Information & Forms

In conjunction with U of T's Sustainability Office (http://sustainability.utoronto.ca), the Department of English would like to announce the Green Course Recognition Program.

The Green Course Recognition Program was launched to recognize courses where extra steps have been taken to reduce environmental impacts.  This year, our focus is paper conservation. The scoring system will be updated every year to keep up with changes in standard practice, as well as to incorporate feedback from students and instructors.

If you want your course to be recognized, download the spreadsheet from http://uoft.me/greencourse and complete a self-assessment for each of your courses, indicating which steps you have taken to conserve paper.  TAs or course coordinators can do this on behalf of instructors as well.

If enough points are accrued, the course will receive recognition, and we will send the applicant a Green Course logo to display on their course website and syllabus, as well as a PowerPoint slide to share with their students on the first day of class.

We will update and improve our points system as needed.  If you have suggestions for modifications, please let us know by emailing sustainability@utoronto.ca and include 'Green Courses' in the subject line.

-Caroline Franklin
The Sustainability Office

Tip #1: If you print materials, here are a few methods you can use to cut down on the amount of paper:

• Double Side
• Change your document's margins to "Narrow"
• Print two pages per page, and double side
• Use scrap paper (keep a pile of scrap paper handy!)
• Format your spreadsheets before printing by: making your margins "Narrow"; changing the Orientation to Landscape for wide documents; controling the Print Area manually or adjust the print settings (Under "Print" - "Settings" - Choose the "Fit all Columns on one page" or even "Fit Sheet on one page").
• A guide to double-siding and a template Word document can be found at http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper/courses/studentscourses and http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper/generalguide/printing2perside.htm

Tip #2: Post lecture slides as 6-slide PDFs. Click here to learn how: http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper/generalguide/multipleslides.htm

• "Please consider the environmental impacts of printing this document. You can save paper by double-siding, printing two sides per page, or using scrap paper. Instructions can be found at: http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper "
• Remind students about the impact that this will have on the environmemt: http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/reports.htm and http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper/whysavepaper.htm

• Printed assignments: "Please use 11 point font, 0.75 inch margins, and single spacing. Do not include a cover page; instead, insert your name, student number, date of submission and title on the first page of the assignment. Please double-side or reuse paper previously printed on one side. If you choose to reuse paper, it must be clean, unwrinkled, and contain no inappropriate content. Ensure that the old content on the reverse of each page is crossed out."
  • • A guide to double-siding and a template Word document can be found at http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper/courses/studentscourses
• Electronic assignments: Ask students to submit assignments electronically through Blackboard, TurnItIn (though do consider the controversies), or email. Mark and return them electronically as well. See our complete guide for electronic assignments at U of T. Read a Maclean's article about one professor's happy experiences with electronic assignments.

• http://utbeat.biology.utoronto.ca/index.html
• http://printdoublesided.sa.utoronto.ca/
• http://printdoublesided.sa.utoronto.ca/Info for Professors.htm
• http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/projects/paper/generalguide.htm
• http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/participate/Student_Groups.htm