A new tool used to decide which classes to take has gained the attention of students nationwide at a number of universities that take part in web-based professor-rating systems for those looking to choose a professor that best fits their learning style, based on categories from grades awarded to level of attractiveness.
Two recent graduates of Texas A&M formed the company Pick-A-Prof with the intent of helping students find professors that would best suit their needs. At PickAProf.com, the only website that charges money for students to access professor reviews, students can find a wide array of information from grades the professor has given in the past to previous syllabi to how “cool” the professor was.
While this may seem to be good news to students, some professors have expressed a few problems with this form of evaluation.
RateMyProfessors.com, a similar website that grades professors at a number of colleges, including the University of Wisconsin, even posts some of its more comical evaluations, such as “Emotional scarring may fade away, but that big fat F on your transcript won’t.”
As an added bonus, a red pepper by the professor’s name indicates that students have rated him or her “hot.”
The reviews on Pick-A-Prof “tend to be from students who are really looking for one thing, and that is how we grade,” said Steve Maizlish, associate professor of history at the University of Texas, to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Coincidentally, Pick-A-Prof is the only website that shows the actual grades professors award, which possibly explains why they are able to get away with charging students for their services. Currently, UW-Madison does not pay for this service, but UW- Milwaukee paid $10,000 for a yearlong subscription to the company’s rating service last year.
While Rate-My-Professors does provide reviews for the Madison campus, most professor ratings are based on three to 10 student evaluations; many believe this is not enough information to make an informed decision about a professor.
Some professors criticize such sites, saying students would not benefit due to the sites’ tendency to focus primarily on grading. This criticism may not be relevant in Madison, due to the extremely low number of students that post reviews, but it has severely affected enrollment in classes of numerous University of Texas professors, where Pick-A-Prof was originally released.
Along with various student motives and low ratings numbers that do not always represent all of the students who took the class, other problems arise with these websites. It is possible for anyone to rate the professors on these sites — not solely students. Therefore, an outsider could affect results, whether a self-promoting professor or someone with a personal grudge against a certain professor.
Though the Internet may not offer extremely useful reviews for UW, a similar service that rates courses rather than just the specific professor can be found on the Associated Students of Madison website located at www.asm.wisc.edu.
