Koofers.com is an interactive community that serves the academic needs of users through information sharing. The service provides users with vast amounts of information (instructor ratings, grade distributions, past exams, quizzes, study guides, etc) with the intention of facilitating collaboration and "leveling the playing field" for all students.
From an academic perspective, it is critical that these new advances in information sharing and collaboration are implemented in a way that does not replace scholarship with short-term memorization or "shortcuts." At Koofers Inc., we believe that it is vital for our services to remain on the right side of academic integrity.
A core principle (and key differentiator) of our business is that we make every attempt to work with individual universities to integrate these new technologies while recognizing and supporting the academic integrity of the communities we serve. The very fundamentals of our business (such as the decision to offer our service free of charge, and not provide any compensation for contributing materials) are based on numerous university honor codes and policies. Koofers, Inc. has membership pending in the Center for Academic Integrity (http://www.academicintegrity.org) and we are a product of the Virginia Tech business incubator program (http://www.vtknowledgeworks.com).
Koofers, Inc. has a clear vision for a future where "social instruction" and "social studying" complement and improve the capabilities of our academic institutions.
The term "koofers" originated in the 1940's, and refers to permanently returned materials, stored for use by future students as study aids. The term has been commonly been used to reference past exams, quizzes, and study guides, however we have expanded on the concept to include any historical academic information that serves the needs of university students and instructors.
Our service is intended to ensure that ALL users have equal access to the SAME study materials. Members of various organizations that "stockpile" koofers have access to literally decades of materials covering hundreds of classes and professors, while other students have access to almost none. The concept of koofers.com is based on "leveling the playfield," by providing users with access to koofers that would otherwise only be available to select groups, while facilitating instructor collaboration and awareness of the materials.
The vast majority of universities recognize the need for equal access to study materials, and have policies in place that encourage a "level playing field:"
From the Virginia Tech Graduate Honor System Constitution:
"By permanently returning graded materials, a faculty member or instructor demonstrates the intent that these materials should be accessible to all students."
From The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Faculty Handbook:
"Faculty Responsibility in the Honor System
To avoid, when possible, reuse of instructor-prepared examinations, in whole or in part, unless they are placed on reserve in the Library or otherwise made available to all students."From Rutgers Faculty Responsibilities:
"For closed book essay examinations it is important that faculty familiarize students in advance with the format of the examination and the likely structure of the questions. Because some students may have access to previous exams in the same course while others do not, leveling the playing field is often a good idea. To do this, distribute copies of previous exams to the class and use it as a guide in discussing the format and structure of the exam. It is also a good idea to provide structured sub-questions to at least one of the previous year's exam questions. This helps a student understand what it is that constitutes an excellent answer."
From Teaching at the University of Virginia: A Handbook for Faculty and Teaching Assistants:
"Section IV. Evaluating Students' Work; Academic Honesty and the Honor System:
- Reduce the temptation to cheat. Create entirely new exams, and distribute previous exams so that students have equal access to your format and style."
Unfortunately, aside from materials on reserve in the library, and those published on disparate websites, there is little parity in study materials available to students. The materials are often out of date, not catalogued appropriately, or unavailable when needed. Student-run repositories (such as those maintained by organizations) tend to contain newer materials, and are better managed - but they are only available to a select few.
There is sometimes a concern that our service may allow students to substitute short term memorization for true scholarship. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, by encouraging instructors to participate in what materials are available, our service actually increases awareness, allowing instructors to collaborate and change exams accordingly. We have had numerous positive reactions from instructors who were previously unaware of the measure of materials available. As we digitize and catalog, we regularly see numerous koofers for active instructors that date back to the 1970s. Instructors are often amazed at this - but also recognize that is the very existence of our service that allows them to "see" these materials, and act accordingly.
As new collaboration and info-sharing technologies make their way into classrooms, we at Koofers, Inc. believe that university and instructor involvement is not only preferable, but is in many ways important to ensuring the academic integrity of such services. We have met with Provosts, Vice Presidents, Deans, Faculty Senate, Academic Affairs personnel, Ombudspersons, etc., and will gladly accept any invitation to meet or speak with interested faculty and administration.
Glynn LoPresti
CEO & Co-Founder
Koofers, Inc.
glynn@koofers.com
