Give your teacher the grade
Brian Short
Issue date: 7/1/09 Section: Campus
Would you like the chance to tell your professor what you really think of him or her? Now you can.
RateMyProfessors.com, Rateaprof.com, Pickaprof.com, even popular sites such as Myspace and Facebook give students the ability to post opinions of their professors. Students are then able to access the information and get a preview of their potential professor.
"It gives you a good idea of what to expect," said Mike Martin, Occupational Therapy major at SLCC.
Martin used the site a few times to check up on professors before registering for classes. He used the site Rateaprof.com, a site with the motto, "Giving professors what they deserve…"
"It was an okay site, but a lot of professors aren't rated at our school," said Martin.
Since these sites only post a professor after being added by a student, some reviews may be hard to find.
Martin himself had never posted a comment, but planned to in the future.
"I think I will if any of my teachers aren't good," said Martin, "If they don't help the students learn, I'll make sure people know about it.
Students can post positive or negative comments, but some students worry that only negative comments get posted. This makes some students wary of using the site.
"I looked at it [pickaprofessor.com], but I've never used it," said Mike Lindsey, business major at SLCC.
Lindsey would rather use other sources to find the classes that are right for him.
"I just asked a friend how the teacher was," said Lindsey. He believes that a friend is more reliable, rather than an opinion posted by an online source.
Lindsey said that last semester he took classes that fit into his schedule, and didn't worry about the professor reviews posted online.
"If a teacher did have a really bad class and the teacher was horrible the first day, I would strongly think about changing classes," said Lindsey.
However, Lindsey thinks it is really important to consider the source, and he isn't the only one. Tiffany Rousculp, part of the English department faculty at SLCC, also agrees.
"You do not have to be a student," said Rousculp. "There is no control over who posts."
"It's great for students to have a place to speak out positively and critically," said Rousculp. "But all responses should be taken with a grain of salt."
She also believes that the professors could benefit from reading and taking the posted comments into consideration.
If a student seems to be just ranting, on Ratemyprofessor.com professors can post a rebuttal. This helps the site become more credible, because it shows both sides of the issue.
Ratemyprofessors.com boasted, "Over 6,000 schools, 1 million professors, 8 million opinions." This site has 856 professors posted for SLCC. The site gives students the ability to rate professors on a scale from smiley to frown displays the average scores of quality and ease, and gives the professor a chili pepper icon if they are attractive.
RateMyProfessors.com, Rateaprof.com, Pickaprof.com, even popular sites such as Myspace and Facebook give students the ability to post opinions of their professors. Students are then able to access the information and get a preview of their potential professor.
"It gives you a good idea of what to expect," said Mike Martin, Occupational Therapy major at SLCC.
Martin used the site a few times to check up on professors before registering for classes. He used the site Rateaprof.com, a site with the motto, "Giving professors what they deserve…"
"It was an okay site, but a lot of professors aren't rated at our school," said Martin.
Since these sites only post a professor after being added by a student, some reviews may be hard to find.
Martin himself had never posted a comment, but planned to in the future.
"I think I will if any of my teachers aren't good," said Martin, "If they don't help the students learn, I'll make sure people know about it.
Students can post positive or negative comments, but some students worry that only negative comments get posted. This makes some students wary of using the site.
"I looked at it [pickaprofessor.com], but I've never used it," said Mike Lindsey, business major at SLCC.
Lindsey would rather use other sources to find the classes that are right for him.
"I just asked a friend how the teacher was," said Lindsey. He believes that a friend is more reliable, rather than an opinion posted by an online source.
Lindsey said that last semester he took classes that fit into his schedule, and didn't worry about the professor reviews posted online.
"If a teacher did have a really bad class and the teacher was horrible the first day, I would strongly think about changing classes," said Lindsey.
However, Lindsey thinks it is really important to consider the source, and he isn't the only one. Tiffany Rousculp, part of the English department faculty at SLCC, also agrees.
"You do not have to be a student," said Rousculp. "There is no control over who posts."
"It's great for students to have a place to speak out positively and critically," said Rousculp. "But all responses should be taken with a grain of salt."
She also believes that the professors could benefit from reading and taking the posted comments into consideration.
If a student seems to be just ranting, on Ratemyprofessor.com professors can post a rebuttal. This helps the site become more credible, because it shows both sides of the issue.
Ratemyprofessors.com boasted, "Over 6,000 schools, 1 million professors, 8 million opinions." This site has 856 professors posted for SLCC. The site gives students the ability to rate professors on a scale from smiley to frown displays the average scores of quality and ease, and gives the professor a chili pepper icon if they are attractive.
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