Contribution towards protecting the environment

Patrick Matbob





Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea is going paperless next year as its contribution to protecting the natural environment.
To ensure the success of the ‘paperless policy’, the university is also planning to issue every student a laptop each next year.
Staff and students of the university have been aware of the ‘paperless policy’ for two years and have been asked by the university President Fr Jan Czuba to implement it.
The policy is aimed at drastically reducing the use of paper, especially printing of academic materials, and encourage the use of computers for academic and administrative purposes.
PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has endorsed the university’s paperless policy.
“I think this is some kind of record and hope our other universities and learning institutions will take time to study DWU’s policy and take a similar approach,” Somare said at the university graduation in March.
“What is equally pleasing for me is the fact that my campaign over the years on climate change—both in PNG and internationally—has been taken up by DWU in a very practical way. I therefore endorse the paperless policy. You have my full support,” Somare said.
The United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Leslie Rowe has also commended the university in its goals to go paperless by 2010 and to provide each student with a laptop.
Rowe said this was a tremendous achievement and development for the university.
“I congratulate the university for such progressive goals as to go paperless by 2010, also to provide laptops for each student—this is amazing,” Rowe said.
Apart from environmental concerns, another key reason is the increasing costs of using paper, printing and photocopying.
By investing heavily in ICT, the university believes it can do away with the use of paper and the associated costs.
The university has developed its information communication technology to a stage where it is confident of making the ‘paperless’ and ‘laptop-per-student’ policies work.
The DWU main campus is one of the few places in the country that has wireless hotspots that can allow students with laptops to do their work away from the computer labs.
Money to fund the laptops is expected to come from the university’s supermarket and bakery which were opened early this year.
Czuba, who is responsible for initiating the policies, told students the university was looking at ways to venture into a new approach of teaching and learning.
Divine is looking at encouraging the ICT cooperative learning model known as SCALE-UP, an acronym for Student Centred Activities for Large Enrolment Undergraduate Programmes.
While DWU staff and students have been aware of the policy for some time now, they believe it will take some time before the policies will be fully implemented.
There has been an increase in the use of electronic facilities for academic and administrative work and a decrease in the use of paper so far.
Students have all been encouraged to hand in their assignments electronically and staff are also marking and returning work in the same way.
However, some staff members still print materials for students and students are also submitting printed or handwritten assignments because there is still a shortage of computers for students.
Courses such as print media would still rely on printed materials.
Students have had a mixed reaction to the ‘paperless policy’, with some describing it as good while others are concerned it will make them more dependent on technology which they saw as a problem in a developing country like PNG.
“It’s a good thing because we don’t have to work hard to write out our assignments and other things, all we do is type them up and send them by email,” said Nellie Marita, a journalism student.
However, her fellow course mate, Sheila Malken, had more practical concerns.
“I don’t like the idea because here in Madang we face a lot of power failures and also shortage of fuel can cause problems when using computers and laptops.
Another thing is that is we can easily pick up a pen and a paper to do our work instead of waiting for these things to come to us.”
A major project that DWU has been engaged in is the setting up of the PNG Academic Research Network project which has now linked all universities and higher learning institutions in the country on a research network.
This project has so far enabled the university staff and students to have access to useful academic websites and databases for teaching and research purposes.
The project needed the cooperation of all higher learning institutions, the national government and PNG Telikom which had to issue a licence to the university to operate the network.
The university’s ICT and Education Faculty is also involved in the One Laptop Per Child project that is being implemented in parts of the country at the moment.
Primary schools in East Sepik, Central and Madang provinces are involved in the project where primary school students are issued a laptop each.
The students use the laptops at school to aid their learning and results have been encouraging so far.