If you missed today’s class notes, a website is now available that may be able to help track them down.

NoteSwap.com is an online community that serves as a forum for students to come online to communicate with one another and exchange notes that will soon be available for Sacramento State students.

The notes aren’t specific to any one class either. Any class from any college in America has the potential to add to the service.

The website was first envisioned by Louisiana State University student Ryan Grush in November 2005.

After Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, many students weren’t able to attend class, and he began to wonder if there was a website that offered class notes, Grush said.

After some research, Grush found a website where students could find notes on a myriad different courses was non-existent. With help from a fellow Louisiana State student, computer science major Daniel Patterson, the website was created.

“It gives students an opportunity to share their notes with friends,” said Ryan Grush, the Louisiana State University junior journalism major who founded the website.

Students who have a valid university e-mail account can register online for an account with the website. Any student can upload or download notes, Grush said.

The service only becomes valid once a student makes downloads first. The notes don’t go through any screening process, so the website can’t guarantee the quality or the content of the notes that are posted.

However, a student can download different versions of notes from the same class, allowing the user to make a better decision as to which notes he or she wants to use.

“We see the website becoming a sort of virtual study group,” Grush said.

The website quickly caught on with Louisiana State students and started spreading to outlying southern universities as well, Grush said.

Currently, the website is updating its server and adding new features. In the future, Grush said he hopes the website adds features such as feedback on the posted notes as well as message boards and professor rating systems.

“We really want to focus on the academic aspect of (networking),” Grush said.

For now, the website is limited to uploading and downloading notes as well as a rating system of the posted notes.

Sac State senior Matt Bonachea, a marketing major, is skeptical about the website.

“It definitely affects the way you go to school,” Bonachea said. “The whole classroom experience is supposed to be about the professor lecturing you on the material, and students interacting and taking notes,” Bonachea said. “That’s not happening.”

Bonachea equated the website to Napster, the website that gained notoriety for its controversial filesharing capabilities.

“You have your notes in the class already if you’re required to attend the class,” Bonachea said. “It’s a huge incentive to slack off.”

Grush advocates that in order to avoid any kind of academic misconduct, the users should use common sense. The idea that students would substitute the website for formal note-taking was a concern that Grush had foreseen.

“People are going to take advantage of it,” Grush said. “It’s inevitable.”

Grush said that his staff is small and works part-time to try to curb the unethical misuse of the website.

“I think if you get into the habit of seeing tests on (NoteSwap.com), it could be a problem,” Grush said.

The idea of students sharing notes via the Internet is nothing new to Mike Lee, associate vice president of Academic Affairs.

Lee said at certain universities like Michigan Institute of Technology, students have had specific note-sharing websites for years.

“It certainly depends on how widespread (the website) gets and the quality of the notes,” Lee said. Lee went on to say that students should use their best judgment when using the website.

“You don’t have anyone checking the quality of the notes,” Lee said. “Information is readily available on the Internet.”. “Students need to be able to judge the good versus the bad.”

Grush expects the website to see about 80 schools and courses available by the end of the year. Sac State is not a school that is available on the website now, but Grush says that it will soon.