Almost 1,500 Ball State students join class notes Web site

It's 11:37 a.m., the alarm clock didn't go off and class is over. Many students in this situation turn to Blackboard and beg classmates for the notes and other missed material.

Students now have an alternative to get what they missed in class with isleptthroughclass.com.

Co-founder Jim Sapp said the site was a resource for students to upload and share notes with classmates.

Kevin Smith, associate professor of history, said students that buy into sites like isleptthroughclass.com are only fooling themselves.

"No notes can substitute points of inflection on emphasis," Smith said.

Adrienne McEwan, sophomore organizational communications student, said she started posting notes after seeing a classmate on the Web site during a lecture.

"I found it funny, so I got on and checked it out," McEwan said.

Most of her professors take attendance so sleeping through class isn't always an option, McEwan said, but she likes the site because it offers students a chance to get notes they may have missed while attending class.

"I don't care if people are using my notes," McEwan said. "If I cared I wouldn't put them up there. I mostly post PowerPoints that you can get from the teacher's site. I still take notes down."

She said she started uploading notes two to three weeks into Fall Semester and has saved up more than 18,000 points for a $25 gift card. She was the site's note taker of the month for November.

"I thought this would be an easy way to get money, but it's more work than I expected," McEwan said. "It takes a lot of work to get points."

Other students like sophomores Ali Hirons and Dan Buis have varied opinions of the site.

"I think it's cool, but still important to go to class," Hirons said.

Hirons said she has not used the site but heard about it from a friend who was able to get all the notes from a class through the end of the semester from the site.

Buis said he was skeptical about the site.

"I find if you take notes by listening to lecture, they make more sense than by looking at someone else's notes," Buis said. "You can correlate the stuff in your notes to the stuff you hear in class. You can jog your memory."

Sapp said the site was designed to help students who occasionally miss class and offer a chance for them to share notes.

"We do not condone skipping class," Sapp said. "We see ourselves as knowledge sharing."

He said the site does not accept copyrighted material and has received praise from students with learning disabilities and from students that do not take good notes.

Smith said his main problem with the site is how professors will view the notes used as intellectual property.

"The lectures are my property," he said. "If someone takes a lecture and sells it, is that an infringement on my property?"

The legality of the issue was not his concern, Smith said, and he didn't care if students posted notes from his lecture online.

He said when a student misses a class, their contribution to the class is lost and everyone misses out.

He said using online notes would not be an adequate substitution for missing class; however, he understood that there are times when a student must legitimately miss class, but they must face the consequences. Students should remember that they could always talk to a professor, teaching assistant or fellow student when they miss a class, he said.

"It's a slippery slope," Smith said. "It's harmless in small doses, but addicting in large."

Professors should make class interesting to get students to come, he said, but that is the best a professor can do.

"Class isn't just about getting notes - you learn by reading, sight and hearing," Smith said. "If you just read, you don't get the visuals."

Arik Flanders, director marketing and advertising at isleptthroughclass.com, said Ball State University has almost 2,000 members and is in the top 10 out of 700 universities and colleges that are members of the site.

"The site is a good resource for students who miss but want to approach the academic side," Flanders said. "It's an opportunity for students who miss class for a good reason, not just for being hung over. It's also a way to compare notes."

The founders funded the first cards that were redeemed, he said. Now the site gets cards through sponsors. Last year, the site made between $4,000 and $5,000 and has equaled that this semester alone. The site has made more than $10,000 since its launch in September 2007, Flanders said.

The Web site has a local focus, he said. The offices are located in Castleton and the top participating schools are Purdue University, Indiana University and Ball State.

Advertisers are able to target specific schools on the site, Flanders said. Ball State University students can only see advertisements associated with that university or area, allowing local businesses to concentrate their advertising.

"It's close and we can monitor what we want to do," Flanders said. "We can get there and do a lot of guerrilla advertising."

The site offers fund-raisers for school organizations and small sports teams, Flanders said. The site would donate money to the organization in exchange for uploaded notes. This holiday season, isleptthroughclass.com will hold a competition between the colleges and universities that are members, and donate coats and food to the homeless in the name of the college or university with the most activity, Flanders said.