Students can size up teachers at online rating site
Because of a Web site, students can know what an instructor is like without taking a class. At the end of every semester, students fill out instructor evaluations.
The evaluations give instructors feedback on how they did during the year and what students thought of the class.
The only drawback is that students do not get to see the evaluations.
RateMyProfessors.com gives students the opportunity to see other students’ evaluations of the instructors so they can choose classes accordingly.
John Swapceinski founded RateMyProfessors.com in 1999 to be a resource for students, according to the site.
The site is said to allow students to rate professors and teachers on helpfulness, clarity, easiness and even hotness.
Although the site has been around since 1999, students and teachers did not know it existed.
“I didn’t know about it,” Dallas Diede, sophomore in biological science, said. “I think I would definitely use it.”
Even though some students seem excited about the site, some think otherwise.
“I did know about the site but I have never used it,” Laken Beeler, a junior in business and marketing, said. “I think it would skew the judgment of teachers and how the teach.”
Some of the professors at NDSU think students will find ways to write about teachers even without the site.
“I didn’t know about the site but I am sure if it wasn’t there, the students would put it on the facebook or myspace page,” Carrie Hammer, professor in equine production, said.
The site contains more than 6.3 million comments from students about teachers.
The ratings are based on a 5-point scale and can include anonymous comments from students about how they thought the class went.
The site can be accessed by anyone and can remain anonymous.