Local
Growing number of Web sites offer students money for class notes
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
February 5, 2009
Students tempted to sleep through class can rest a bit easier thanks to a growing number of Web sites offering to pay top students at schools like Georgetown University for their lecture notes.
GradeGuru.com, the latest addition to the Web-based trend, pays up to $50 per class per semester for notes that are downloaded by peers who may have partied a little too long the night before.
It joins other companies with names like ISleptThroughClass.com, HowIGotAnA.com, and PostYourTest.com.
All offer rewards for the most prolific note-takers, such as Starbucks gift cards, iPods and cash.
Not all professors are so pleased.
“I happen to think that note-taking is one of those things you ought to be able to do well by the time you leave college,” said Geoffrey Wallace, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin whose lectures and assignments have generated notes and assignments popular on ShareNotes.com.
For that reason, Wallace said, he doesn’t post notes on a class Web site, though many of his students feel entitled to them.
“That may be one of the reasons my students are doing this,” he said.
Even so, Wallace said that online note-sharing has an upside in its ability to provide study networks in classes like his with hundreds of students who don’t otherwise interact with each other.
“It’s reasonable, and there’s nothing I can do about it anyway,” he said.
Founders of the Web sites are quick to explain the extent to which they go to ensure ethical behavior.
Emily Sawtell, the Harvard-educated founder of GradeGuru, said her stance “to ensure no copyrighted material on the site,” such as tests or professor-created study guides, separates it from businesses like PostYourTest.com.
“We can’t have that stuff — the universities won’t be happy and we can’t pay for things that they own,” Sawtell said.
But that doesn’t mean she’ll go out of her way to bring university leadership on board.
“It’s very much a student site,” Sawtell said, explaining the company has reached out to top contributors at Georgetown, Harvard University, Boston University, Northeastern University and the University of Pittsburgh to become “brand ambassadors” on their campuses.
“We’re all about student sharing,” she said.
GradeGuru.com, the latest addition to the Web-based trend, pays up to $50 per class per semester for notes that are downloaded by peers who may have partied a little too long the night before.
It joins other companies with names like ISleptThroughClass.com, HowIGotAnA.com, and PostYourTest.com.
All offer rewards for the most prolific note-takers, such as Starbucks gift cards, iPods and cash.
Not all professors are so pleased.
“I happen to think that note-taking is one of those things you ought to be able to do well by the time you leave college,” said Geoffrey Wallace, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin whose lectures and assignments have generated notes and assignments popular on ShareNotes.com.
For that reason, Wallace said, he doesn’t post notes on a class Web site, though many of his students feel entitled to them.
“That may be one of the reasons my students are doing this,” he said.
Even so, Wallace said that online note-sharing has an upside in its ability to provide study networks in classes like his with hundreds of students who don’t otherwise interact with each other.
“It’s reasonable, and there’s nothing I can do about it anyway,” he said.
Founders of the Web sites are quick to explain the extent to which they go to ensure ethical behavior.
Emily Sawtell, the Harvard-educated founder of GradeGuru, said her stance “to ensure no copyrighted material on the site,” such as tests or professor-created study guides, separates it from businesses like PostYourTest.com.
“We can’t have that stuff — the universities won’t be happy and we can’t pay for things that they own,” Sawtell said.
But that doesn’t mean she’ll go out of her way to bring university leadership on board.
“It’s very much a student site,” Sawtell said, explaining the company has reached out to top contributors at Georgetown, Harvard University, Boston University, Northeastern University and the University of Pittsburgh to become “brand ambassadors” on their campuses.
“We’re all about student sharing,” she said.
