April 22, 2009

Greener Teaching Techniques

By Stephanie Richter in Best Practices, Resources, Teaching | 16 comments

Happy Earth Day!

Greener living has increasingly become a central issue in American life. In our personal lives, we recycle, use reusable bags at the grocery store, and light our homes with CFL bulbs. However, what can we do to make our teaching practices environmentally friendly? There are many simple changes faculty and instructors can make to decrease the impact their classroom has on the environment.

For example, use less paper by posting class documents online (in Blackboard, for those at NIU). Accept assignment submissions electronically rather than  on paper, and return grades and feedback the same way. Even something as simple as turning off classroom lights can save electricity and help make teaching more environmentally friendly.

For even more techniques, go to the new Greener Teaching Techniques resource page compiled by the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center:  http://www.facdev.niu.edu/facdev/resources/greenerteaching/index.shtml.

If you have any additional suggestions, post them in the comments or send them to facdev@niu.edu!

email this | tag this | digg this | trackback | comment RSS feed

16 Comment(s)

  1. yj | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    Great tips for green teaching? Thanks!

  2. Patricia Rickett | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    Very helpful information!

  3. Teri | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    CA is phasing out textbooks to save money and the environment too!

  4. Donna Martin | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    These are great tips! If only I could get my students to actually check Bbd for posts regarding assignments and grades!

  5. Suzanne Sedlacek | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    Go green now and always!

  6. Michael Duffy | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks for posting this helpful information!

  7. mary pritchard | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    This approach includes all of the steps in the teaching – learning process.

  8. JCWANG | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    best way to stop killing trees!

  9. George | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    I agree… green teaching is one of the ways to utilize technology.

  10. Georgia Brown | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    Agreed! And if you have to use paper – recycle it.

  11. Xiaolin Xie | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    We need to do this for our grandchildren.

  12. KJ | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    My goal for the next academic year is to grade papers electronically–it’s a big step for me!

  13. PT Pilcher | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks for the info, Stephanie.

  14. Katie Andraski | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    But isn’t it hard to read all those papers online?

  15. Francisco Solares | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    I have done onscreen grading. It may be good for the environment in that we spare paper, but we use energy and hurt our eyes. I just did it for a semester… and was glad I had a small class!

  16. lj | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    to D.M. about students not checking blkbd-YES! what is up with that

Post a Comment