Commercial Notetaking Task Force

Benefits and Concerns

Benefits:

Notetaking services can increase access to education as well as provide opportunities for learning. Students who miss a class or who manage time in non-traditional ways are able to stay abreast of the classroom experience through commercial notes. The notes can serve as a study aid, a useful comparison, a source of additional information, or (for some students) a confidence builder. Well-crafted commercial notes can be an accessible example of how to take notes effectively. Students who are using commercial notes are able to spend more quality time in the classroom actively listening, instead of trying to scribble every last word into their notebooks. Furthermore, students who are interested in "sampling" a class prior to enrolling in it can use commercial notes to get a feel for the subject matter.

Faculty have the opportunity to improve their teaching by having access to commercial notes. For some faculty, it may be beneficial to observe what at least one person has taken away from the lecture. Commercial notetaking may also encourage innovation and self-examination among instructors, perhaps leading to more active learning opportunities in class. Moreover there are opportunities for peer-review and "job sharing" through the use of commercial notes. Commercial notes may allow instructors the opportunity to make healthy comparisons between notes from their classes and those from the lectures of other instructors. By encouraging instructors to pay attention to the notes students take, commercial notetaking services provide another opportunity for instructors to reflect on their teaching. Finally, commercial notetaking services are exploring a variety of other "educational aids" that may give faculty access to technology not yet developed by the University and may contribute to the teaching-learning objectives of the University.

Notetaking can also be a way to open communication for students, instructors, institutions, and the public. The relationship between a faculty member and a notetaking company may promote collaborative activities useful to both. Furthermore, notetaking services provide an opportunity for parents to observe the curriculum second hand.

On-line notetaking services provide a variety of other benefits. They encourage the use of new technology and take advantage of the speed and versatility of the internet. Students at one University can sample the notes of similar courses across the country. Unlike the hardcopy counterpart, on-line services make available access to searchable archives. Finally, notetaking services are encouraging institutions to examine themselves, and their curricula.

Concerns:

Commercial notetaking services, while enticing to many students, may have detrimental effects. Students who rely on commercial notes may choose to "skip class" more frequently. At least one study conducted at the University of Michigan (7) suggests a possible relationship between attendance and the use of commercial notes. Commercial notes also serve as a disincentive to students (particularly first-year students who take the large lecture classes that attract commercial notetakers) to take and to learn to take good notes. Moreover, commercial notetaking may further a consumer mentality among students and notetakers may be more focused on their notetaking business objectives than on learning and participating in class. At the extreme, some faculty are concerned that commercial notetaking may encourage plagiarism in general and, specifically, may have a nexus to on-line companies that distribute term papers and essays, such as www.schoolsucks.com.

Commercial notetaking may change or limit the freedom of discussion in the classroom and affect the pedagogic or curricular choices of faculty. Commercial notetaking has already had an observable effect in classrooms at the University. Some faculty are reluctant to give the "best" examples in the classroom, because they are as yet unpublished. Other faculty have changed their teaching style, because they are concerned that teaching techniques which involve irony, humor, subtlety, devil's advocacy, and extreme or vivid examples may be misconstrued by people who view the notes without having attended the class. Controversial or sensitive subjects essential to the curriculum have always been difficult to discuss in the context of the classroom. Students and faculty feel more self-conscious when they are aware that their comments may end up on the internet. Commercial notes threaten the privacy of students and instructors and the sanctity of the classroom.

Commercial notetaking also removes some of the control of the curriculum away from the University. The University and its instructors, in most cases, have no control over the quality of the notes. In many cases the quality of notes is extremely poor. Perceptions of the curriculum, the quality of teaching, or the University may be adversely influenced by the quality of the notes, which cover large lecture classes almost exclusively. Errors or confusion on the part of the notetaker may not only mislead students, but may be attributed to the University or the instructor. Static notes will exist on-line in perpetuity, despite dramatic changes in a field.

The effect of commercial notetaking may add a burden to instructors, imposed not by the University, but by a third party, for-profit business that does not have educational outcomes as a priority. Some faculty feel demoralized at having their work turned into commercial commodity. Others wonder why they are forced to negotiate with a commercial industry about the conditions under which the intricate details of their curriculum will be made public. New faculty, who often teach introductory level lecture courses, must struggle not only with a large class but also with a potential second-hand audience of millions. Instructors who are given the option to correct erroneous notes (which some notetaking companies allow) may feel encumbered with the pressure to do so. Either the instructor takes the time to correct the notes or, when there are mistakes, the instructor will be criticized for not taking the time to improve the notes.

The intellectual property of the University and its instructors is being disseminated for profit by a third-party business. Commercial notetaking services are earning significant revenue from and (in the case of on-line services) giving away the fruits of the University, valuable intellectual capital for which thousands of enrolled students pay. To gain the support of instructors, some commercial notetaking services are forming consulting agreements with instructors: Postsecondary institutions pay instructors to teach, and notetaking services pay them to cooperate. These agreements may in fact or in perception raise conflict of interest/commitment between the University and the instructor.

Commercial notetaking services expose the University to other types of competition and conflict. Notetaking services often compete with University units. For instance, some commercial notetaking services operate course and faculty evaluations. Some offer services similar to UM.CourseTools. Others are developing on-line tutoring. While some of the services may be useful to students, they may also be detrimental because their primary purpose is to generate revenue. The activities of notetaking services also may expose the University to legal conflicts, which we will not detail here.

Finally, commercial notetaking affects the use of the University name. Notetaking services may affiliate the University's name, educational reputation, and good will with advertisers the University eschews (tobacco, alcohol, etc.) or services that distract students. Moreover, it may appear to some that the University endorses commercial notetaking and the notes they produce. The boundaries of what is a University educational activity and what is not may begin to blur in the public perception.

Footnotes

1. Vander Putten, J., and Coppola, B. (1999) Commercial Note-Taking Services: Effects on Attendance and Academic Performance. (An unpublished paper available upon request.)

COMMERCIAL NOTETAKING TASK FORCE REPORT