One of the most difficult decisions to make about a class is whether you will like the professor or teacher of the class. Often times you have no idea what you are going to get when you sign up for a academic class.
We all hate the teacher description of "Staff." How does one know if a class is going to be hard because the teacher is difficult or the materials are hard to understand. Is the class more participate oriented or is it all reading and memorizing?
Thanks to the web it is easy to find what that class is like and what to expect from the teacher. Just so you can be prepared of what to expect and know what to steer clear of. Here are 2 sites to rate and review teachers or professors and classes offered. Oh, watch those comments, you might just have a tech-savy teacher who might just fire back about your own classroom performance.
RateMyProfessors.com is actually a MTV U site. So expect lots of advertisements. I did like the rating system, rating the campus, rating the professors by department or A-Z listing. Users are able to connect to professors by Facebook, Twitter and through the site. There is a Hot? icon for anyone who thinks the professor is hot. As an example, Jill Gibson, Communication Professor has a Total Rating of 3, Overall Quality of 5.0, Easiness of 3.0 and has a Hot Pepper to her credit.
I have had Professor Gibson in two classes and I would agree with the overall ratings. Ok, I'll give her the Hot Pepper, after all she did birth triplets. Though I disagree with the Easiness rating.
What I did not like about the site was that I had to sign up, new username and password, to make a rating. Since the site is integrating Twitter and Facebook, they should allow the registrant to use my Facebook or Twitter user information. I hate having all these usernames and passwords for sites that I will visit once or twice a year. What I did like about the site was the user ability to add to the page. One could add a picture of a professor and rebut any statements that they may not have agreed with.
ProfessorPerformance.com is setup to be much more serious and unique about the ratings. They include more ratings and even a place to put a grading of the teacher by Knowledge and Ability. According to the site "Students can grade a professor's grasp of a subject and, more importantly, how easily he teaches it to others." This site also is overseen by administrators so there are safeguards slander and libelous statements.
Both students and professors are able to respond to comments or evaluations. The evaluation form is a better experience and much friendlier.
I wonder though how much of the overall grading of the professors gets overshadowed by a students clash with personality, subject matter and desire? Both sites can help students interested in taking the information presented and make a informed decision about the professor and the subject matter to be learned to supplement their studies.
A major drawback though is no reward system for professors that are outstanding? It would be nice if these two sites would participate is some program to get something to outstanding teachers.
Though at AC we have something similar to top teacher, along with a reward, and that is the John C. Mead Award Faculty Excellence Award.
Who do you go to learn about a class and the teacher? Do you rely on advisors or former students of the teacher? Should there be a graded system that allows students to know what to expect from a teacher?
