RateMyProfessors.com seen as a tool by students, instructors

By Caroline M. Echols, News Writing Student

For students wanting for a preview of a professor or class they plan to enroll in, www.RateMyProfessors.com can provide that service.

The site, which includes more than 600 OCCC professors, allows students to post a review rating on the performance of instructors. The reviews are based on easiness, helpfulness and clarity.

A yellow smiley face is given to those who rate above a 4. A green expressionless face is for those receiving a ranking between 3 and 4, and a blue sad face represents any rating below a 3.

An overall quality rating also is posted. The quality rating is determined by averaging all of the scores.

In addition to the rating system, students can post comments about their experiences with professors without having to register with the site.

Student thoughts

Allyce Cover, sophomore, said she used Rate My Professors when selecting her class this semester.

She said she heard about the website from another student who was talking about it in class.

Cover said she would recommend the site to other students.

“The majority of the comments left on the website were actually accurate,” she said. “I looked at professors from my past semesters, because I had a really bad biology professor last semester and found that he had really bad ratings.

“Several other people besides me were having problems with this professor as well. That helps, because now I don’t think it was just me.”

Students who may be thinking of leaving overly critical feedback over a professor on the site should be aware that professors have the right to respond.

Rate My Professors gives professors the option to leave a rebuttal to the reviews students leave.

Another student said he used the website when enrolling to ensure he didn’t take on too heavy a workload.

Carl Freemont, freshman, said he uses Rate My Professors over its competitor, www.pickaprof.com, because it’s more user friendly.

“(I like it because) I don’t have to create an account with Rate My Professors,” he said.

Students also can rate whether the instructors are “hot” or not.

Many students said they did not care about the “hot” option because it does not help students choose a good instructor.

“It doesn’t matter whether they’re hot or not, as long as they’re a good teacher,” said Angela Boyd, freshman.

Professor’s respond

Students are not the only ones with opinions about the professor rating site. Professors have some thoughts too.

One professor has undergone an attitude change about the website.

Melinda Barr, history professor, said she believes that, for the most part, the reviews left by students about her were fair and accurate.

She said she has made adjustments to her classes based on student responses and feedback.

“You know, I have tweaked my class requirements or teaching style here and there (because of the site),” Barr said. “Just as I do from the comments made by the students on the paper evaluation forms filled out in class.”

She said she hasn’t left any rebuttals to comments students have made, but she has had to have a couple of the comments removed from the site.

Barr said she sent an e-mail to Rate My Professors describing why she found certain comments inappropriate and the site removed them.

“Before that experience, I had a very negative opinion,” she said. “And now that I realize that I do have some recourse regarding what is said about me, I do encourage students to go and look at that site.”

Barr currently has an overall rating of 4.7 from 29 total reviews.

Barr learned what many professors do not know — they are not defenseless when it comes to the reviews left on the site.

In addition to responding to comments, professors can have comments removed from the site if they deem them inappropriate.

James Rose, social sciences professor, said he likes the site.

Rose has a 4.8 overall rating from 23 reviews.

He said he believes students should do their homework before enrolling in a class.

“Students should have a good idea about what that class is and what the expectations for that class will be,” Rose said.

He said at the beginning of the semester, he will ask his class who has looked him up on the site.

That show of hands tells him what kind of students he has, he said.

“It tells me they take initiative to gather information on their own to make decisions,” Rose said. “That’s a sign of a good student trying to make good decisions based on data.

“When we don’t have enough data, that’s when we make bad decisions.”

Discretion advised

Josh Hammers, adjunct professor in the Arts and Humanities Division, said students should not assume everything they read on the site is true.

“While I believe that students should gather information about courses and instructors prior to enrolling, I would caution them to the anonymous nature of many comments and reviews on Rate My Professors,” Hammers said.

“Anonymous comments are not necessarily inaccurate, but I believe students can gather the most useful information about courses and instructors by asking friends and trusted acquaintances who have previous experiences with the course or the instructor.”

On the site, Hammers has a 4.4 rating from 9 reviews.

Some students expressed similar feelings of caution.

Leslie Rogers, sophomore, said although she took a look at the website before enrolling in her classes this spring, she only used the ratings as a rough guide.

“I don’t put much stock into what students say about the professors personally,” Rogers said. “Most of the negative comments come from lazy people who weren’t willing to work for their grade and then got mad when they got a bad one.

“I mainly use it to find out what kind of workload I can expect from certain professors.”

Hallie Chambers, business major, said she uses Rate My Professors, but she relies on her friends for the bulk of her information.

“I normally try to find some friends who can give me their opinions and experiences about their past professors (when enrolling in classes),” Chambers said. “I use RateMyProfessor.com to find information, but you have to remember it’s probably not 100 percent trustworthy since it’s based on anonymous reviews.

“But if you’re going to use it, you should remember to take all the comments into consideration, not just one or two.”