I refer to the appearance of private on-line companies that post lecture notes of courses taught at colleges and universities on the internet. Many different businesses have started to use the internet to offer goods and services explicitly related to the needs and wants of colleges and universities. No doubt some of these developments are beneficial, others problematic. With that in mind, my comments here specifically pertain to commercial online companies that distribute lecture notes for courses taught at colleges and universities . In this case, I feel that there are serious dangers involved with respect to our educational objectives to provide a qualified and responsible teaching of tomorrow s generation. .
Online lecture notes companies are a very recent phenomenon.
I am presently aware of at least fifteen such companies offering notes for many different colleges or universities across the country. Also, some of the national companies are not actually up and running yet and at present merely list the services they hope to have available in the near future. At least five companies have already begun to distribute notes across campuses. The notes are typically offered to students free of charge, although site registration may be required to obtain them. At least one company charges a fee for the notes.