So my university (at which I both teach and am a student) has really started pushing going as paperless as possible this year.
On the one hand, this is proving to be an annoyance, as my students have this rather marked increase in their ability to forget due dates and assignment specifications. As a result, I continue to hand out sheets in class.
On the other hand, though, I have required all students to turn in their papers electronically. This, I love. And they seem to be pretty happy with the arrangement, as well. I get no excuses of "my printer died," for starters. I don't have to worry about papers turned in with red or blue ink (though, really, I'd rather that than nothing). No mangled pages, no coffee stains, no food on the papers, AND my cats can't attack them. And believe me, explaining to a student why there are teeth marks and little bites taken out of their papers is entertaining.
I like grading on the computer. I like being able to use Macros for common errors (it goes SO much faster), being able to retype a comment when I don't like how I worded it (no erasing or scribbling out!), and I really like the fact that I type much faster than I can hand write anything. Grading takes nearly half the time it used to.
I like the fact that I can post their comments and grades on a course website and just be done with it. I don't have to haul papers to class, don't have to feel like I'm carrying half a tree with me wherever I go, and I don't have to worry about what to do when I find I have a only a red pen (and we're not supposed to use red because it traumatizes students - WTF?). I do have to carry around a laptop, which is heavy as hell, but lets me have the enjoyment of posting to my blog when I finish my grading early (as now).
All this, and the proverbial bag of chips that we're doing something that reduces our impact on the environment. Bonus!
I know my students like the convenience of emailing papers or uploading them, rather than printing and dragging. I'm sure they like the option to "accept changes" when I make small grammatical alterations to their drafts. I'm sure they appreciate not having to decipher my handwriting.
But all that said, there is something a good deal more impersonal about electronic comments. They can't see a smiley face drawn in their margin or the deep impress of a pen when I get excited (or angry) about something they've said. They can't guess about what color pen is going to have marked their papers this time. It's just the familiar, cold, glowing text on their screen that appears on every document, every webpage, every email that comes through their inbox or browser.
But, I think, that's why the experience of the classroom is so important. In today's world, where online education is becoming increasingly popular (and common), I think the classroom is, in fact, more important than ever in the process of education. Students need to see and hear not only their instructor, but one another. They need to be able to give a gut reaction, to express their immediate confusion, to be able to recognize when they or others have something particularly interesting or exciting to say. Yes, the internet is great, but text just doesn't do it all. We need human contact - especially in education, where the information itself is impersonal at best. Classmates and teachers are PEOPLE, and they are important ones who shape the way we think and learn, and that is something that no amount of "paperless" internet education is going to be able to make up for.