1 to 1 programs and student printing policy

[Rick Collins JPPSS-Field Services]

Hi everyone.
I have a procedural issue thats cropping up in my 1 to 1sites. lets say we have a middle school with 430 laptops in a one-to-one two grade level approach. Now I propose the use of network printing stations for students to pick up assignments. administration has favored a printer in every single room that could be used by 1 to 1 students. The argument was that teachers and students would rather not leave the classroom to collect printed work. I argue that student management (or teacher oversight) of just what printer they are using could create a ball of confusion with lost print jobs. Now I know that some districts may be small and funding limits the purchasing of network printing. I also know that expecting teachers to be mindful of printer assignments may be more management than they could expect.
what do you guys think? How many printers would you install? Thanks in advance

[Barry Pace]

I think in the case of printing in a 1to1 environment that you have to approach this one from the perspective of sharing being significantly lower cost. I think best practice might be to lease a handful of full size printer/copier/scanner machines and go ahead and issue students ids to plug into the printer to pick up printed work after class. That way the upfront cost is negligible, maintenance is on the vendor, and cost per sheet is around a penny or whatever you can negotiate instead of 5 cents per sheet with a printer in every classroom. Accidental print jobs are eliminated and this could also reduce the distraction (time off task) of students picking up print jobs during class. I would think that all things considered the faculty would want to have students turn in printed work afterclass to be more environmentally friendly, save class time, and save money for other needs.

Good Luck.

[Tami Brass]

I've been tech coordinator in 2 1-1s.
In the first - 1100 kids (3 grades), 2 printers in a common location on before school, during lunch/study, and after school.
There were about 6 printers teachers could access. Kids had to print at home, during appropriate times, or turn in via teacher drop boxes.
In the 2nd - 240 kids (3 grades on my side of campus). A year ago, we had 7 printers to service kids and teachers. Today we have 3. Kids can print at any time, but most teachers who want assignments printed either give kids lead time to print before class or at home or have kids put the assignment in their drop box for teacher printing (and send a single student to pick up).
Yes, this involves network printing, bur the drop box piece could be done online, via email or another online repository/sharing site. Printing is usually an accommodation made for teachers and a few kids, not a necessity. Of course, we're using tablets, so teachers can easily comment/mark students papers electronically and hand back the same way.
The tipping point with the printers came last year. We realized how many printers we had throughout our school, k-12, and we realized how much $$$ could be saved by better printer management. Electricity, paper waste, time... It took a few weeks to get used to, but the printers we added also had scanning/emailing capability. When teachers realized how useful this was for them, the complaints stopped.

[Erich Tusch]

Hello Rick,

Printing is a sizeable challenge for any 1:1. Remember however, the goal for all is to work digitally as much as possible. What we have found that this concept is actually the larger challenge. Our printing costs remain high as teachers still need the paper, but much of this could be addressed with effective networking with shared drives.

When we rolled out our 1:1 6 years ago, we worked with the company that had our state contract for copiers, and a second company, (Equitrac) to develop a print accounting system, (often times seen in businesses). That remains our norm today. In this practice students send print jobs to a queue. Using their student or staff ID#, they then go to any one of the connected units, enter their ID# on the keypad, and their job prints out. The print queue is automatically cleaned every 24 hours. Lastly, our intial solution included a personal deskjet printer for each teacher in the classroom. We limited the make and models so that we can include the necessary drivers on the laptop image.

Student printing at home works when the driver is already installed on the machine. If not, student units are locked down and they cannot install drivers.

We are now moving to a bit of a hybrid solution. We are putting a couple of networked color lasers in each wing of the school for teacher use. Now, when the deskjets die, we do not replace them. Teacher units are configured to both the local, (in the wing), as well as the large printers.

We believe that we have the networking solutions for next year to help move things to a more digital environment.

Sorry for the "long-winded" response.

Good luck.

Erich Tusch
District Supervisor of Technology
Pascack Valley Regional High School District