Printing Tips for Students and Teachers

Tips for students to use printing resources wisely

• Avoid printing entirely
  • Store your documents on a thumb drive to avoid paper usage.
  • Attach them into an email and send to yourself for later.
  • Print to PDF and join the “Paperless” revolution! There are free PDF writers available that would allow you to “print” to a PDF file which can be opened with the free Adobe Reader program. You can download CutePDF and download Adobe Reader.
• If you do print
  • Think before you print. Is this printout really needed? Also, proof your paper for errors before you print it.
  • Use a smaller sized font. Smaller text will often reduce the document size, saving paper, forests, and the world!
  • Print only the pages that you immediately need. Type in a range of page numbers you want to print, or select an area on a Web site that you want to print, and then launch the print dialog box.
  • Print multiple pages on one sheet of paper. Tip: Choose “Handouts” and the number of slides when printing in PowerPoint, or choose 2 pages per sheet when printing Word documents.
  • If you print and release on a color printer or color copier you will be charged for color rates even if the page only has a single character that is in color. Consider setting the driver to black and white only unless you specifically need color.
• If you’re not sure how to do these things, or need some help, just ask the Computer Lab staff!

Tips for instructors to reduce printing

• We know that there are times where nothing but a print out will do, but there are many options for electronic file sharing and transfer. We’d like to start moving to paperless methods of dealing with student papers and assignments, and we need your help.
• Allow students to turn in homework in electronic format
• With all the editing and review capabilities available to us today, it is possible to make corrections and comments on student work electronically. Since most documents that students hand in are created in a variant of Office, you can comment on the document using the “Review” tab and save your changes, as well as using a simple text box to make comments or post the grade on the paper. Then you have your choice of how to hand back the assignment, email, and Moodle all have this capability or you can print them out using your department or office printer and save the cost to the student.
• You can also make lecture notes, presentation slides, etc, available for them to download electronically.
• If you post your syllabus on your instructor website, students can download and save an electronic copy to their USB jump drive, or email it to themselves as a way of keeping it accessible where ever they may be.
• Use Printing Services. Rather than expecting students to print out large documents that are required for classes, consider using Printing & Graphics to print and sell a packet in the Titan Store.
• “Print” your notes, lectures, and slides using a PDF writer
• There are free PDF writers available that would allow you to “print” to a PDF which can be opened with the free Adobe Reader program. (This is built in to all Macintosh computers.) This would allow students to save your file to their USB jump drive, reduce printing, and address the fact that not all students may not have Microsoft Office at home.
• While some assignments definitely require color, printing them out in color may not be necessary. If you require a print out, think about whether a black and white “proof” would suffice and/or have the students turn in an electronic copy so you can still evaluate their color copy.
• Don’t require students to make multiple copies of a article/report/outline for all other students in the class. There may be some cases where this is a valid requirement (peer assessments or grading) but having copies made for every student in a class other than this could be an unnecessary waste of paper and ink consider projecting a pdf version in class if you are using a smart classroom.