Web site pushes bounds of academic integrity

There is new hope for college students strapped for cash thanks to University of Dayton sophomore Ryan Sapp.Sapp conceptualized and designed a networking Web site for college notes called isleptthroughclass.com.

The object of the site is to provide students who legitmately miss class the opportunity to obtain notes, said Arik Flanders, director of advertising for the Web site. Flanders added Sapp, a football player, had difficulty balancing athletics and academics.

The Web site was created at the University of Dayton in September 2007, but has spread across the country beginning in the spring 2008 semester. Flanders noted that the Web site was open to any college student in the country.

DePauw students are among those who have taken advantage of the Web site. Senior Alicia Keck said she uses the Web site to benefit her own studies.

"[It] helps me to go over notes after class, and I get rewarded with Amazon gift cards," Keck said.

Flanders said for every 10 sets of current notes that a student uploads, the student will receive $10 towards a purchase at Amazon.com, which the developers decided to use because it's open to everyone.

In addition to earning money for Amazon, groups of individuals may use the site to fund raise.

Keck said she uploads notes from all of her classes to the Web site, but doesn't know if anyone actually reads them and hasn't seen any notes from anyone else in her classes.

Notes on the Web site range from classes in the humanities to math and science.

One set of notes covers Professor Bojan Tunguz's physics class.

"[At first] I was flattered to see that notes have a value outside of class," Tunguz said.

But after his first look and initial impressions, Tunguz found lab reports from his classes posted on the site. Though he does not directly teach the lab section of the course, Tunguz said he would inform the professor who does deal with the labs. Still, Tunguz does not think the Web site itself and its stated purpose was harmful.

"You can't have a watered down version of physics," Tunguz elaborated. "[The notes] won't be helpful unless you know what's going on."

Art history professor Anne Harris agreed with Tunguz's insight. Her first impression was that the name of the Web site was subversive, but upon further examination - including creating an account for herself - she found the site to be innocuous. Harris looked at the notes that a student posted from her seminar and found that the notes were "kind of a skeletal summary of conversation."

Harris emphasized the difference between posting notes and test answers or assignments.

"Posting tests gives someone an unfair advantage," Harris explained. "It's self-defeating to post tests."

Not only is it self-defeating, it's against DePauw's academic policy, said Dean of Academic Life Marnie McInnes.

The posting of lab reports also concerns McInnes.

"You can't copy another student's lab. That's dishonest," McInnes said.

McInnes stressed the difference between adding notes online and posting assignments.

"In my mind, borrowing notes and copying notes are not a problem," McInnes added.

President Robert G. Bottoms expressed a similar sentiment.

"What's the difference, if a student misses class and asks to share notes?" Bottoms said.

Though the Web site may be a good beginning, Harris stressed that it is not enough.

"Like Wikipedia, I'd hope that intellectual inquiry would not end there," Harris said.