Students recently have discovered a new way to skip out on classes while still obtaining notes. But this method comes with a price.
Notehall and GradeGuru, websites used for sharing study guides and notes by students for students, are negatively impacting the way some students learn. Publishing class notes online and making them available to peers sounds like an efficient form of studying, but it might be harming the consumer’s education. This system is practical for students taking a sick day, but it is inevitable the sites will be used with ulterior motives.
Let’s face it, some college students are extraordinarily lazy, and when given the opportunity to skip class, grab a laptop and get student-transcribed notes, they will. These sites give lethargic students an excuse to be lazier than they already are with less guilt about cutting classes.
Notehall pays students for the notes and study guides that are posted and charges users a set fee to obtain the information. If students are going to rely on paying their way through a class, their reasons for attending college should be thoroughly evaluated.
It also is unsettling that some students are taking professors’ notes — potentially someone’s intellectual property — and publishing them for a profit. The system sounds quite unethical and could constitute plagiarism. The content of class notes is the professor’s property, and it would seem if professors wanted the notes in question to be available to all, they simply would post them online themselves.
The knowledge consumers can expect to obtain from purchasing notes is limited. Professors and teachers’ aides are the only reliable sources of information regarding courses. Additionally, the reliability of the notes is questionable. These notes and study guides lack any confirmation of validity. Notehall even posted a disclaimer on their site stating the site assumes no liability for inaccurate material.
It is not out of the question that consumers could be studying incorrect information. Although students uploading the notes might not be providing faulty information purposefully, it is not uncommon for college students to incorrectly transcribe a few sentences from a lecture.
Some students might choose to use the system after missing a class or two. But it isn’t too difficult to turn to somebody sitting next to you in class and ask him or her if you can copy his or her lecture notes. Very few people are going to say, “No,” and even fewer people will charge you to take a look at them.
Although note-sharing services seem to have the right intentions, they represent a lazy, possibly unethical side to education.
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