WHY?! aren't we doing that??

Joining this class has been an eye opener to me about using electronics as means of homework and assignments.  At first I honestly thought that it was annoying because I enjoyed having my homework in my hands, as a hardcopy.  But as I was doing my bookmarking for this week, I realized what a "green" decision it was to make students turn in articles and homework online.  We save so much paper by simply using a screen and keyboard.  

I remember in high school when I used to have to print out articles and hand them in each week, and when I could not do my Chemistry homework online.  If every university or educational building started doing this and saving paper, millions upon millions of trees would be saved.  Also for classes that require your to "turn in your work" such as for a math or science class could have students use track-pads and blank documents to draw or write out their equations.  But a downside of this idea is that more energy might be used because everyone would always be on their computer rather than doing hand-in homework.  This might be an unrealistic thought but many classes, like Materialism and Idealism, are already using technology as a means of learning.  I'm not saying to cut out class time completely and have only online classes, but I do think that using less paper would help the environment.