper Holton said.
Depending on the student or teacher, portability plays a role. While you can carry both around, paper assignments are more lightweight and regardless of the condition paper assignments are independent to an internet connection.
“Paper assignments are less of a hassle, they don’t require any extra steps or necessities like a charger or a Wi-Fi connection, just a pencil and paper,” senior Aeriana Garner said.
Overall, each type of assignment has its pros and cons and are suited for different areas of school work and is up to the preference of the teacher to decide which fit is best for their students.
