Following the paper trail: Measuring the economic and environmental impact of digital content delivery

Abstract

We provide an overview of a framework for measuring the economic and environmental impact of digital content delivery currently being pilot tested in the College of Business at the University of Dallas. This framework is based on Elkington's Triple Bottom Line (TBL) model of sustainability which includes Economic (Profit), Environmental (Planet) and Social (People) dimensions [1]. We first describe the development of a rubric for quantifying online digital content followed by an overview of the process for assessing the environmental and economic effects of digital versus traditional paper delivery. Results are based on archival data generated with the rubric and survey data collected from 1,039 online students in the spring and summer semesters of 2009. We conclude with suggestions for establishing measurement models at other institutions where fostering partnerships between university administrators, faculty and students holds promise for increasing the sustainable impact of eLearning. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.