Occasionally missing a class happens to the best of students.

But, for some, sleeping through a lecture happens more often than not, and maybe not by accident.

There are many ways to gather information for those that have missed a class or are just wanting to further their education in a subject of interest.

AcademicEarth.org advertises that they are an online education for free, and helpful to those who need to brush up.

With videotaped lectures from prestigious universities such as Berkeley, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Stanford and Yale, the public Web site hopes to do its part in helping to educate the world.

“I could use it. Everybody misses class and sometimes people don’t take notes and their not willing to share,” said Mount Pleasant freshman Sam Wildey. “I’d love that Web site.”

Founded by former Yale University student Richard Ludlow, the Web site states it is “an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education.”

Though Central Michigan University instructors are not included on the Web site, Bay City sophomore Aaron Wiley said a Web site could still be helpful.

“I think it would be a great thing for students,” he said. “You don’t always have to take your own teachers opinion of the subject. You can see outside opinions and get information that might not have been shared originally.”

Sharyl Majorski, the lab coordinator in the chemistry department, said there are chances that would give students an excuse to not come to class.

“I teach pre-lab lectures and I encourage them to be there, because I want them to see and be able to ask questions,” she said. “To me it’s a matter of safety. If they have a question, if you’re just watching it, they really can’t easily answer it.”

Though she also thinks it would encourage students to skip class, Stevensville sophomore Jennifer Ziolkowski said seeing the lecture again could help some people learn.

“I could definitely see the benefits as long as people were willing to put the effort forward,” she said. “Especially if it was the actual professor, who taught the class.”

Though he said watching online videos is no substitute for coming to class, Physics chairman Koblar Alan Jackson sees potential in posting lectures online.

“The potential advantage of recording lectures and having them available to students is so that you can practice your presentation and you can work on it so that video tape lecture is perfect,” he said. “If you do it once really well, then you’ve got it, and the students can look at it. In fact some people use a kind of hybrid system where they will perform demonstrations and they will do that part of the lecture, record it and then have that available to students before class.

“Students can look at it and then if they have questions, that can be discussed in class.”

Dearborn freshman Margaret Humenik said she recently used a Web site to help her study.

“I just used YouTube the other day for looking up a section for my macro-economics class. It was extremely helpful,” she said “I did well on the test. I think partially because of the stuff that I learned from the video.”

With all of the technology out there, some people may worry that the videos were taken illegally. But broadcasting and Cinematic Arts instructor Trey Stohlman did not seem to think that there is anything to worry about.

“I would assume that if the lectures are still up there and the instructors are aware of the content being there then the instructors gave their permission for it being there,” he said. “My guess is that not only did they get their instructors permission, (but) the instructors may have actually instigated the whole thing.”

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E-mail the author: Kevin Drescher