Students aren’t just discussing professors and their classes in the college’s halls anymore, they’re taking their opinions online.
Rate My Professor, a website which allows students to rate professors at their college on a scale of 1 to 5, is becoming a popular resource for students.
Students not only have the option of rating their professors, they also get to rate their campus.
The site currently has 253 MCCC professors available for rating. Of those, students have posted opinions on 223 professors, with a grand total of 1,603 ratings.
MCCC itself has an overall rating of 4.0 with a 4.8 student happiness rating
Ratings of professors are available in a variety of areas, such as easiness or clarity. The rating for the school is derived from fields such the reputation or the general atmosphere of the campus.
Students aren’t the only ones aware of the site; professors have started logging on to see what their students have to say about them.
Dr. William McCloskey is an assistant professor of English at the college. McCloskey’s classes encompass a wide spectrum of subjects, ranging from basic English Compositon classes to more advanced literature classes, such as British Lit or Shakespeare.
McCloskey to date has a total of 15 ratings with an overall quality rating of 5.0. The overall quality rating consists of his 5.0 helpfulness rating and the 4.9 clarity rating.
He said he is pleased with his rating and does his best to make his classes interesting.
“I try to tell the stories. I try to make them follow the material. I try to make it seem real,” McCloskey said.
Aleksandr Martinez, one of McCloskey’s students this semester, endorses McCloskey’s rating.
“I would highly recommend every student take a class with McCloskey as the professor. He is amazing with his lectures,” Martinez said.
Professor John Kuriwchak teaches CIS-130: Introduction to Computer Information Systems. He has five ratings, for an overall quality rating of 4.8.
Kuriwchak sees Rate My Professor as a helpful tool for students to use.
“I like it — gives me ideas to keep improving the class,” Kuriwchak said.
Ryan Smith has been using the website since spring 2011 and finds it to be a useful resource.
“I think the site is beneficial to students because no one likes a bad professor. You learn more with someone you like,” Smith said.
After signing up for a class, Smith usually checks the professor’s score to make sure he finds the professor best suited to him.
Shana Kritzer is a student who is no stranger to the website. She has been using it since starting at MCCC two years ago.
“I think it helps me choose a professor who will suit my needs. I learn so much more from a professor who has a teaching style I understand,” Kritzer said.
Smith and Kritzer recommend students use Rate My Professor.
“It can save you time, money and a lot of headaches,” Kritzer said.
There appears to be about the same number of students who have heard about the website and use it as there are students who have not heard of it or don’t use it.
Many students who don’t use the website are swamped with projects and assignments, or worried about making sure they get every source right to get a good grade, making it difficult to find time to check out the site.
Many students just revert to the word-of-mouth method of checking out professors. They turn to a fellow classmate to get their view of a certain professor.
Joyceelaine Cutliff is a student who sticks to the word-of-mouth method.
“Word of mouth tends to be more useful,” Cutliff said.
But when it comes to word-of-mouth versus using the website, MCCC student Kris Lampson worries about the permanence of the Web site ratings.
“Word of mouth can easily change, from having a student change their mind about a professor at the last moment,” Lampson said.
“Something on the website is permanent and never changes,” he said.
Another reason students may not know that Rate My Professor exists could be the fact that it is not linked on the college website.
Cutliff argues against linking Rate My Professor from the college site.
“Most students I know hardly ever access the school website,” Cutliff said.
Lampson thinks a link from the college site could generate more users and professor reviews.
