I am teaching two classes next term, Web Media II for Language Consultants, and Information presentation and searching for Cultural Analysis students. Both courses are planned, but I want to get the compendiums printed this week (or…?). Last Web Media course I used a course blog and posted all the readings on a password protected page. The students could decide if they wanted to download the pdf’s, or read them on-screen. It was an attempt to be more ‘green’, but as I learn more and more about being green, such alternatives are not so clear-cut. For example, does the energy the computer consumes ‘cost’ the environment more than the paper the compendia are printed on? Does the energy of the printing process offset the cost of reading the pdf’s on-screen. And how many students actually read their articles on the screen, and how many just print them out in the lab? Before next term begins (the end of Jan.), I need to decide which alternative to try. I think at the end of this term I will give the students a questionnaire and ask them how they think it worked. I wish I had asked them last time.
What do you think? Which is greener – to print a 75 page compendium or to upload the articles on a blog and let the students choose to read them on the screen or print them out individually?
This site is one researcher's wanderings through participatory media. Focusing on youth created media, I will use this blog to document my study of YouTube and related video hosting sites.
No Comments, Comment or Ping
I know what you mean–I haven’t blogged in about a week and feel I must rediscover my voice soon! I’ve been reading a lot and living life in sunny Florida. However, if I intend to call myself a blog scholar, I need to keep writing!
March 9th, 2004
Reply to “Teaching green”