Penn State students who need help keeping up with courses recently gained access to a new Web feature called NoteSwap.com.

Ryan Grush, a Louisiana State University (LSU) junior, and Daniel Patterson, a recent graduate of LSU in computer science, teamed up last November to create NoteSwap.com after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, when many students were unable to attend class or missed the first few weeks of class.

"This Web site is not meant to substitute the classroom, but rather become a virtual classroom," Grush said. "We are trying to help those students who go to class on a regular basis but for some reason had to miss a day, or even if they just want to compare their notes to other students."

NoteSwap.com is based on a point system in which students gain points by posting their notes online, and these points are needed to see other students' notes, Chandler Cherco, LSU senior and public relations manager for NoteSwap.com, said.

Tom Matis, owner of Nittany Notes, 234 E. College Ave., said he does not believe NoteSwap.com will significantly affect his business.

"We have a definite outline style, and we require a lot to be put into the notes in order to make it easier for the students to study," Matis said. "We also have a lot more quality control."

With NoteSwap.com, the students will be unsure of the quality of the notes and where they came from, Matis added.

"We add a lot of additional features, such as practice tests, which gives our notes more value," Matis said. "Plus, all of our note-takers for the past five or six years have had an average G.P.A. of 3.5 or higher."

NoteSwap.com also offers professor ratings, user profiles, message boards and a note-rating feature. A book-rating feature may be added in the future, Cherco said.

"We are trying to offer a wide range of communication on the site for the students to discuss their different classes," Grush said.

NoteSwap.com currently features about 30 universities, including Penn State, but Cherco said they hope to expand to more than 80 universities.

"You only need a college account and password to log on free of charge," Cherco said. "We are really hoping to provide more schools with this unique site."

Grush added that the site has been successful so far and has about 4,000 users.

"We are hoping that when it catches on, it will snowball and become the academic counterpart to Facebook," Grush said.