Skip to main contentSkip to main navigationSkip to footer content

Green Teaching

With the help of technology, Saint Xavier University is able to improve sustainability and avoid waste. Sharing and creating digital content can help save valuable class time, reduce paper consumption, and improve logistics via the learning management system. Adopting these tools and solutions into pedagogy also promotes collaboration and organizational skills that are beneficial to SXU students as they prepare to enter the workforce.

Below you will find six tips leading to the concept of "green teaching", which aims at creating a learning experience that is accessible to students and a solution that is sustainable to the university.

The content of this page was created with the use of Google Docs, and was shared with the use of Google Drive, two important tools for green teaching.

Online Syllabus

E-Books
  • Upload your syllabus on SXU Canvas, students may access the syllabus whenever they need via computers and mobile devices.
  • Review syllabus with your students in class without handing out hard copies.
  • Give a small quiz on the syllabus to ensure students have read the syllabus.
  • E-books are now available from many publishers. Different e-books may have different features and capabilities for improving the learning experience.
  • If you are not sure where to start, please contact SXU librarians to explore your options with e-books.
  • Watching this 2-minute video of how to find e-books through SXU Library.

Weekly Readings

Online Assignments
  • Weekly readings give students exposure to scholarly journals, teach them how to interpret data, and better acclimate them to the scientific method. By assigning journal articles to supplement textbooks, students are better prepared for their upper-level courses, where extensive research and writing take place.
  • You may find scholarly articles through the Subject and Research Guides. If you are not sure where to start, please contact SXU librarians to explore your options.
  • Create a weekly discussion related to weekly readings can help students deepen their understandings of the scholarly articles, it also helps to foster a learning community between students and students, students and teacher.
  • Instructors can also encourage students to become the resource provider. Create a discussion and let students find related articles and share them with the entire class.
  • Whether an assignment is an essay submitted via Google Docs or a Word Document upload, a digital portfolio, or a group presentation conducted online with collaboration tools or recorded PowerPoint, there are many ways to create digitally. Additionally, students gain marketable skills from working and collaborating online.
  • Canvas provides many features that make grading more efficient. You don't have to download students' paper anymore, you can directly leave your comments on their paper through Canvas. You may even leave an audio or a video comment.
  • You may also enable Turnitin to check the originality report of your students' paper.
  • Students are notified of your feedback once you enter your comments and scores on Canvas.
  • If you want to explore the add-on features, such as a rubric or Turnitin, or have questions about how to create an online assignment, contact CIDAT (cidatFREESXU).

Online Quizzes

Online Collaboration Tools
  • In lieu of paper exams or Scantron forms, an online quiz is a more economical and efficient solution. Creating an online exam reduces the use of paper or expensive test-taking forms. Additionally, Online quizzes save the instructor time because of its automatic grading options. Instructors can also potentially save valuable class time if students are given the flexibility to take a quiz online instead of in the class session.
  • To create your online quizzes, you may contact your publishers to see whether they provide test banks that you can directly incorporate into your Canvas course. You can also directly build your online quizzes on canvas.
  • If you are not sure whether online quizzes is the right move or you are concerned with academic honesty, contact CIDAT (cidatFREESXU) to explore some possibilities with you.
  • For young adults entering the workforce, online collaboration is another valuable skill and can be helpful to students continuing their education by allowing them to engage online. Working in small groups online can improve one's interpersonal communication skills and gives students an opportunity to manage projects digitally. These collaboration tools, such as Canvas, Google Docs, and many more help students experience the many ways in which groups can collaborate.
  • Canvas allows students to work synchronously. For example, groups can use Canvas built in conference tool to meet online to discuss their group project. Students can record their online meeting and submit their recordings as an online assignment.
  • There are also many other Web 2.0 collaborations tools that make online learning more engaging, please contact CIDAT (cidatFREESXU) if you would like to incorporate online collaboration into your course.