Homework Dilemma

Now their study buddies are just as likely to be commercial Web sites with step-by-step solutions to textbook problems, copies of previous exams, reams of lecture notes, summaries of literary classics, and real-time help with physics, math and computer science problems.

Some professors counter that sites like Cramster have helped devalue homework.

“Many professors who return homework won’t tell you how you got it wrong — just that it’s wrong.

“They felt that some material was released only to their students and they didn’t want it disseminated beyond that,” he said.

Many of the documents posted on the Web sites, like term papers and prior exams, have long been available to members of fraternities and sororities, which archive them (this has also been a source of complaints in the past).

“There are professors who don’t change their questions from semester to semester, and one of the things that this raises is how problematic that is,” said Teddi Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity, which is part of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University.

Mr. Kim also said that Course Hero, which warns users against cheating and plagiarism, had honored a handful of requests from professors to remove certain notes.

William H. Kinney, an assistant professor of physics at the State University at Buffalo, Cramster’s biggest source of users in New York, said that for students who have genuinely wrestled with homework problems, the ability to identify where they got stuck — by taking a peek at Cramster’s step-by-step solutions, for example — can be a “great thing.”

On Course Hero, for example, students can type in a college name and course number to unearth the previous semester’s particle physics final exam.

In the computer science department here, that would be serious academic misconduct.”

William H. Kinney, an assistant professor of physics at the State University at Buffalo, Cramster’s biggest source of users in New York, said that for students who have genuinely wrestled with homework problems, the ability to identify where they got stuck — by taking a peek at Cramster’s step-by-step solutions, for example — can be a “great thing.”

Cramster, which went online in 2003, has carved out a different niche, with many of its 500,000 registered users visiting the site specifically for solutions to math and science textbook problems.

Many of the documents posted on the Web sites, like term papers and prior exams, have long been available to members of fraternities and sororities, which archive them (this has also been a source of complaints in the past).

But as companies with playful names like Cramster, Course Hero, Koofers and SparkNotes are transforming the way undergraduates like Mr. O’Connor study, some professors and ethicists are questioning whether such Web sites encourage cheating and undermine the mental sweat equity of day-to-day learning by seducing students with ready-made solutions and essays.

“Students have projects where they’re supposed to write a piece of code,” he said.

Now their study buddies are just as likely to be commercial Web sites with step-by-step solutions to textbook problems, copies of previous exams, reams of lecture notes, summaries of literary classics, and real-time help with physics, math and computer science problems.

Students can also post queries to Cramster’s 3,000 “experts,” who are rated for quality (just like sellers on eBay) and earn “karma” points for rewards like laptops, iPods and gift cards.

On Course Hero, for example, students can type in a college name and course number to unearth the previous semester’s particle physics final exam.

“For large undergraduate entry-level classes, it’s something you need to take into account and have a strategy for,” said Kyle Cranmer, an assistant professor of physics at New York University.

But as companies with playful names like Cramster, Course Hero, Koofers and SparkNotes are transforming the way undergraduates like Mr. O’Connor study, some professors and ethicists are questioning whether such Web sites encourage cheating and undermine the mental sweat equity of day-to-day learning by seducing students with ready-made solutions and essays.

Course Hero offers three million student-submitted items from 400,000 courses at more than 3,500 institutions, including lecture notes, study guides, presentations, lab results, research papers, essays and homework assignments.

An expert, according to Aaron Hawkey, Cramster’s chief executive officer, could be a brilliant high school senior bound for M.I.T., a professor or a retired engineer.