Creating A “Green Classroom”: First Steps Yield Cost Savings

Post Two in a series about how rethinking training delivery can add value and student engagement.

As I mentioned last week, the “Green Classroom” initiative within the innovation management department of one of our clients was an exciting opportunity for me, as an instructor, to participate in some “out of the box” thinking about how we offer training programs today.

As a starting point, the team catalogued all of the materials used to conduct the current instructor-led classes:

• Printed student guides
• Tent/name cards
• Flip charts
• Electronic flash drives/memory sticks
• Student handouts
• Pens and markers
• Printed instructor guides
• Tape
• Notepads
• Tests and test answer sheets
• Evaluations

Not only did each of these have associated production costs, but there are significant costs to package and ship materials to numerous corporate learning sites around the world. The initiative leaders quickly realized that, for each printed or otherwise physically produced piece of classroom material that could be delivered electronically, not only would the company save money, but they would reduce the program’s carbon footprint.

Armed with the list of course materials, the team set about identifying various options that could be used to reduce the class’s environmental impact.  A good starting point was that in the innovation community, most if not all students have laptop computers. Next, we took advantage of technology already available to replace most of the materials. Specifically:

• Student Guides were totally revamped to allow for electronic distribution, which provided the students with the capability to not only follow along, but also to be able to type notes directly on each lesson page. The students are also able to catalogue their notes directly into their laptop filing system to be easily accessed for use later at the touch of a few keystrokes
• Instructor Guides were converted to an electronic format, which could be easily carried from class toclass on the instructors’ laptop and placed on flash drives for easy backup.
• Student Handouts were incorporated into the electronic versions of the student guides

For classes requiring pre-work, the materials were placed on a SharePoint® site and download links were created and sent to the students during the class registration process. In-class materials such as easels, charts and wall posters, were replaced, when possible, with erasable white boards, electronic media, and lightweight, travel efficient wall posters.

The Benefits
These changes provided several immediate advantages to the company:

• Printing, packaging, and shipping costs were eliminated.
• Notepads and pens were no longer needed, providing even more cost savings.
• Training material transportation costs were cut by 90%
• The space needed to store large notebooks at office work stations was saved.

While it has not yet been calculated, the savings in paper, ink, and fuel used in shipping is substantial, contributing to a lessened carbon footprint for the organization.

The Learnings
As with every major change, there are many lessons to be learned. While there were clear cost savings, those savings would be of little value if the approach was rejected by the students or the training was degraded. To gauge whether or not either of these conditions existed, the innovation curriculum team added additional specific questions to the student exit survey. The questions were designed to ensure that both positive and negative input was captured. Here are some examples of some of those questions and responses:

Q: In what ways did the paperless classroom enhance your learning experience?

• It was helpful to use my computer.  It was also nice to be able to customize my materials (add notes or delete things that I don’t need for later).
• I actually prefer to work electronically and not need to worry about a binder, keeping track of paper and what to do once returning to the office.  Paperless is how we do our work now.  So, the new format was liberating.
• Since I love change, I felt the paperless learning was an awesome idea and a step in a positive direction.  Small tweaks will make it perfect.

Q: In what ways did the paperless classroom diminish your learning experience?

• I was tempted to look at my emails during class, thus reducing attention at certain points.
• Since the best way for me to learn is writing in a notebook, I personally think I missed some opportunities to gain a better understanding of some concepts; however, I also think I easily could get used to taking notes in the computer.

As it turned out, the whole body of the student feedback has been overwhelmingly supportive of this approach. The savings and benefits to the business and the environment are clear. Still, no change takes place without some challenges. Here are some that the program encountered:

• Acceptance from older users. Not everyone is equally happy with the shift to computer technology. Some may find the experience exasperating.
• Safety – To support laptops with limited battery lives, some classrooms may require the use of extension cords with multiple plugs. This causes cords to be located across the floor. Attention to safety is absolutely necessary.
• Laptop failures – Let’s face it, computers crash and often at the worst time. Students need to be reminded save their work often.

In my next post, I’ll talk more in depth about the factors that enable – or even accelerate – an organizational change of this type. 

Next week: The Green Classroom, Part 3: Accelerating and Enabling Positive Change