Interesting. I used these types of notes a few times when I went to UT Austin. I felt mildly unethical about it, but it sure opened up my schedule. The notes were cheap and much better than if I had taken them myself. I am a lousy note-taker, and usually rely more on memory. I do annotate a fair amount when I read something closely.
As a teacher, I understand the desire to have students in class. My classes are small: 32 students or less at the beginning of semester, and smaller after the first few weeks. There is no market for notes for small classes. But even in a large class, discussion can be dynamic, and a teacher has a right to expect a student's attendance.
The related problem the article brings up is summaries. Instead of reading an assigned novel or story, the student goes online to Sparknotes, Cliffsnotes, enotes, or some other site that breaks the work down systematically. Or, they go to one of a million essay sites and download an essay. The summaries seem to be under the gun in this lawsuit, which I am happy to hear. It would be a good thing if more students read a novel or two before they graduated from college.
1 comment:
It sounds analogous to music sharing...it's okay to copy the CD you buy to your IPod, but illegal to put it on others' Ipods. May be a little easier to police this, though.
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