Sap On My Hands. NMI Walking the Digital Talk – finally!

The NMI is against almost all forms of killing. We believe in the sanctity of life. So every semester when I plan for NMIX2020 Intro to New Media with 300 students, my conscience kicks in. In the old days, I used to make a copy of my 4-page syllabus for everyone in the class. Then students would take a 12-page exam at midterm and one at the end of the semester. The classes were smaller then, but this semester we are busting at the seams. If I was still doing that, I would use 9000 sheets of printed paper each semester. And most of those pieces of paper will have a lifespan of less an hour. I know my students usually frame my syllabi, but I shred the tests and scantrons as soon as they are turned in. Imagine a beautiful tree 60 feet tall and one foot in diameter. I kill one of those each semester. I have sap on my hands – and it feels wrong. You know what they say. “Tests are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree” (yes, it is a liberal paraphrase). And the waste becomes more egregious when you consider the energy it takes to copy the pages. Plus, the paper has to be made, packaged and distributed. Not very green. We stopped making paper versions of syllabi three years ago. But the tests – that has been a tough nut to crack.

This week that changes. We are going to experiment with the first totally digital tests in NMIX2020. Instead of making copies, students (all 300 or so of them) will take their mid-term on a computer. The students are more accustomed to this – most of them took their SAT via computer anyway. But it scares me.

Hey, I have been preaching the gospel of bits replacing atoms for years now. I have advised dead-tree industries to see themselves as news organizations rather than pulp distributors. But I am still concerned.

It all boils down to trust. In my class when students take their tests, I watch them. They put their books away. They turn their cellphones off. They turn their hats around. And I watch them. I hate cheating. And I am worried about students being more dishonest with these new digital tests.

It all boils down to trust. We have put in all kinds of safeguards. No two students will get the same test. We can track IP addresses. We rigorously enforce time limits. But the trust we put in our students and their belief in the sanctity of their grades is our biggest guarantee.
It is a bold experiment – that could blow up big time. But I will let you know how it all goes. But no matter what happens, we will have spared a tree.