Only 2 percent of respondents in a Harris poll changed physicians based on online ratings. I have yet to find anyone who made a course choice based on sites like RateMyProfessors.com. Word of mouth, which often occurs through social networking, is much more frequently used than these rating sites for locating professors, doctors, and other professionals.
For many professions, there is no centralized feedback mechanism other than rating sites, however faculty at most schools are rated in end-of-course evaluations. They are well-designed surveys administered in a rigorous manner, typically anonymous, although I’m sure I’m not the only one who guessed who authored a comment or gave me a rating.
Clark Quinn told me that when he was a student at UCSD, they used Course And Professor Evaluations (CAPE), which was student-run but mentored. It was used by students and promotion committees alike (though the latter wasn’t official). In contrast, sites like RateMyProfessors do not have systematic data collection; while they get quantitative data, it’s not likely to be thorough and consequently the validity is questionable.
Some further arguments against professor evaluation websites include that students are “more likely to post if they have either a very positive or very negative experience” even to the point of using it for “revenge for a bad grade” and that the people posting are not necessarily students. The arguments for the sites include that they empower students and that they hold professors more accountable.
Curious about the rating sites, I looked to see if any of my friends were listed. A few were and most of feedback was extreme. This is typical of many review sites, where the impetus to contribute is having a fantastic or a horrible experience. I was surprised to find a category on RateMyProfessors.com for how “hot” a professor is. While it did not seem to be widely used, I have trouble understanding the relevance to course selection.
I wonder if the students who use these find the traditional feedback mechanisms schools offer inadequate in some way. And I am curious if these sites, which do not seem to be heavily used given the number of reviews most schools have, will die out or will evolve. Recommendations for professionals happen fluidly between people when there is an opportunity for questioning and clarification, not just a few lines of text. eBay has added additional categories for rating each transaction to refine and make feedback more useful. If faculty rating sites similarly evolve, I can think of new categories to add such as how well the rater did in the course to determine if the review is based on payback.
Always surprising me with your posts, as usual and as you always do.
First of all, What I am going to say right now is the result of a real experience. I have not heard about http://www.ratemyprofessors.com before I attended a seminar that is conducted by one of the most famous Egyptian/American Professors, so many of us attended that day (us = Faculty members, and peoples who are interested). We concluded an opinion of the lecture (based on our attendance), and I was really shocked. In the beginning, I thought this is because it is a seminar and of course that is not the case during lectures. I could not find anyone to ask that question but http://www.ratemyprofessors.com
Ok, so Rating Professors is a great tool that gives students the space to express themselves and share ideas about their professors. BUT, when I thought about implementing it in my faculty, I was told directly to (stop the hassle). Professors cannot believe the idea of giving students the space to rate them. Professors tend to think about professors as (not qualified) to express the truth or taking revenge (as a result of bad grades), and of course that was the end of the experience.
Professors Rating Tools will last or not? a real tough question to answer, because answering such a question depends on many different factors. From my point of view, it will expand much more than it is right now. With the evolution of online learning, online rating will be much more important.
Sorry for the long comment, But I really couldn’t help it
I wonder if there are other rating systems that provide feedback in a more meaningful and useful way? Certainly the feedback I get from my students at Tufts is very helpful, but it is through internal surveying, not a public website.
I used ratemyprofessors.com at Penn State University because I felt as a student, my experiences and opinions about courses never got past the bubbled sheets we had to fill in at the end of the semester (prior to grades). As a teacher myself, I would want to know how my students felt about their learning experiences and I think ratemyprofessor.com is a step in the right direction. Of course you will have students who post out of revenge, but if given the opportunity to back-up their ratings with comments, I think these sites can really help professors improve their courses. Also, it can help learners choose a specific professor for a course based on their individual learning styles as opposed to simple random selection.
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