--- Forwarded Message from Ed Dente <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 09:14:10 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Ed Dente <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5582.6 Printing Costs (!)
>In-reply-to: <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum    <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, LLTI-Editor wrote:

> --- Forwarded Message from [log in to unmask] ---

> When we first introduced laser printing on campus several years ago, we
> charged 10 cents per page.  The printer was (and is still) behind the
> counter and students have to ask for their prints.  As other labs added
> printers and had no way of charging or collecting for prints, we stopped
> charging but asked students to only print "language related" materials.
> 
> This year, I got a color laser printer, tho only public color printer on
> campus.  With no easy system in place to deduct charges from student
> accounts, I am experimenting with free color printing.  I have not
> advertised the fact that the printer is here and that prints are free.  The
> biggest use so far is by faculty.  I plan to re-examine the costs each
> semester to determine if it is getting too expensive for my department and
> then come up with some sort of cost per print> 
> 
> Tom Browne

 We, too, pioneered color printing on our
campus, and we have had to adopt the same approach that Tom has taken. We
ask the students to only use the printer for language class purposes.
In fact, until I can get the printer moved and installed in a location
easily overseen by our asistants, I keep the printer without paper, and
tell my assistants to put in paper only when the student has shown him or
her the assignment on the syllabus. Of course, this is an inefficient
approach, and it doesn't always work - I sometimes find stacks of
discarded Mapquest results and personal resumes. Hope to change this
system to a "printer behind the console" approach next semester.

But what struck me about Tom's and our experience is that it is more often
than not the language media centers that are the departments that have
taken the lead in the introduction of new technology to their
campuses. This might seem odd to people expecting the sciences to have
taken the lead. It is an interesting phenomenon.
Ed Dente

"When you call me that, smile."
                     -Gary Cooper, <<The Virginian>>