Why Classrooms Still Thrive on Printed Materials

Digital learning has its place in schools, and teachers have adapted to embrace it. Nevertheless, in many schools, printed materials are still an important necessity in the classroom.

Today’s teachers are in a battle to engage students. 20 years ago, TV was the primary distraction, but now that small screens have joined the mix, it’s even more difficult for teachers to capture and keep students’ attention. Schools need to keep students focused on learning, and printed materials remain a go-to tool. To support these efforts, schools require cost-effective, high-performance printing solutions that enable them to meet the growing demands of classrooms.

How do you evolve a medium that has been with us for hundreds of years? Printed materials have been a vital teaching aid in schools throughout history, but that doesn’t mean it can’t evolve. The key is using printing technology that’s up to the task.

Anyone who has seen a teenager doom-scroll on a tablet or phone understands that it’s as much of a distraction as a way to communicate. Scrolling on screens can lead to skimming and fragmented learning, particularly for long-form content.

Comparatively, paper-based documents remain an intuitive communication mechanism that can help foster retention and comprehension due to their simplicity and easy shareability. It’s an effective medium for conveying ideas colorfully, with simple graphics and illustrations, without a lot of other distractions fighting for attention that can also lead to sensory overload. So it’s not surprising that students retain 78% more information when studying from printed materials compared to digital sources.1

Because printed materials can communicate information simply and clearly, and help the mind focus, they are essential for a wide array of school media, from worksheets to study guides. This is why the simplest of creative projects still simply involve reaching for a sheet of paper.

Even in hybrid and remote learning environments, high-quality printed materials are still a complementary medium to help students succeed.

Students are 80% more likely to read material printed in color, which makes sense because a well-designed piece of printed color material is so much more pleasing to the eye.2

When they do read printed material, color helps students to absorb it. Color increases student attention spans by 82%3 and improves comprehension by 73%.4 Science even points to which colors can achieve the desired effects; red enhances attention, while blue fosters creativity and calm.5

Color printed material’s ability to enhance specific learning processes makes it a useful tool in supporting students with special needs. Research shows that 5-20% of young students experience visual stress when reading.6 Introducing color to help guide readers and elevate attention provides extra help. Using color overlays can improve reading speed by 35% for students with autism, for example.7

Epson’s DURABrite® and DURABrite Pro pigment ink excels at producing vibrant colors to help educators achieve their student outcomes. It produces extra-sharp text and vivid color graphics, even on plain paper.

Color printing is beneficial for classrooms, libraries, and labs alike — but teachers can’t make trade-offs. In busy school environments, they can’t sacrifice important factors like speed and reliability for color printing. Epson has years of experience developing printers that help teachers to produce positive real-world outcomes while supporting them in demanding conditions.

Speed to keep up with your school day:
Unlike toner-based laser printers, Epson’s PrecisionCore® print heads do not require heat. That means that they don’t take time to warm up before delivering the first print. With Epson printers, teachers enjoy fast first page out so they don’t have to wait around.

Captivate with color:
There’s no longer any need for your lessons to be held back by printing only black and white. With Epson printers, replacement ink bottles are actually affordable, and our WorkForce® ST-C4100 Supertank printers come with enough ink to print up to 14,000 ISO pages in black and up to 11,200 ISO pages in color.8 You can print in a plethora of colors, creating more engaging and exciting printed materials for your class, your coworkers, and your most colorful ideas.

Engineered for an A+ in functionality:
There’s no time to deal with a printer that decides to ditch class. Epson engineers printers for educators that are as dependable as your most dedicated students, with desktop models delivering up to 2x the reliability of competitors.9 And the accompanying 2-year limited warranty provides extra peace of mind for busy educators.

No toner cartridge chaos:
Epson printers can help save educators from one of the biggest drawbacks of laser printers: replacing toner cartridges. Epson’s high-capacity ink bottles mean less time hunting for replacement consumables. Our Supertank printers come with enough ink to last up to two years.10 So your days won’t be disrupted with an out-of-toner message, a mad hunt for replacement cartridges, and the headache of ordering more, then waiting for it to arrive.

Big savings for small budgets:
Epson works hard to ensure K-12 schools on a budget can benefit from its advanced inkjet printing technology. That’s why we started the Epson Brighter Futures program, which offers special pricing for education. Check to see which Epson products qualify for your school.

We also make it easy to buy ink that will stretch to fit your budget. With the Supertank models, you can save up to 80% with low-cost replacement ink bottles compared to standard-capacity laser toner cartridges.11