Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Students who miss class have a new way to catch up.
A new Web site, Schoology.com, allows students to post class notes, assignments and other class materials. The site offers these services as a free download to anyone who registers.
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About 700 files are currently uploaded to the site, but none are from the University of Kansas.
Creator Jeremy Friedman, a junior at Washington University in St. Louis, started the Web site in February with his partner Greg Mervine. They later got Ryan Hwang to help with marketing and design, and Timothy Trinidad for Web site development.
Friedman said they wanted to start a site that was a collaborative space for students to be able to share knowledge, but also maintain a quality that students could rely on. Students who have uploaded something receive a small compensation every time students download their material.
“By giving students monetary incentive, we can ensure a higher quality of knowledge and services,” Friedman said.
He also called it a part of Web 2.0, meaning a Web site that has user submitted content, such as eBay, Facebook, or Wikipedia.
“We believe education is reaching a turning point,” Friedman said.
Friedman came up with the idea in spring 2007. The site went through many redesigns and critiques before in finally went up on February 25, 2008. Schoology is technically in beta, meaning it’s still in development.
“We did not really anticipate the type of publicity we would be getting, nor did we think the Web site would grow as quickly as it did,” Friedman said.
He said that with the amount of people using the site and the increasing popularity, a new site design should be online in fall 2008.
About 700 files are currently uploaded to the site, but none are from the University of Kansas.
Law professor Mike Kautsch doesn’t see anything inherently wrong with the site, as long as it doesn’t do anything more than legitimate tutoring. He compared uploading notes to reference guides and students sharing notes physically.
He said that having notes available electronically wasn’t a problem.
Kautsch said the site could be a potential problem if it became an aid to not doing work and cheating and somehow getting through a course without doing the requirements.
Kautsch, who teaches classes on media law, also said that students shouldn’t use Schoology as a crutch to cram before a test.
Jeffery Moran, a professor with the history department, doesn’t see it the same way.
“It’s dangerously close to infringing on a professor’s copyright,” Moran said.
Moran said that just reading another student’s notes was not the same as actually being in the classroom, and that the opportunity to ask questions and be in the presence of the professor was much more helpful. He compared Schoology to students tape recording his lectures, which he doesn’t allow. He doesn’t see any problem with students sharing notes informally, but still doesn’t approve of the site.
“You can’t commercialize it,” Moran said.
The University’s academic misconduct policy states in section 2.6.1 that giving or receiving of unauthorized aid on examinations or in the preparation of notebooks, themes, reports or other assignments is considered misconduct, and is punishable.
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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