I’ve been hearing about the “paperless” office (and, by extension, paperless school) for nearly 40 years. Doug even talks about it in his recent The Next Big Thing(s) post.
To which I say, HA!
Here’s the reality: we’re using more paper. Vast quantities of more.
Students do react differently to paper assignments, at least in my district. There is a sense of responsibility that isn’t there when the assignment is purely digital. But, I believe the cause is more of a “this is how we’ve always done it”. For the most part, students are conditioned to receive assignments and supplemental materials as physical copies. It’s the only thing they’ve every known.