Monday, February 6
Weblog Post #4 - Ship Needs Better Paper Management
As a lab attendant in three computer labs on campus, I have noticed something rather uncomforting about Shippensburg students: They waste paper and they don't think twice about it.
At least once (usually more) times a day someone feels the need to print out their own copy of the bible, phonebook and dictionary all at once. They ruthlessly print out their professors' PowerPoint slides, each slide on a page...even the ones that just have "Federalism Part 1" centered in the middle of the slide.
Students have no qualms in standing by the printer as it spits out lyrics to their favorite song in five different fonts. They print their 12-page term papers, print backups and backups for the backups. Other students waiting to print their dictionaries? They don't care. They watch as page after page is fed to them and they grin inside...they know that they are wasting huge amounts of paper for no reason. They know they probably won't read past the first slide in their PowerPoint. If they forget their papers in the lab, no worry...they can just print it out again.
Students drool at the sight of stacks of unused printing paper lining the walls in the Grove lab. So little time, so much to print!
I have no numbers on how much the University spends on printing paper. I have no numbers on how much paper SU goes through every semester. But I do not want to just help the university save money, I want it to conserve paper and help students learn how to do so.
At Penn State University there is a semester limit of 110 pages per student. Sure the school has 32,000 more students but in reality 110 is more than enough. Every page after that is a 10-cent charge. Not a bad deal.
Also, most of the PSU printers are preset to print double-sided. This alone, I safely assume, cuts down the number of pages used by around half.
Why doesn't Shippensburg do this?
Instead SU pays for the huge amount of wasted pages. If a student knows that they only have 110 pages to use, he/she might be inclined to go look for their class syllabus before printing out another copy, they might read PowerPoint slides on the computer screen before printing them out or they will be sure to print six slides on a page double-sided.
Think about this. A professor drones on and on for two hours. He/she used 100 slides in that one class alone. Joey ShipStudent dozes off in class and misses the last hour and 45 minutes of the lecture. What will Joey do? He will probably venture over to the lab and print out all 100 pages of the presentation and if the school would only change a few settings on their computers and impose a few rules about printing, they could cut down those 100 sheets of paper to only nine sheets.
100 slides / 6 (slides a page) / 2 (double sided (or “Duplex-Printing”)) = 9 sheets of paper.
It’s that easy. So instead of wasting a few sheets of paper that say “No Excessive Printing” and “Only One Copy,” they can make a few rule changes and help save money and better its students.
At least once (usually more) times a day someone feels the need to print out their own copy of the bible, phonebook and dictionary all at once. They ruthlessly print out their professors' PowerPoint slides, each slide on a page...even the ones that just have "Federalism Part 1" centered in the middle of the slide.
Students have no qualms in standing by the printer as it spits out lyrics to their favorite song in five different fonts. They print their 12-page term papers, print backups and backups for the backups. Other students waiting to print their dictionaries? They don't care. They watch as page after page is fed to them and they grin inside...they know that they are wasting huge amounts of paper for no reason. They know they probably won't read past the first slide in their PowerPoint. If they forget their papers in the lab, no worry...they can just print it out again.
Students drool at the sight of stacks of unused printing paper lining the walls in the Grove lab. So little time, so much to print!
I have no numbers on how much the University spends on printing paper. I have no numbers on how much paper SU goes through every semester. But I do not want to just help the university save money, I want it to conserve paper and help students learn how to do so.
At Penn State University there is a semester limit of 110 pages per student. Sure the school has 32,000 more students but in reality 110 is more than enough. Every page after that is a 10-cent charge. Not a bad deal.
Also, most of the PSU printers are preset to print double-sided. This alone, I safely assume, cuts down the number of pages used by around half.
Why doesn't Shippensburg do this?
Instead SU pays for the huge amount of wasted pages. If a student knows that they only have 110 pages to use, he/she might be inclined to go look for their class syllabus before printing out another copy, they might read PowerPoint slides on the computer screen before printing them out or they will be sure to print six slides on a page double-sided.
100 slides / 6 (slides a page) / 2 (double sided (or “Duplex-Printing”)) = 9 sheets of paper.
It’s that easy. So instead of wasting a few sheets of paper that say “No Excessive Printing” and “Only One Copy,” they can make a few rule changes and help save money and better its students.
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I agree completely. I think psychology students should do a study on what goes through these idiots' minds when they drop a newspaper in the trash when there is a recycling can right next to it. Or when people feel the need to leave their newspapers on the ground for the wind to blow it away. Who are these people?!
In our defense, though, we pay fees that are supposed to buy paper and toner for the lab printers. If I'm already paying a buck and a quarter a semester, why wouldn't I want to get some value for that?
That's the problem.
Lower the tech fee. Limit the pages. Save paper. Save money.
I'm not blaming the kids for getting their money's worth...I am blaming the school for putting the students in that situation.
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Lower the tech fee. Limit the pages. Save paper. Save money.
I'm not blaming the kids for getting their money's worth...I am blaming the school for putting the students in that situation.
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