I see learning communities as one end of a spectrum that encompasses the "Sage on the Stage" at one end and "Student directed learning" on the other. My 17 years teaching experienc ( 13 years secondary ed. and 4 years UGA) tells me that being on the ends of a teaching spectrum is not a good place to be all the time. Do learning communities fall into the same pitfall as teacher directed techniques? Will educators, 10 years down the road, look at learning communities as a solution or a big mistake?

I'm interested in how the recent budget cuts have impacted your use of technology. In my Department we are moving to a pay-to-print with the computers. We are also scheduled to run out of Xerox paper in March. Once the supply is gone....that's it for making copies. Recently, the IT guy in our Department disconnected the printers with IT magic; however, he didn't bother to tell anyone. He later sent out an email stating the reasons for the change and placed student abuse of printing privileges as the number one factor. This prompted me to write an email that eventually got me in trouble but resulted in some of the printers being reconnected....sometimes in life if you want something good (like a scrambled egg...pottery...a baby) you need to make a mess of things. Anyways, what is the policy in your respective departments: 1) Do you pay-to-print to get a hold of something off the computer; 2) Do you pay to print for xerox; 3) when is your paper going to run out and if it is later than March, can I have some; 4) what impacts will this have on your teaching?