GradeGuru mentioned in the Boston Globe
GradeGuru was mentioned in a recent article published by the Boston Globe titled “FreeHarvardEducation.com: Does anyone own what universities teach?” Reporter Drake Bennett discussed the constant debate on the rise of academic content going online.
GradeGuru is referred to as one of the sites fostering the rise in student note-sharing along with other sites that are bringing university content to the internet. Much of the concern brought up throughout the article dealt with the notion of copyright infringement of professor lecture material, where comparisons were made to the digitization of music and its effect on the music industry.
GradeGuru is a social learning network that aids students in their academic coursework. GradeGuru facilitates student collaboration outside of the classroom context by providing a platform for university and class specific knowledge sharing. A key differentiators between GradeGuru and other sites:
- We ensure that all materials on the site are original student work and not borrowed content from professors or publications by making sure that each set of notes is peer reviewed by our team of site content moderators before posting live
- We protect student’s content from plagiarism by partnering with TurnItIn, the leading plagiarism prevention tool.
- We created an Academic Committee to help us get an academic perspective and continuously work with them on our site developments
Nonetheless, the debate about whether students should be sharing their academic work is an ongoing one. Here are what two of the professors quoted in the article had to say:
“There’s nothing that I would say in class that I wouldn’t say in any other public forum, so I kind of had nothing to hide,” Steven Pinker cognitive scientist, Harvard University
“Listening to lectures and taking your own notes is part of the educational process,” Greg Mankiw economist professor, Harvard University
For the full article: “FreeHarvardEducation.com: Does anyone own what universities teach?”
