I hate to get into this again but here I go.  i put my Power Point lecture slides on blackboard and then the students have a choice in printing off the slides.  This seems to work well and it puts the responsibility and cost on the student.  They evaluate a little more if it is their paper.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Bodkin <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] 
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:34:28 -0500
Subject: [UTCSTAFF] The Dangers of PowerPoint Presentations

I would also add a caution about using PowerPoint to put your ideas on the internet for students to download, and then print off.  What actually prints is the small boxes, with really small print, and a lot of white space around the 8.5x11 paper.  

This can viewed two ways:  one is a waste of paper for ideas that could be bulleted in a Word document, with a more efficient use of space, and less waste of paper and of our beloved natural resource of trees.  The other view is that students who print off PowerPoint presentations have space in the margins of their notes to write information given in the lecture that accompanies that particular slide.

Margin space versus trees.  I can't say which is better for you (any teacher), i can only raise the thought.  I might suggest asking a small sample of your students to show you their notes to see if they are using the margin space or not (if you've had them print off PowerPoint slides).  If not, consider putting your on-line notes in a document format instead.  It could result in less wasted paper for the student to print off.
Happy Holidays (whatever your holiday may be)!
Tom Bodkin
Anthropology