Well, it looked like some peeps wanted to talk about some printing problems in that last post. For the sake of giving 611’s and 411’s and 911’s their own spotlight (gosh I miss my Friday Spotlights), here’s a space to air out your concerns related to those big white machines that will do just about anything except make copies.
Have at it, and unlike the copiers, no limitations have been draconianly* enforced here.
*If it’s a typo, tell me. It just felt like the right use of the word.
The Harold Lounge 
I think this is an academic issue and should be brought up with the Dean of Instruction. How on earth are we supposed to teach without access to copies. Now, for the most part, I am pretty good about getting my copies from upstairs. I also am not a procrastinator. This helps a lot. However, this week I have subbed 3 times( as the semester is getting off to a rocky start) and I had to plan by the seat of my pants. If I make 1 copy (that is 1 page on one side of a piece of paper) for all of those students I have subbed for, ALL of my allotted copies for the semester would be used up.
I know that this will make me less spontaneous and creative. I also know that it won’t mean that I can meet my students’ needs as they arise.
I’m glad someone brought this up. I’ll admit that I am somewhat of a procrastinator. Though I have long term plans for all of my classes and activities and handouts to go with much of it, I seldom stick to my exact plans. I absolutely do not recycle quizzes or exams. I write them as close to when I’m giving them as possible, often less than 24 hours before. I think faculty should have the right to work in a way that is conducive to them. We are not robots. Changes happen. Can’t a change of plans (and hence some spontaneity) be a good thing while teaching, especially if it is brought about by the teacher and students synergistically. Why must our hands be tied? Now if the scanning function becomes operational on the copiers, that can help but until every human being has an iPad or tablet, paper is the medium by which we distribute what we communicate while in the classroom. Also, if each classroom had a document scanner, this could help too. For now, I’m just asking to be treated like an adult capable of making responsible pedagogical and reproductive (copies that is :)) decisions.
Our scanner works–scans right to a .pdf that goes to my email–which is a nice feature, but requires that one make copies first and scan from the copies. Even that, though, causes additional problem in pushing the cost of the printing on to the students (many of whom can’t afford it–certainly it doesn’t cost us 10 cents a page) or forcing everyone to work off of the same document that is projected in the front of the room. (until, like you said, everyone has their own screen). That can work for some tasks and plans, but definitely doesn’t for others
Sometimes I want students to read a passage in class and it helps immensely if they all have their own copy to read, re-read, mark up, and keep. Like you, sometimes I have ideas on the basis of something someone says in class (or in the morning section of a class) that lead me to want to try something out on short notice. Or don’t get to something that I thought I would just before an exam and so have to rewrite it with less turn around time than I can reasonably expect from reprographics. Which puts me in the position of printing at home or at Kinkos–both of which grind my gears.
Like anonymous above, I’m aware that the Repro option is helpful, but if that is the only option then my classes and my teaching will be worse, not better.
Another example of some person of privilege sitting in an office far removed from a classroom deciding that something that s/he doesn’t need (paper copies) is unnecessary for everyone else, too.
Stoopid.
CCC Comrades,
Even a creative genius like myself could never have dreamed up scenario so dark, so deliciously flummoxing, so elegant in its delivery. I admired the way your administration implemented this policy under dark of night with only cursory fits of context (“OUT OF ORDER”), but the true genius of the enterprise really struck me when I saw the memo from the registrar instructing all faculty to print out their day 1 and day 10 class lists for submission. I could never have dreamed up such darkness! True genius! You have inspired me.
-FK