As society progresses to advance in technology, Sacramento State joins in the endeavor.

With the use of online tools such as CasperWeb, Web CT and SacLink, the community of Sac State is improving its way of communicating, as well as contributing to the environment by reducing the amount of paper use.

Mike Lee, associate vice president and dean for academic programs, said the university is working on a campaign that will significantly reduce the amount of paper used on campus.

“It’s a long term goal,” Lee said. “The short-term goal is paper usage reduction.”

Efforts to reduce the use of paper on campus have been made, and recent accomplishments have shown that the university is progressing.

The university, after 12 years of mailing out student schedule confirmations, implemented a new method of confirming schedules in order to keep up with technology while reducing costs.

Weeks before the beginning of the fall 2005 semester, students were notified by e-mail to verify their schedules through CasperWeb. The estimated amount of savings to send out 50,000 confirmation letters to every registered student is around $70,000 each year.

Admissions and Records has also taken measures to reduce the use of paper. Prospective students are encouraged to apply for enrollment with an electronic form on the university’s Web site. The benefit of this is the reduction of paper use as well as a quick admissions process.

Jenn Kim, a transfer student, took advantage of this method to apply for admission and said it was not a difficult task.

“I applied to all colleges throughout the Internet, so it was a fairly easy process,” Kim said. “Once you have all the information you need to fill an application out for one school, it’s a breeze filling out applications for other schools.”

Another way to reduce the amount of paper coming into the campus is through Sac State’s registration system on CasperWeb. In spring 2005, more than 75 percent of registration was done through CasperWeb.

Kim was among the students who used this tool to register for classes upon her admittance. Although she found the actual process of registering for classes easy, she struggled choosing her classes without a printed copy of the catalog and course schedule.

“I had to search for different classes all on the Internet, which I found extremely difficult for my first time using it,” she said. “But I thought the actual process for signing up for classes was easy.”

A class that Kim signed up for required the use of another source that contributes to the effort to reduce the use of paper. Web CT, CT meaning course tools, is a tool that faculty can use to provide course materials to their students via the Internet.

Faculty members are responsible for maintaining Web CT sites. They can post up syllabi, handouts and even hold student forums and quizzes on the site.

Mical Shilts, assistant professor in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, is a faculty member that uses Web CT to its full advantage.

“I use it to post my syllabus and lecture notes,” Shilts said. “I use the online quiz option.” Shilts said she also posts assignments, study tools and to send out e-mails. “I also use the grading function, so students can access grades at anytime,” Shilts said.

Thus, Web CT not only saves paper by providing course information online, but reduces the amount of paper being used when having to print quizzes. Shilts said she can have classes that can hold up to 120 students and that the printing can get expensive.

“It adds up,” Shilts said.

The possibility of cheating during quizzes is acknowledged, but the risk of its occurrence can be reduced.

“I use a few of the Web CT functions that will make it harder for students to share answers with their neighbor,” Shilts said.

These special options include time restraints and the ability to rearrange the questions on each quiz. Therefore, the first question that appears on a quiz for one student may not be the same first question for another student.

Kim can see how it may be easy to cheat while taking quizzes through Web CT, but she said time restraints reduce the opportunity to do so.

“You have to know the material in order to finish in time,” Kim said.

Dennis Laskey, a junior at Sac State, agrees that there is an opportunity to cheat when taking a quiz on Web CT, but that it will disadvantage a student in the long run.

“If you cheat, you will cheat yourself when it comes to the midterm and final,” Laskey said. “Quizzes are obsolete to the midterm and final.”

Laskey has had a few courses throughout his time at Sac State, including classes that require student forums and commentaries to be held on Web CT. Laskey said that this tool is helpful.

“It motivates you,” he said. “You can learn more because it forces you to seek help.”

James Sobredo, associate professor in the Ethnic Studies Department, uses Web CT as well. Sobredo said he believes that it is important to use technological tools like Web CT in order to prepare students for what society as a whole is progressing toward.

“Online learning and training is our future whether you like it or not,” Sobredo said. “I use it to get students prepared for the future.”

Sobredo uses Web CT to hold student forums rather than to hold quizzes and post lecture notes. He requires each student to do commentaries and discuss each others commentaries among each other.

He explained that student participation increases in these forums.

“You reach more students, and more students participate,” he said. “It forces students to participate.”

However, he does contribute to the efforts to minimize paper usage. Sobredo facilitates his own Web site which includes his course syllabus.

As for the idea of a paperless university, Sobredo says it cannot be completely done. “Paperless is a myth,” he said.

But, the immediate goal of the university is paper reduction. Lee, who is with the paper reduction task force, said that it is realized that the campus cannot go completely paperless.

“There are old habits that are difficult and the true benefits of having printed copy is recognized, but it’s about reducing the paper on campus,” he said.

Sac State is also making a large effort to increase the amount of recycling on campus, and in the past two years it seems as though the progression betters with each year.

According to campus data, the campus recycled 201 tons of paper during the year of 2002-03. The year after, the campus recycled 235 tons of paper.

“We are starting to collect data to give us a benchmark and to do this every year, so we know for sure whether the paper usage is increasing or decreasing,” Lee said. “Eventually, what we’d like to create is a campus that is environmentally friendly.”

Nika Megino can be reached at [email protected]