Rowan goes paperless

Rowan University‘s efforts to go green and paperless have not gone unnoticed. The long to-do list that I have to tackle when my Internet connection finally works is hard to ignore.

Professors in many departments have announced that assignments will be handed on online and many have either begun to use Blackboard more often or created a social networking group to communicate. Many journalism professors have begun to use Facebook as a tool to generate and promote discussion. These are solid steps forward, but Rowan may have gone too fast.

Students at Rowan are most likely in favor of the process of going green, but at what cost? In the past few weeks, Internet on campus has been less than reliable. For those of who live off-campus and have a less-than-reliable cable modem, driving to campus to deal with shakey Internet connections and slow speeds is a hassle. The stress that classes, internships and jobs already bring the student body certainly does not need to be magnified by an inability to get anything done.

Some professors are no longer accepting hard copies of assignments, making the pace of this environmental transition fly past where Rowan should be at this point. If the Internet connection on campus was reliable, then Rowan’s efforts to go paperless would be exactly where they should be.

Before attempting to go paperless, Rowan should have made sure that the brand-new wireless connection on-campus was ready. To rely on technology so heavily in order to get assignments done is a joke when the wireless Internet – and the network itself – is so fickle. Not to mention, the wireless technology on campus is young and it seems that all of the bugs have not been worked out yet.

Relying solely on the Internet is a dangerous move, and professors should be ready to deal with missed deadlines and technology issues. Students need to be prepared to devote more than the necessary time to any one assignment and Rowan needs to look into strengthening their technology and creating a dependable network.

It would also make academic life a lot easier if professors would agree on a consistent method of communication. It is a lot for students to keep track of when one professor is using Blackboard, another Facebook and another Google docs.

If Rowan would find a reliable electronic system and stick to a plan, as well as fix the glitches in the wireless and network technologies, going paperless would make sense.

Personally, I’d like to go back to the days when we all worried about whether or not there was enough ink in our printer for that six-page paper. Call me a tree killer, but the printed word never took 20 minutes to load.