Survey looks at impact of professor-rating Web sites

By Julie Gollihue IC Staff Writer

The results from a recent survey done by Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions showed some college students choose classes based on the "easy grading reputation of a professor."

According to the results, out of the 1,229 college students and recent graduates who were surveyed, 45 percent were influenced by comments from online professor-rating Web sites that labeled professors as "easy graders." Common Web sites students use to rate their professors include RateMyProfessor.com and PickMyProf.com

Jeff Olson, vice president of research at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, said students choosing professors who are labeled as "lenient graders" may be contributing to grade inflation.

According to research done by Cornell University, the average college grade point average rose from 2.93 in 1991 to 3.11 in 2006.

"The question is, did people get smarter, or is something else going on," Olson said.

According to Olson, Web sites that rank university professors are used by students all across the country and have a heavy influence on students' decisions when they are choosing future courses.

Of the 1,229 students who participated in the Kaplan survey, 73 percent said they have used online teacher rating Web sites numerous times.

"People don't realize how often they are used, and how much power they have over students," Olson said. "We need to ask what it means for students to be able to shop for professors."

According to RateMyProfessor, over 1,000 professors have been evaluated from the University of Toledo.

The Web site allows students to evaluate professors based on their overall teaching quality, ease and "hotness," and lets students search by department, last name or quality rating.

David Wilson, professor of political science at UT, said Web sites such as RateMyProfessor can be beneficial to both students and professors.

"I'm a strong believer in students having the opportunity to evaluate instructors," he said.

According to Wilson, RateMyProfessor is more positive than other professor evaluation Web sites such as PickMyProf because it offers comments from past students that go beyond how easy an instructor is.

"The most useful thing on these Web sites is the comments from past students," said Justin Danko a freshman majoring in construction engineering technology. "I go on just for the comments, I read through them to get a feel for what I can expect from a certain professor. So far, they have been very accurate."

Wilson said his personal rating on RateMyProfessor was seemingly accurate, and he checks professor rating Web sites to see what students are saying about courses he teaches.

"I've found that students generally take them seriously," Wilson said. "I don't feel like these Web sites are the major contributing factor to grade inflation though."

According to Wilson these Web sites will help students decide if the professor is a right fit for their learning style.

"It's not just about how easy of a grader they are," Wilson said. "It's about age, race, how they run their classrooms; all of them contribute to students decisions and are brought up in the comments left on the Web site."

According to Kaplan's survey the most influential element of professor rating Web sites are the prior students' comments, followed by the overall quality of a professor and engaging teaching style of professors. Easy grading reputation was least influential.

Dee Drummond, lecturer in the Department of Communication at UT, said she believes the Web sites need to be taken "at face value."

"I choose not to look at those Web sites," Drummond said. "I try to set up my classes so students will succeed. I don't think any professor sets their goal to have a course be so-called easy."

Olson said most of these Web sites are used as a way to gather information, and few students actually post anything.

"You must remember you're looking at the views of a vocal minority, most just go to look at the reviews," he said.

Shane Mendez, a freshman majoring in communication, said he has never been to one of the Web sites, but plans to utilize them in the future.

"I've been stuck with some pretty bad professors already," Mendez said. "In the future I will consider these Web sites."