Online reading tasks - How e-learning can save paper - no kidding

My English language students need to read a lot - fact, and I often want them to read something quickly which they can discard when they finish. What I don't want to do however is photocopy the same thing for each student only to have them read it once and then file it away neatly never to be seen again.(or more likely, thrown it in the bin.)

Here's where technology can help.

Armed with their smartphones that can access the internet students can read a wide range of material quickly and without wasting resources. (except maybe their monthly bandwith allowance)

Online Reading Tasks
I put my students into pairs and gave them the urls below. I then told them to go away and use their smartphones or any device that could access the internet to read the three stories and come up with three endings ...each ending being a single sentence or even just a word.

Story 1 - Joe and the tigers

http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/joe-and-the-tigers-read-the-story-and-write-the-last-line/

Write your ending to the story in one sentence here:

------------------------------------------------------------------

Story 2 - Joe and the hairdresser

http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/joe-and-the-hairdresser-read-the-story-and-write-the-last-line/

Write your ending to the story in one sentence here:

------------------------------------------------------------------

Story 3 - The workman and the beggar

http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/quick-stories-2-the-workman-and-the-beggar/

Write your ending to the story in one sentence here:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggested answers

A good ending for story one - 'I know, it works really well."

A good ending for story two - 'I'm the one who has to look at it all day.'

A good ending for story three - 'No'.

Further thoughts

When are we going to see 'electronic paper'? By this I mean a cheap, simple device that can use either a wi-fi or USB connection to show written content to students. I don't mean a set of expenisve laptops (or even a computer) or a trendy handheld device,I mean a cheap bit of plastic that will show words and pictures, that can be thrown around and used over and over and over again to show documents. Think of the amount of money that could be saved on paper. You'd never need to print exams, worksheets or home made books, or stories, or timetables

...actually, if students already have a smartphone then they've got this already.