A fresh way to complain, praise
RateMyProfessors.com states that it contains information for over one million professors at 6,000 colleges and universities in five countries. It is a free service, and takes a visitor just minutes to find and read comments about a professor, or to rate a professor.
“It gives you a general idea of what the professor is like,” sophomore Andrew Nault says. “I found out that one professor taught the same class in a different way than the other. The overall opinion seemed better for one professor, so I went with that one.”
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(Photo illustration by Abby Robitaille) |
RateMyProfessors.com provides five categories for students to rate their professors: easiness, clarity, quality, helpfulness and hotness, which allows students to grant professors ‘hotness points’ based on the professor’s physical appearance.
When it comes to the content of the comments, one thing is for sure, they are either very positive or very negative, junior John Howard says.
“I use [RateMyProfessors.com] for all my teachers,” he says. “It’s becoming more and more widely used. I even heard somebody talking about it in class just the other day.”
The rise in popularity of RateMyProfessors.com is due in part to its connection with the social networking Web site Facebook.com, Nault says. Students and alumni can gather information from the Web site via Facebook and post comments on their professors through the RateMyProfessors Web site.
A valuable resource?
St. Michael’s psychology professor Jeff Adams says the system of online rating has some value, but has inherited biases that take away from the legitimacy of the information. Most people have been motivated by something, either a very positive or negative experience. Nobody who is impartial will post on these sites, he says.
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A screenshot from RateMyProfessor.com |
Adams admits he knows very little about these Web sites, and has visited RateMyProfessors.com just once, shortly after its inception in 1999.
“From a social science standpoint, the information on these sites is very valid, it gives a full picture,” he says. “You will primarily get individuals who have something very particular to say.”
The problems lie in the anonymity of the Web site, Adams says.
“Would you take advice from a stranger?” Adams asks. “Until you can connect with like-minded students, the helpfulness of these sites only goes so far. You’ll often see that what is working for one student may not be for another.”
Students share a similar opinion, Howard says.
“It seems like people either really had a hard time in class, hated the professor or loved the class and the professor,” he says. “There isn’t a whole lot of in-between. I don’t take the comments too seriously; I wouldn’t avoid a class just because I heard something negative online.”
Student professor evaluations
Professors rely on student feedback to keep the coursework engaging, Adams says.
“Mid-semester I give my students a chance to tell me what they think about the class so far,” he says. “Most professors use their own methods of evaluation.”
In addition to their own evaluation practices, all professors are required to administer self-evaluations to their classes at the end of each semester, Adams says. The school and the professor will take the evaluations into account when planning their future coursework. St. Michael’s uses the Summa system for their evaluations.
“The difference is that RateMyProfessors.com is for students,” Nault says. “Professors have us fill out the Summas, but by the end of the semester it’s too late for them to make any changes. We never get to see the results either. The Summa does nothing for the current student.”
RateMyProfessors.com and PickAProf.com are providing students with information that was previously unavailable. Without such sites students rely on word of mouth to figure out which courses to take, Howard says.
Facebook.com sums up the uses of RateMyProfessors.com perfectly:
“Before you register for class, find out which professor will inspire you, challenge you, or which will just give you the easy A.”