New aspect of studying outside the classroom: Note sharing websites

Jinhyun Kim

Many of College students have experience in missing a lecture or struggling in class at least a few times. It is quite typical to see those students trying to borrow notes and getting help from others. Catching up with the notes that a fellow students has taken in class is a very good idea, but it doesn't always work or is tidious to find a good note. Focused on that matter, some bright entrepreneurs started note-sharing websites and made these tasks very easy for students. Those websites, such as GradeGuru, ShareNotes.com, and WiseCampus.com. These websites usually allow students to upload their lecture/class notes and share with any other students signed up on the website for free.

Since the notes on note sharing websites are online and free for everyone, which is an amazing thing about the Internet, any students who need extra help or notes can very easily find it. Also, the notes are from various students so they could provide different aspects of knowledge. Being online is a great advantage and has an extendability.

In contrast, since it is easy to get it, there could be some problems as well. It could promote students to have bad study habits. For example, some students might entirely depend on other students' note in their studying, which would not help the student in long run. Also, in the article "Taking Notes Beyond the Classroom" by Ben Eisen, external relations director for MIT Open Courseware, Steve Carson suggests that users should be able to distinguish between "sharing information from credentialed teachers at accredited institutions and sharing student notes that are not verified or fact-checked."

There are some both positive and negative effects along with the appearance of the note sharing websites. Despite of some drawbacks, these trend is expanding larger and more students are getting benefits from it. In addition, these trend could expand to much broader aspect of another study community outside the classroom. It could extend to a place that could have students discuss about their subject, school, or study aids, as Emily Sawtell, founder of GradeGuru describes in the same article.