Course Hero

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Course Hero
Web address http://www.coursehero.com/
Slogan Learn. Share. Teach. Achieve.
Type of site Internet Social Learning Network
Available language(s) English
Alexa rank negative increase 17,358 (February 2014)[1]

Course Hero is an online learning platform for students to access study resources like course materials, flashcards, educational videos and tutors. Its educator portal is a micropublishing platform for educators to distribute their educational resources. Course Hero collects and organizes study materials like practice exams, problem sets, syllabi, flashcards, class notes and study guides from users who upload. Users either buy a subscription or upload documents in order to receive membership and access website material.

History

Course Hero was founded by Andrew Grauer at Cornell University in 2006 for college students to share lectures, class notes, exams and assignments that usually went ignored.[2] He believed that information is valuable and can be even more useful if properly indexed and accessible.[3] The full website was launched in 2008 and the company is based in Redwood City, California. Currently, there are 7 million peer-submitted study materials from 4,000 different universities.[4] Course Hero maintained a fan base over 230,000 people on Facebook as of May, 2012.[5]

Features

Study Documents:

Course Hero offers access to over 7 million uploaded study documents. Students pay a monthly subscription to have immediate Premier Access to Course Hero or they can upload 40 documents to receive free access for a month. Also, after a user uploads 40 documents, they can download up to 300 documents from Course Hero. However, it takes about three days to get Premier Access after submitting documents.[6] User can search for documents by content, university or course subject. A program called "The Knowledge Drive" was introduced in September 2010 in which a book is donated to Books for Africa for every 10 study materials uploaded to the website.[7] "Through the Knowledge Drive, Course Hero and Books for Africa are making a difference in thousands of children's lives," said Andrew Grauer, Course Hero's CEO. By August 2013, Course Hero donated over 92,000 books to Books for Africa.[8]

Expert Tutors:

Course Hero offers 24/7 access to online tutors. They can ask any question about a subject and a tutor will respond within 3 days. This access is free for Premier Users, but basic subscribers have to pay per question.[9]


Flashcards:

The website also has an application for students to make digital flashcards. Users can create, study, quiz and share the material they make.[10] On January 30, 2012, Course Hero launched Optimal Learn, a tool added to the flashcards application that allows students to set a deadline for when they want to master their material. The programs has students "study at the key intervals that maximize retention", including a combination of review and mini-quizzes. Users are reminded of their progress and when to study next via email notifications. Course Hero Flashcards also rewards students for studying through a badge system as they progress through their course material. The flashcards are free for all users.[11]


Courses:

On April 17, 2012, Course Hero launched 22 free online courses in three "learning paths": Entrepreneurship, Business and Web Programming. These courses use aggregated educational content from the web and consistently test students until they master their subject.[12] Each course breaks down into roughly 6 sections, teaching a combination of videos and articles.[13] Course Hero also rewards students who complete 5 or more in either three offered learning paths. Prizes include the opportunity to pitch a business plan to SV Angel and $5,000 or a chance to get a job at Course Hero.[14]


Video Lectures and Educator Platform:

This is where educators can openly share knowledge and content through Course Hero. You can search through a library of video lectures by university, subject or instructor. This part of the website also offers a free directory of digital courses that are available on the Internet.[15]

Controversy

Copyright Concerns:

The documents uploaded for sale are frequently the intellectual property of instructors, not of the students who post them/sell them. This includes exams and their keys, quizzes and their keys, study guides written by instructors, etc. To protect the rights of the copyright holders, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires Course Hero to expeditiously remove content when it is flagged as infringing its copyright.[16][17] However, the process to remove copyrighted material can be seen as overly burdensome and may be a subtle way to discourage people from following through on such claims.

Cheating:

As Course Hero allows students to post previous homework and exam solutions from their classes, the website is often cited as an aid to student cheating.[18][19] While faculty who reuse the same homework/exams semester after semester bear some of the blame, websites like Course Hero are not blameless in the controversy.[20]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Coursehero.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-02-01. 
  2. ↑ "", 2011 Finalists: America's Best Young Entrepreneurs. Bloomberg Businessweek Retrieved on 2011-05-02.
  3. ↑ "Do Study Sites Make the Grade?. Wall Street Journal (2009-04-09) Retrieved on 2010-01-08.
  4. ↑ "", Frequently Asked Questions. Course Hero Retrieved 2012-05-1.
  5. ↑ "", Course Hero Fan Page Retrieved 2012-05-1.
  6. ↑ "", Upload Documents, Course Hero, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  7. ↑ "About the Course Hero Knowledge Drive", Course Hero, Inc, Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  8. ↑ "" Books for Africa and Course Hero Join Forces to Increase Literacy Abroad(2011-04-21), PRWeb, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  9. ↑ "" Frequently Asked Questions Course Hero, Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  10. ↑ "" Frequently Asked Questions Course Hero, Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  11. ↑ "" Course Hero, Inc. Launches Optimized Learning Program for Flashcards. (2012-01-30) PRweb, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  12. ↑ "" Course Hero, Inc. Launches 22 Courses in Entrepreneurship, Business and Web Programming (2012-04-17) ASU SkySong, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  13. ↑ "" Screw University, Course Hero Curates YouTube Into Free Business and Coding Classes (2012-04-12) TechCrunch, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  14. ↑ "" Course Hero, Inc. Launches 22 Courses in Entrepreneurship, Business and Web Programming (2012-04-17) ASU SkySong, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  15. ↑ "" Course Hero, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  16. ↑ "" Copright Infringement Notification Course Hero, Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  17. ↑ "" Frequently Asked Questions Course Hero, Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  18. ↑ "" Psst! Need the Answer to No. 7? Click Here. The New York Times, Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  19. ↑ "" Course Hero: Study Aid or Cheating? Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  20. ↑ "" High-Tech Cheating Abounds, and Professors Bear Some Blame The Chronicle of Higher Education, Retrieved 2012-10-09.
Concepts
Study Software
Practitioners
Researchers
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