New site helps students with course notes
By: Amanda Aultman
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: News
A team of recent graduates from Carnegie Mellon, McGill, and several other colleges have created an online community in which Mount Holyoke students and college attendees across the country can collaborate on course materials in common subjects. UniversityJunction.com has been established as a free and ethical alternative to note buying sites, said founder and McGill graduate Liz Mitchell.
"We promote student collaboration to reach a common goal: greater understanding of course material without compromising ethics codes," said Mitchell.
Currently, the site has over 2,000 users and 1.1 million pieces of classroom material, including non-copyright information such as old tests, assignments and class notes. About one third of the site's users attend Amherst, Harvard, Smith, MIT and Boston College.
UniversityJunction.com also offers forums for free online tutoring from now until the beginning of exams. "We hope to establish UniversityJunction.com as the leading academic resource for college students," said Mitchell.
The site is meant to cut down the amount of time students spend searching the Internet for study materials.
When students sign up for the site, they must agree to abide by their school's ethics policies. Students may flag any material that they deem as inappropriate, such as material that appears to violate the school's ethics codes, violates copyright or intellectual property laws, or appears offensive or derogatory.
"We figure since professors and TAs aren't always available when it's convenient, or because sometimes students are too embarrassed to ask a question, that we have the resources to help," said Mitchell.
The group's market research showed that 90 percent of college students use online resources to study or to do assignments. At Mount Holyoke, that figure is almost 94 percent.
"We promote student collaboration to reach a common goal: greater understanding of course material without compromising ethics codes," said Mitchell.
Currently, the site has over 2,000 users and 1.1 million pieces of classroom material, including non-copyright information such as old tests, assignments and class notes. About one third of the site's users attend Amherst, Harvard, Smith, MIT and Boston College.
UniversityJunction.com also offers forums for free online tutoring from now until the beginning of exams. "We hope to establish UniversityJunction.com as the leading academic resource for college students," said Mitchell.
The site is meant to cut down the amount of time students spend searching the Internet for study materials.
When students sign up for the site, they must agree to abide by their school's ethics policies. Students may flag any material that they deem as inappropriate, such as material that appears to violate the school's ethics codes, violates copyright or intellectual property laws, or appears offensive or derogatory.
"We figure since professors and TAs aren't always available when it's convenient, or because sometimes students are too embarrassed to ask a question, that we have the resources to help," said Mitchell.
The group's market research showed that 90 percent of college students use online resources to study or to do assignments. At Mount Holyoke, that figure is almost 94 percent.