<p>I know students at my D's school not only use ratemyprofessor.com but also a student-generated site specific to their school when deciding which professors to avoid. As an educator, I'm somewhat on the fence about these sites. On the one hand, I recognize there are MANY instructors who are subpar and these sites build in a certain level of accountability. If semester after semester after semester students opt not to enroll in a specific professor's courses, the university will take notice. I think there are many teachers at the college level who might be masters in their content area but have difficulty relaying this knowledge to students; thus, in this realm, I believe these sites to be beneficial. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I'm fearful these sites may be contributing to dumbing-down our youth in that the primary objective for most students is to enroll in the class with the teacher who gives the highest percentage of A's. Yes, it is certainly possible that you can be a FABULOUS teacher and have a large percentage of students with A's, but it's also possible you're simply an easy teacher. When I was in college, my best teachers were often the most challenging who seldom ever gave A's. Could these sites be perpetuating grade inflation? </p>
<p>My D used it as a guide when she first started at school. Many of her teachers were not listed in there–so she knew they were likely junior faculty. but, when she could find profs there, she tried to pick the ones with the highest ratings. Sometimes that didn’t work out due to schedule. For a class that had several different profs teaching the lecture, she could often listen in on the class with the higher rated professor. Often the differences were obvious–more engaging with the students, clearer examples, able to communicate complicated concepts more concisely, etc.</p>
<p>She chose her professor for her freshman writing seminar based on feedback from the site. Turns out he IS a fabulous teacher and has really fosterred an interest in writing for her. She is considering a way to double major in English or minor in creative writing because of how much she loved his class.</p>
<p>I think if students use it as a guide it can be helpful. It should not be any more than that. She had a low rated prof for another class. 38% of the students in the classs failed–these are not dumb kids. I can understand 10-15% failing, but that many indicates that the material is not being effectively taught for a larger percentage of the class. That was reflected in the low rating that previous students had supplied.</p>
<p>We always read with a critical eye. We looked for comments regarding clarity of teaching the material, willingness to help a student, etc. The more comments there are, the better a picture you can get. It is fairly easy to tell which students just wanted the easy way out and which are trying to get an education. Even my H’s ratings run from “tests are easy if you study” to “tests are way too hard”. We found them useful in choosing profs if you read between the lines. And some were quite accurate, both good and bad.</p>
<p>It’s great, helps you avoid bad professors. Although eventually it doesn’t matter because more advanced courses will have just one section so you’ll need to have a certain professor no matter what.</p>
<p>Having read reviews of 3 professors I know ( 2 family members and 1 very close friend), I really was not surpised by the reviews, knowing the personalities/personal interactions i have had with them over the years. Two had high marks(things like one of best ever, helpful-one at highly ranked private, the other at lowered ranked private), the third one at a very highly ranked private-things like he knows his stuff but is one of the most condescending, difficult professors I have ever had . This mirrors the way this guy can be in his personal life. Love him as he is related by marriage but can be difficult. The students I’m sure do not see his softer side!</p>
<p>I think it can help identify professors to stay away from if you have a choice, and perhaps sensitize you to particular characteristics it would be good to know about before starting the class.</p>
<p>My D is pretty careful to read all the reviews, and not take the ranking too seriously when only a few students have done reviews. She also is on the lookout for students who are just whining because they got a bad grade that was probably their own fault. She has had great success with it, and been very happy with her profs (and now as a junior, says it is clear that it helped her avoid a few bad apples that she wouldn’t have recognized her freshman year because she didn’t know any older students who could warn her).</p>
<p>I don’t think students are looking for easy profs. I think they are using those sorts of sites to get a sense of which profs are the best overall, and which are good matches for their learning style. Of course some students might avoid profs who are reputed to be tough graders, but I think the focus is more on fairness in grading – and you can find many reviews that rave about professors but warn that the workload is high in their classes. </p>
<p>For example, here’s what a student wrote about a prof that my d. took a class from as a sophomore:</p>
<p>“Amazingly good, super interesting - very hard, tons of reading, tough grader…”</p>
<p>I’d think that review is going to attract more student than it deters. </p>
