There’s no doubt that more and more classrooms are going digital, with a steady increase in the adoption of tablets, Chromebooks and other mobile devices. Yet even with this growing adoption, there remains a strong need to print. While it may seem counter to the notion of going digital, an undeniable need for paper still exists. Students need to be able to print homework while teachers need to be able to print tests, lesson plans and the like.
Holding success
Beyond just the simple need to print, there is also a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from students seeing their hard work in printed form.
Imagine a student spending hours on that well-crafted report or project — and the pride experienced when seeing the fruits of their labor in printed form or when receiving the proverbial gold-star of approval from their teacher. Equally, many parents still want to proudly display their child’s handy-work on their fridge or at the office. None of that is possible without paper.
A seamless education
The catch is that printing from mobile devices can be a challenge — with software downloads and kludgy apps that may or may not be effective. Moreover, with the bulk of technology purchases going towards tablets and Chromebooks, many schools simply do not have the resources to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy new printers with built-in mobile printing capabilities.
Ideally, schools should seek a solution that will allow them to utilize their legacy printers yet not involve a number of complicated steps. These types of products do exist and will greatly ease the transition to the digital environment. Eventually, the integration of mobile print standards will support advanced printing across a mixed fleet — for education and other industries as well. At that point, the mobile print experience will resemble the desktop printing experience. It’s only a matter of time.
