| Show 1 j i Students rate professors online Jennifer Kranwinkle Contributing Writer With every new semester more students at are logging on at The started in 1999 serves as an outlet for students to leave comments about their professors for other students to read Once a student logs onto the and finds their school they then scroll through a list of their professors professors professors pro pro- in alphabetical order find the professor they wish to rate and rate their professors professor's teaching quality as aswell aswell aswell well as their hotness The also has an open fo forum um link with questions like the worst comment you have ever heard a professor make Students can leave their own stories and read the stories of others Every semester millions of students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents use the site to help plan their class schedules and improve the quality of their educations said the site sites site's s president and founder John When word of the gets out at a university the ratings grow like wildfire and students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents really begin to benefit from the information Today the holds over 5 million ratings and receives thousands thousands thousands thou thou- sands more each day Right now there are professors being rated from different schools across the United States and Canada We firmly believe in brand recognition recognition recognition and simplicity will remain a afree afree afree free service to our users said CEO Will DeSantis Our company's company's company's com com- pany's goal is to make more helpful and visible than ever has yet to reach its pinnacle weve we've merely scratched the surface Currently there are professors represented on the site from While the site is ridiculously popular with students university administrators tors and professors are finding it neither neither neither nei nei- ther funny nor instructive By and large is un unmentionable men men- perspective on in Professors get graded professors and andu u university n i v e r sit Y how well they administrations teach however h wever Good quality Q Poor quality lions said some of the f Average quality Hot K Ken Kenneth e n n net e t h c com comments o m m men e n t s a s see seemed e e m e d s sociology 0 C I 0 log y professor at the University of Waterloo who completed a study of the rating site last year Many professors wont won't even admit that they look at their ratings on the wrote Joanna Glasner of Wired News Sept 29 2005 When asked about her take on the Dr Shirley Jones professor at said My problem is with the inadequate sample and the propensity of disgruntled students to unload There is the danger of some real misrepresentation There should be a better way to access information about a professor The college doesn't provide one so in this www freewheeling freewheeling freewheeling free free- wheeling world why not The does give students a biased said Art Kanehara professor of communication communication communication cation at I think this is a fun idea but I 1 doubt any scientific investigation could validate it at least for a couple of reasons said Professor Jay Williams First the criteria of what each of the criteria are not detailed enough for participants to use very well and second most who participate participate participate pate will be those who are really mad about something or wildly supportive of a particular professor This kind of ofa a survey tells you something but youre you're never quite sure what he added Still Williams suggests that he dismiss everything found on the site I think I would talk to some students I knew to see if they agreed he said Its hard to get getgood getgood go good d input and any I got I would try to use to improve what I was doing I think the idea is okay said Eric Erie Green instructor of Biology Students are paying for their education education education tion so they should be able to research what they're buying I think thinka a student could get a much better sense of how they like a teacher by sitting in on one of their classes the semester before they are considering taking a class from that teacher I dont don't want to know other students students stu stu- stu- stu dents interpretations of the sors I prefer to make my own judgments judgments judgments judg judg- ments said Jeff Fail student at It doesn't matter in what form it i is in students will always gossip about the professors as long as there is such a thing as students and pro pro- |