<p>I do think that it is the nature of review sites that only students who are strongly moved one way or another are going to bother to post, and those who are feeling frustrated and angry and want to vent are a little more likely to post than those who feel positively. So if there was only one review, one way or another, I’d take it with a grain of salt. But when you see several, especially when they are accrued over time from different years --if they are consistent, then there’s probably some truth to the comments. </p>
<p>I don’t teach and I understand why a prof who works very hard to prepare for his/her classes would feel hurt and disappointed to read a negative review. However, the value of criticism is that it provides information that can be used to improve. For example, if a a prof. reads that students find the lectures boring and monotonous, the prof might try to think of ways to engage the students more, an in so doing, become a better teacher overall.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that these are mostly 18-20 year old HS grads rating much older ( at least 10 yrs and most likely more) professors with PHD’s.</p>
<p>I went to the sight of the school I work at after reading this thread. I went through the alphabet and read about many faculty I know and many in my department. </p>
<p>Most students seem to rank a teacher high if they are nice, easy and entertaining. I think these rankings are only worth a darn if the student says they learned a lot regardless of their grade or how entertaining or nice the professor was.</p>
<p>My H is a professor. He teaches a limited number of courses. If you want to take the introductory course and you don’t like his ratemyprofessor comments, you could wait a year. Other things, he’s the only guy who ever teaches it. If you want to take the course, you don’t have a choice.</p>
<p>Maybe it makes a difference at very large schools with large departments at the introductory level. Beyond that, not so much.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your job is to engage those 18-20 year olds. If they are so bored that they are falling asleep in your class, or if they find your lectures obtuse and can’t gasp the material … then you aren’t doing your job, at least on the teaching end. (Though of course it’s quite possible that you are doing a wonderful job on the writing/research end). </p>
<p>But the 18-20 year old HS grads are your clientele. When it comes to the quality of teaching, their opinions count – it doesn’t matter if the prof is age 36 or 60.</p>
<p>Re post #12. Sometimes smart students will change their majors if the profs in a particular department are generally poor, as compared to the profs in a different dept. I did. </p>
<p>I don’t think many students would base that decision on reviews – but if a student were already feeling disenchanted after taking a few introductory courses, I could see where the lack of good reviews overall would be the type of information to help confirm the decision to opt for a different major. On the other hand, if the review site revealed that there were some top-notch profs teaching more advanced courses, that might be enough incentive to stay the course.</p>
<p>Any CC parents here are profs? If you are, have you read how yout students rated you? It’s really fun. (could make you mad, but hey it’s not affecting your promotion!) I know my students really look at it before they choose their classes. I wish such thing existed when I was a student. :)</p>
<p>I’d add that as former tuition-paying parent, I think my kids are entitled to have capable, engaging profs who are knowledgeable about their subject, treat my kids with respect, and are are strong communicators as well as kind and friendly people who are willing to help and answer questions when needed. When schools charge $30-40K/year tuition, it leads to an expectation among students and parents alike that they will get their money’s worth in the classroom.</p>
<p>It most certainly can affect promotion, contract renewal (or not), or granting of tenure. It can also affect your chances of being hired at another institution. College administrators read the reviews.</p>
<p>As a parent, one of whose daughters received maximum financial aid at an elegant school, I don’t think the issue should be whether a parent paid any, a little, or a lot out of pocket, in determining whether a student should get his or her “money’s worth” via quality, engaging instruction. I think it comes with enrollment at any institution of higher ed, and that would include state schools, given the amount of Ph.D. talent available.</p>
<p>College profs should be at least as good at the art of instruction as the very best high school teachers. Don’t want to teach? Do something else with your terminal degree. There are lots of policy positions and many other kinds of well-paid employment after the doctoral degree.</p>
<p>All that said, I know that prof reviews and other teacher reviews by students can indeed affect re-hiring. Given that reviewers are not 100% of the class(es), I wouldn’t think it fair if a website provided disproportionate input into that rehiring. (Ones my daughter visited as a freshman had sparse participation, with most profs not reviewed at all.) Unfortunately, she did happen to choose a prof for one course, the subject of which I loved at my own Alma Mater, and the prof was so disappointing and ‘over-the-heads’ of the students, with pretentiously theoretical language, that it may have turned her off from the subject forever. There’s no excuse for that. She and I both felt that perhaps the prof got his job through some connection; he was young and his lectures were incomprehensible.</p>