Note Taking Pays Off: Top College Students Rewarded at GradeGuru.com
McGraw-Hill offers incentives to students taking quality notes and helping their peers with the launch of notes-sharing site
New York, NY (April 14, 2009) /PRNewswire/ — McGraw-Hill Higher Education unveiled its latest innovation in student study today with the official launch of its new notes-sharing site for college students, www.GradeGuru.com.
GradeGuru is a collaborative learning platform that allows college students to upload study materials and class notes to receive peer feedback, recognition and rewards including cash, gift cards and internship opportunities. Notes can be downloaded for free by students seeking guidance on study skills or alternative perspectives on their coursework in a peer-to-peer environment. Features to the site that optimize the notes-sharing process include a refined search function and a simplified uploading process, which allows contributors to post multiple sets of notes simultaneously.
"GradeGuru is essentially the Web 2.0 version of a study group," said Emily Sawtell, Director of New Business Ventures at McGraw-Hill and founder of GradeGuru. "We have long been committed to helping students succeed in ways that they find engaging. By researching student study behaviors, we found that many students are already engaging in peer collaboration. GradeGuru is making that student-driven network more accessible by bringing it online; it is truly a site by students for students."
The academic community is quickly catching on to the benefits GradeGuru offers. "GradeGuru has greatly improved my study habits and the incentive is a great motivator for keeping up with class," said Mrugesh Patel, a student at the University of Michigan. GradeGuru motivates students to develop their study and note-taking skills, rewarding and acknowledging the best note-takers for their academic thought leadership and commitment to peer collaboration. "Note sharing creates critical bonds between students and allows them to build on each other's strengths. GradeGuru is an incredible resource that allows students to learn from one another," said Noelle M. Stout, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at New York University.
Students receive payment for their notes based on the quality and popularity of the uploaded material, as determined by peer review. In addition to having paid over $20,000 to students from Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Duke and other top schools across the country, GradeGuru is awarding the top student contributor this semester with a scholarship of $1,500 in recognition of their hard work and contribution.
GradeGuru recently partnered with TurnItIn.com, the leading plagiarism prevention service used by academic institutions, to deliver on its promise of ethical collaboration. As a result, if students submit unoriginal materials to GradeGuru as their own for a course that uses TurnItIn, that material will be flagged and banned from the site to ensure that GradeGuru is used as intended and without compromising the ethical integrity of the site.
For more information, visit: www.GradeGuru.com.
About GradeGuru
GradeGuru.com, a McGraw-Hill Higher Education start-up, is a student notes sharing web site, committed to developing a collective knowledge platform and academic peer-support network for college students. GradeGuru.com allows students to upload study materials and receive payment through a redeemable points system and provides a comprehensive search function for students to find relevant study materials for their specific school, course or topic.
About McGraw-Hill Higher Education
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for 21st century post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. Through a comprehensive range of traditional and digital education content and tools, McGraw-Hill Higher Education empowers educators and prepares professionals and students of all ages to connect, learn and succeed in the global economy. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at www.mheducation.com.
