2008 Woodie Awards
Paperless classrooms: A look into the future
Kelly-Lynne Russell
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Inside WCC
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Just as bread is the staple of life in some countries, so paper is the staple of existence at Washtenaw Community College. Without paper, our essays would be nothing, our math equations would only live in some cranial pocket, and our bulletin boards would be uninformative and bare. Now that WCC is experiencing a budget crunch, paperless classrooms may be the future.
Due to recent budget cuts, WCC faculty have been forced to cut the quantity of copies they make on the college's dime, and instead raise the funds themselves. Although the eco-friendly benefits are obvious, teachers have to front the costs of the copies necessary for imperative classroom functions. Though WCC is cutting frivolous expenditures, the costs of paper handouts really adds up. For a teacher who has a class of thirty students, one day's worth of handouts for every student is about a $1.50 at a five-cent a page rate. If the professor has two classes a day the price goes up to $3; per week about $6 dollars, per month about $50 dollars all coming out their personal accounts.
Professor Thomas Dodd is experiencing just such a problem. As the instructor for Journalism 101, a class heavily reliant on paper consumption, Dodd is facing a dilemma:Either lessen the amount of physical paper handouts distributed to students, or make the copies needed at five to ten cents a page himself.
"Last year, it was only part time faculty [that had to pay for copies], now it's both part-time and full-time," he said. So Dodd is forced to make alternative plans to succumb to the copy limits.
Bill Wolff, instructor of Humanities 101, is facing a similar problem to Dodd. About three years ago the Humanities department approached instructors and asked them to reduce the amount of copies they had been running off for classes. "I was never given a specific number of pages that we were allowed," said Wolff, "just that I was making too many."
Now Wolff uses a combination of posting information online, and having students buy the Humanities course pack, which contains different handouts, test study guides and articles that Wolff would have before handed out in class to his students.
Due to recent budget cuts, WCC faculty have been forced to cut the quantity of copies they make on the college's dime, and instead raise the funds themselves. Although the eco-friendly benefits are obvious, teachers have to front the costs of the copies necessary for imperative classroom functions. Though WCC is cutting frivolous expenditures, the costs of paper handouts really adds up. For a teacher who has a class of thirty students, one day's worth of handouts for every student is about a $1.50 at a five-cent a page rate. If the professor has two classes a day the price goes up to $3; per week about $6 dollars, per month about $50 dollars all coming out their personal accounts.
Professor Thomas Dodd is experiencing just such a problem. As the instructor for Journalism 101, a class heavily reliant on paper consumption, Dodd is facing a dilemma:Either lessen the amount of physical paper handouts distributed to students, or make the copies needed at five to ten cents a page himself.
"Last year, it was only part time faculty [that had to pay for copies], now it's both part-time and full-time," he said. So Dodd is forced to make alternative plans to succumb to the copy limits.
Bill Wolff, instructor of Humanities 101, is facing a similar problem to Dodd. About three years ago the Humanities department approached instructors and asked them to reduce the amount of copies they had been running off for classes. "I was never given a specific number of pages that we were allowed," said Wolff, "just that I was making too many."
Now Wolff uses a combination of posting information online, and having students buy the Humanities course pack, which contains different handouts, test study guides and articles that Wolff would have before handed out in class to his students.
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