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 Tech Tip # 1
Reduce Printing Costs
Along with using "green" grocery bags, reducing waste of consumer products, and using fewer natural resources, consider installing an eco-friendly font. Engineered by SPRANQ Creative Communications Agency in the Netherlands, this eco-friendly font can help schools cut printing costs. With an average of 3,000 pages per student printed per year, schools must look for new innovative ways to cut corners where possible. Save twenty percent without jeopardizing print quality or student/teacher work. The trick in reducing ink/toner consumption comes from the tiny holes that exist inside of the letters. Using font sizes 6 - 16, printing is not compromised and cannot be noticed. In larger font sizes, the circular holes will start to appear. Although a twenty percent reduction in ink or toner may seem rather small, compounding this reduction over a long period of time will certainly maximize ink and toner usage. The savings can then be diverted to other school technology efforts. Contact your technology specialist or network administration to efficiently install this font onto multiple workstations. Using client management software, such as Altiris, creating a system job can push the font installation file to each workstation and event install the font.  Tech Tip # 2
Recycle or Asset Recovery?
What does your school or district do with outdated technology? Does the dumpster behind your school remind you of the one at the top of this web page? Be environmentally responsible by implementing healthy disposal methods or cash in on old items. Consider implementing one of the three options listed below: Option # 1 - Recycle old technology products Disposal of old technology items is just as important as purchasing energy-efficient technology products. According to the National Resources Defense Council, Americans throw away 130,000 computers each day on average. With the total number of computers schools or districts purchase each day, being environmentally responsible in discarding such items is critical. While several schools and districts may pay for the removal of these hazardous waste products (CRT monitors, TV's, and other technology products contain harmful chemicals such as mercury and cadmium), consider finding a company to remove the materials for free. It's a win-win situation - the school or district does not have to pay to have their technology items removed, and the company gains profit by breaking down and recycling the items. Schools or districts successful in implementing this strategy can then divert funds that would ordinarily be used for disposal fees for more important budget items. Technology specialists can also gain back precious time to focus on troubleshooting to keep workstations and networks operable with minimal downtime. Option # 2 - Asset Recovery Have you heard of the expression "one persons junk is another persons treasures?" Why not establish a creative revenue source from outdate technology items? If a site based technology specialists or IT department can afford the time, consider inventorying the surplus of outdated technology and selling it on an auction website. Use the funds generated from the sales to reinvest in other technology to support classroom efforts. Can't spare the time or manpower? No sweat! Companies such as InterSchola, Redemtech, and Micro Electronics specialize in handling asset recovery. InterSchola is just one company that offers to inventory technology surplus and handle sales transactions using auction websites from start to finish. Also consider contacting charter, Montessori, or independent schools that may be in need of technology equipment at reduced prices. In an instant, throwing away technology items can go from being an expense to becoming a money maker. Just because a school or district is done with a piece of technology, doesn't mean there is no more life in the product - life than can be used or enjoyed by another user. Option # 3 - Refresh/Leasing Programs If either of the above options won't suit a school or district due to the lack of manpower or financial constraints, search out technology corporations such as Apple, Dell, or HP which offer "refresh" initiatives. This allows schools and districts to purchase technology products that can then be traded in typically in five years for newer, up-to-date equipment. View the video below to learn about the
importance and magnitude of a "throw away" society
Tech Tip # 3
Get Creative in the Classroom
Particularly among a younger faculty and staff, teachers are getting creative by integrating technology practices in the classroom. Why younger faculty and staff you ask? Generationally, younger teachers have had more hands-on experience and integration of technology in their own educational pursuits. Even as technology usage grows stronger in education, some teachers still resist adopting classroom technology integration and prefer doing business the old way. What if classroom technology usage could help cut down on power and paper consumption in addition to saving money on printer and copier leasing/maintenance and other associated printing costs? What if a major benefit of classroom technology usage included instant student achievement feedback/data while streamlining a teacher's daily responsibilities and ultimately giving back time spent on tedious tasks?
Investing in professional development is one of the most worthwhile assets a school administrator or district can do - equipping faculty with cutting edge teaching methodologies and practical "know how" is guaranteed to pay dividends for years to come. Since Techno Savvy Teacher was built from the ground up by teachers for teachers, we have all these components in mind! Take a look at our TECHNO GREEN professional development series to see how we can help equip your faculty and staff with high quality, research based training, and help your school or district become more environmentally friendly.
* This workshop is part of Techno Savvy Teacher TECHNO GREEN series - using technology to go green. This workshop will emphasize reducing paper usage and associated printing costs to help maximize school budgets. Energy/resource saving tips and tricks will be shared throughout the workshop.
Tech Tip # 4
Use Technology to Report Student Progress
Several schools and districts haves started to report student progress electronically at more frequent intervals or even real-time. Online services such as EdLine, help create a one stop information hub for parents and students where they can find school event dates, class information and assignment postings, and student progress reports. Sharing student data using an online protected account minimizes the amount of printed progress reports, thus saving both ink/toner and paper. However, schools fortunate enough to be equipped with such technology and service subscriptions still may report student progress using paper - interim or mid-term progress reports. Paper progress reports come at a price though, sometimes at a cost of $600 - $1,000 per year depending upon the population of the school.
In a case study performed at a Coleman Middle School (920 students), revolutionizing the student progress report process using technology has proven to be a financially responsible decision. In 2007/2008, Coleman Middle School purchased 4,000 quadruplicate carbon copy progress reports from the district's central printing office at a cost of $669.45 ($00.167 per progress report). Student interim progress is reported four times an academic year (once each quarter) in which teachers hand write the information on the forms. This process was time intensive and data mining was near impossible. With the introduction of a customized electronic student progress report system created by Corey J. Peloquin, this process has been redesigned to save funding, teacher resources, and teacher's time. Using a network printer to print 2 copies of the student progress report per quarter, the school has cut their cost to only $104.00 ($00.026 per progress report). Saving $565.45 annually, the school may not divert these funds to more valuable classroom efforts or to purchase more technology for student usage.
Comparison data below is made with the assumptions:
Tech Tip # 5
Maximize Network Admin. Systems
Most schools or districts manage multiple workstations using client management software, such as Altiris. While creating system jobs to log off all active users secures access to a mainframe, consider shutting down all workstations instead to save a considerable amount of power. While you may not see a huge savings from day to day or in a month, multiply your savings over one academic year or longer to see the money that is being thrown away. For what reason? So you don't have to wait 45 - 90 seconds for start up?
If a technology specialist or IT personnel need to have the capability of accessing a computer remotely around the clock, configure the computer to hibernate after a designated length of time. Pinging the computer will wake it back up and make it accessible for use.
Simply stated, if you're not using it, power it down, turn it off, or even unplug it! Unplugging items that use "standby energy" such as CPU's, monitors, and televisions can equate to a savings of up to five or even ten percent on a power bill. Sound like a pain to unplug all these items each time you're done using them? Using surge protected power strips with an on/off switch can help make this an easy process with the flick of one switch. Take the extra step, become an e-Steward!
Tech Tip # 6
Search The Internet Using Green Search Engines
Most internet users have heard of Google. Yet, how many have heard about Blackle or Trophic? These websites are search engines just as powerful as Google, or even based off Google. So what's the difference? Research performed by Roberson et al., 2002, on computer monitors and power consumption reveals both CRT and LCD consume more electricity to display white pixels than black. Think there is a connection between this research and the color scheme of our website? We're doing our part too in conserving energy consumption! |
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