By VANESSA LANGDON
Staff Writer
Technology is continuously evolving to aide students in their learning processes, and CoopLearn, a new “study room”-oriented website, is no different. The site, which is still in BETA form, creates an extension of the learning that allows for group discussion and completion of assignments together.
The site, which is still in its infancy, according to creator Bassil Eid, has had great reviews in the short time that it has been fully operating for the general public.
“We first unveiled a prototype of the website in the summer. This was only available to close friends. They tested it and provided a lot of feedback. We then opened it up to the public in September 2012,” said Eid, who emphasized that an operation like this is never fully finished, even when no longer in the BETA format.
“We listen to [the users] and really take in their feedback to improve the website for them. We focus on building a great a product and we believe our users will do the rest.”
In the two short weeks that the site has been fully operating, 80 study rooms have been created and approximately 700 users signed up for the website. Eid has a “build it and they will come” mentality about the site, noting that it is a necessary tool that makes the struggle that secondary education can often become much more bearable.
He utilized this concept as a college student himself. “Not only were we dependent but we also performed much better when we communicated with our friends and classmates about studying for exams and completing assignments…we learned that by going through a tough experience with others who are in the same situation as you, always makes the experience a lot easier.”
Having that person by your side gave many students the confidence to attack their work and feel like they were on the right track. The site brings that both into the 21st century and to a higher level of learning.
The studyrooms are created by students and mimic the physical classrooms patrolled by professors, but allow the communication and tag team assignment completion. A user creates a group, either private or public, of their specific section of a class and uploads materials they possess that pertain to the curriculum. The materials could be a homework assignment thus far, study guides, or, if users are lucky enough, old tests or quizzes. The issue of copyright comes into play, but Eid is one step ahead.
“We make referencing assignments, notes, and past exams mandatory for students on Cooplearn,” said Eid. “If you are to upload something that is not yours, we have a referencing mechanism that you need to fill out.”
This allows the students to have full range of materials to practice with outside of class, thus giving them more confidence in their in-class work and ensuring they know what the material means, thus facilitating more class discussions.
The site contains the capability to promote any type of class with both a math tool bar and image uploads that lends itself to art classes. The site is made better by those that use it not only by their feedback that Eid craves, but also through their participation. The more students that join the site, the more brainpower that can be harnessed to achieve the best grade possible, which will ultimately produce the most effective students.
Saint Rose alumni Kevin Smith utilized the site in his economics course at Hunter College after leaving Saint Rose. He and his friends found the site beneficial and that sentiment seems to be wide ranging among the users. The site is extremely user friendly and completely free so if group work is something you need to do, which is not unlikely at a small school like Saint Rose, sign up and invite your friends to get a studyroom going.
