If you've been to college, you know the dangers of selecting random professors. Everyone seems to have at least one horror story about a course, and dead center can be found----The Evil Professor !!! Since I'm in a local community two year el-cheapo college, the traditional method of asking around has limits, there's less of a rumor mill. So I turn to the problem solver of the 21st century, the internet. Ratemyprofessors.com allows students to post thoughts about their professors anonymously. It's pretty accurate if you keep a couple of rules in mind. First, posts with atrocious grammar/spelling usually reflect the poster's intelligence. A great number of these posts are negative, presumably in revenge for a deservedly poor grade received by the disgruntled student. Second, posts with details such as "tests for material not covered" are much more valuable. If you can wade through all the ranting, you can find valuable information, and an occasional witty comment that will make you laugh. (My all time favorite: "If you take his class, you'll need a pillow. Your pillow will need a pillow.")
As you might expect, most professors have a contrary view of ratemyprofessors.com. So in response, someone launched a blog, Rate Your Students. I think it started off as a place for venting responses to student posts on what professors call The Site That Is Not To Be Named. Now it's expanded to include tales of archetypal professoring moments like busting insanely stupid plagiarism . Since I sit next to some of these students, I don't find such stories particularly shocking. I hate to sound old, but kids nowadays are something else.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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7 comments:
I love the plagiarism article! That's too funny. Yeah, it's a sad world these days.
Reading the ratings reminds me of a lot of the product reviews out there. I try to read the through and through to get a sense of what folks are saying about a particular product. I also try to discern what the most-common complaints are, and decide if they are applicable. "It's too heavy to carry around" isn't really valid to me if I KNOW that the item is going to sit on a shelf. I think the same thing can apply to professors, depending on the comments.
Funny stories :D I guess I remember the old rating process back in the days when we had to stand in line to register for a class. Somewhere on a wall was posted what classes were still open with the names of the profs. As we were in line everyone would exhange info like "Don't take her, she's a bitch! Take him, he's easy". And then finally that crushing feeling when you finally got to register and the easy guy's class was closed so you had to take the bitch.
That plagiarism story was hilarious! Good for the teachers, they should be able to vent too!
I think ratemyprofessors is useful, but like Eric said, you evaluate the comments and the people who post them before making a call. There are a lot of dumbass students out there!
I just got back from my bio lecture, the professor ASKED us to rate him on ratemyprofessor.com. It was rather shocking, but on second thought, it makes sense. Everyone uses it, so asking students to rate you would mean more accuracy. The comments wouldn't be dominated by stupid/lazy students with an axe to grind. There'd be more ratings from regular students.
So it's not so much that my professor feels secure, it's because he realizes he can tilt the ratings in his favor by asking. Oh, these science types are smart!
This post made me look up my graphics design professor, who I happen to know was still teaching, but is now in CA.
When she taught at Montevallo, even there, she was an interesting sort. She was from New York, wore her hair dyed very peroxide blonde, wore big, funky glasses, and was VERY blunt (as only New Yorkers can be).
She was very exacting in her demands on us. This was called "Commercial Art" at the time, rather than "Graphic Design." And she made sure to point out to us the emphasis on "commercial." She reminded us that we are there to create work that pleases a customer, not ourselves. Ideally, it would please both, but the final say on what gets chosen rests with the client.
Several people did not like her because of her blunt ways of telling us our work needed revising, or just plain sucked. But I don't think she was being blunt for bluntness' sake. She was preparing us for the real world.
She was very strict about being to class on time, totally prepared especially with the minutiae of the assignments she gave us. At the time, I thought some of it was a bit of overkill, but through all of these years of work, everything she taught us has shown up in the real world, and usually to an even more brutal degree.
Anyway, I checked her rating, and apparently, she still up to her old tricks. It was interesting to see how about half of the students realized that she is preparing them for the real world they will face, and about half just bitched about how blunt she is.
I can guess which half will be successful designers. :)
Dang it, I'm logged on as Jane. That was posted by Cheryl.
Great story, Janeryl.
It cracks me up when the 19 year olds complain about some perceived unfairness, like how they don't get extra time to turn in a paper even though their BFF's birthday is next week. Fortunately, a fair number of the kids around me work, so they have *some* concept of what real work entails.
It scares me that some people only get their first job after finishing college. That must be a hell of a shock.
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