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Show fODMUEVI 6 at hand, you always know There is always someone out there who is trying to make education fun and hip. You might remember the elementary school teachers who made you rap the Presidents, the professor who called Zeus a "Pimp Daddy," or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, which taught us all about some famous dead dudes. Now, leave it to the techs at Sparknotes to deliver educational material straight to your iPod or cellphone. It you are too lazy or pressed for time to read something for class, you could go to the bookstore and get some Cliff Notes, go online and read it or now you have the possibility of reading them via your favorite electronic device. While some may view this an a convenience, it is heavily disputed by most professors because it enables students to cheat during class. The iPod downloads are full text documents that give your rights. He believes that having such documents readily available could be beneficial to students, and encourage them to study by having academic documents more accessible. But even he agreed that the text messages were an abuse of electronics. "It would be the same as texting a friend and asking for an answer on a test," he said. Yes it would, but this would be a friend with a huge database of virtually unlimited resources, and the capability to respond within seconds. , you a chapter by chapter synopsis of the book of your choice. They contain all of the same information as the online and print versions, but the portability of the iPod makes this method of learning a bit controversial. Text messages, however, take it to the next level. Unlike the iPod notes, which give you a summary of the book, you can get text messages on special topics, such as characters in a novel. You simply send a text message to the Sparknotes email address, type in some keywords in the body of the text message, and then seconds later you receive a response from Sparknotes, giving you details about the keywords. The results are instant, which sparks up the argument that Sparknotes promote cheating. Michael Acord, a senior at Westminster, said, I like Sparknotes, but this is a little iffy. I think it encourages cheating, especially in tests. Acord points out that most students carry cell phones to class, and they would thus have the means to send a message to Sparknotes during a test if they don't know an answer. A history student dis- agreed. In theory, it could help you with cheating, but if you always have a copy of the Bill of Rights It seemed too good to be true; answers would be delivered to my phone in a matter of seconds. I decided to give it a try, and sure enough, 20 seconds had barely lapsed when I received a reply from Sparknotes, referring me to their Web site. It turns out that some phones are not compatible with their software (including mine). I used a friend's phone, and received a detailed summary of the character of Jay Gatsby. As much as I want to hate Sparknotes, I found that when I uploaded the Declaration of Indepen (kutuaxy dence to my iPod, it came with an audio version of the file, which is kind of cool. If you are feeling extra lazy, Sparknotes will read the summary of your required book to you. This could also be a great resource for the visually impaired. The normal Sparknotes downloads are $4.95 each, but there are ten U.S. documents, such as the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, that are available for free. The text message service is free, but normal text messaging charges apply. t, 2006 |