Thursday, March 28, 2024

Web site ratings help students choose instructor

February 15, 2001

Students relying on chance or hearsay when picking professors now have more technological options.

MSU.WeGrade.com, GradeYourProf.com and TeacherRatings.com. are just a click away for those seeking guidance on choosing the right instructor.

MSU.WeGrade.com, designed by MSU alumna Lupe Brown, is exclusively for MSU students. The site offers the opportunity for students to grade professors on the 4.0 grading scale, rate them from one to 10 and comment on professors.

For some, the technology is a godsend.

Melissa Konal said being able to read professor ratings online would help her weed out dull teachers.

“I’d use the site because it gives an actual account of what students think of their professors,” the marketing junior said.

“The students are more likely to be honest about a boring teacher when it’s on their own time.”

TeacherRatings.com’s goal is to be a valuable resource by helping students get through their college careers with minimum pain. The site has 12,967 ratings for 3,876 professors at 419 universities.

MSU students have nearly 285 ratings of 101 professors.

Although the university has its own professor evaluation system, the Student Instruction Ratings System (SIRS), the forms are not available online yet. The online evaluations may be available at the end of fall semester 2001.

Math Professor Clifford Weil ,who received a 3.8 overall rating from MSU students who visited TeacherRatings.com, likes the idea of the site but believes it isn’t necessarily the best way for students to get information about a professor.

“Any way a student can get meaningful information about a professor, be it voluntary or otherwise, is good,” Weil said. “Students might not get a good cross section (from TeacherRatings.com). More students, if not all, fill out the SIRS forms and it’s probably a better way to rate professors.”

TeacherRatings.com rates professors on a scale from one to five, on easiness, friendliness, clarity and overall quality.

Bright yellow smiley faces accompany the names of professors with good ratings while light blue frowning faces are beside those with not so good ratings.

Some students say the sites may be a good resource.

“Although I’ve never logged on to any of the Web sites, they’re a valuable tool for students to use when selecting a course,” criminal justice junior Zachary Keen said.

Psychology Professor George Paulus received a smiley face with one of the highest overall rankings of 4.5 from TeacherRatings.com but scored low at MSU.WeGrade.com.

Paulus said he wants students to use the new online rating systems as a stepping stone to more accurate information.

“Students should use this and other surveys alike to in-depthly study the quality of the information they’re getting,” he said. “Hopefully, students will use TeacherRatings.com as a significant contributor.”

Discussion

Share and discuss “Web site ratings help students choose instructor” on social media.