New Web site pushes student crazyfficiency

"Crazyfficient," as a new Web site calls it, is a way for students to study more efficiently and less often. It's the study method encouraged by Theclassconnection.com.

Founders Dave Sargent and Chris Klundz, recent University of Wisconsin graduates, made the site available to all college students, professors and high school students free of charge.

The site provides students the opportunity to create personal profiles where they can upload their notes, search for public notes relating to a particular class or view textbook "wikis." Students can also create and share flashcards and join online study groups, Sargent and Klundz said.

The site began as a beta version last fall for Wisconsin students. After the initial trial, it became available to more schools last spring. Now students from 600 colleges and universities use the site along with students from 300 high schools across the country.

"The goal of the Web site is to create the world's best academic network where students can share content and collaborate," Klundz said. "The Web site keeps fellow students connected in their specific classes as well as with students across different campuses who may share a common class, major or even textbook."

"It sounds like a great site for students to use as a resource," said Jennifer Babcock, a senior majoring in education. "If you can view public notes from a similar class, a student may be able to understand a particular concept better with the help of fellow students."

Attempting to make professors understand the Web site's niche has been a difficult challenge, Sargent said.

"We're trying to supplement the study process, not replace what it is currently," he said.

"Professors can benefit from the Web site as well," he said. "They can post Powerpoints and even Podcasts."

Some UT professors question the Web site's potential to become an asset to them.

"We've had foreign language instructors create flashcards and post the deck electronically to the class," said Charles Blatz, professor of philosophy. "This greatly reduces the duplication of effort."

"Perhaps the time taken in logging on, pursuing the files and selecting material that seems pertinent could have been spent on actually being present at the birth of the lecture and [on] personal ideas on the material," Blatz said. "We should consider the riches we have at the tips of our fingers in the instructors we could learn from personally as well as en masse."

Some students also expressed concern about the site's potential to hinder education.

"If a student continues to go to all their classes and uses this source only to add to their current studying, then this could be a very helpful site," said Robert Pollock, a freshman majoring in business. "Although, I can see where a student may use the site as a crutch rather than just an extra resource for studying."

The Class Connection sign up process is comparable to that of, for example, Facebook.com or Myspace.com. The academic Web site also guarantees a better GPA in just one semester or the creators will reward $1,000 worth of personal tutoring from Smarthinking.com for the next semester.

Director for the Center of Teaching and Learning Bernie Bopp expressed concerns about students' use of the Web site.

"The most important goal for any student is to learn how to learn," he said. "If students believe that the route to good grades is having a copy of the notes and memorizing enough stuff, then they are deceiving themselves."

Bopp said the tools such as study groups, flashcards and public notes seemed like they would be helpful, but he thought the opportunity to always be able to retrieve a copy of notes would be a bit tempting.

"It is [tempting] if students believe that having a copy of the notes, or of somebody else's notes, is the same as learning the material," he said. "I see this as potentially a serious downside."