Students may summon a new source of lecture notes other than the average blackboard postings.

A new Web site, gradegenie.com, has been developed to give students resources from other classmates to help further their education.

GradeGenie creator Cary Silverman, a student from the University of Missouri-Columbia, said the goal of this free membership Web site is to share correlation in order to benefit students.

“This Web site was created to help supplement material and not substitute,” Silverman said.

The site launched November 2007 to more than 2,700 colleges and universities around the U.S., of which 31 colleges and universities are actively using GradeGenie, Silverman said.

The site allows for students to upload lecture notes, study guides and papers. It is monitored by a full-time staff ensuring that academic integrity and copyright policies are upheld.

“Files uploaded that are illegal can be flagged by staff or users and then viewed by staff to make a decision,” Silverman said.

Students issuing illegal documents will be contacted and then banned from the site.

Students are only allowed to post documents that they created.

“A student cannot upload a previous test or study guide a professor created because that goes against the (copyright) policy,” Silverman said.

Christopher Allen and Sandra Russell, co-writers of the CMU Red Book, a handbook on academic integrity, said there are pros and cons to the Web site.

“When you’re allowed to communicate at that level, it may cause students to not put 100 percent into their work,” said Russell, a Clarkston senior.

Russell said she questions if students will take advantage of the sources posted.

Allen said this Web site is on a fine line between helpful and problematic.

“Just as long as the site respectfully follows the university integrity rules and material is viewed before being put onto the site,” said Allen, a Lexington senior.

Jason Bentley, first year experience program coordinator, said there is no quality assurance to the Web site.

“How do you know if it’s credible and accurate information?” he said.

Bentley said students need to be cautious of the sources and use the site only as a supplement and not replacement of studying.

Silverman said he uses the Web site himself.

“I had a test and because of being busy, I couldn’t create a study guide, but I went on the site and I’m comfortable with the study guide I downloaded,” Silverman said.

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