P R IN T : News
Wednesday, May29,2013
$ 3
Clackamas teachers respond to
‘Rate My Professors’
Brittany Horne
News Editor
Checking social network
sites such as Rate My Professors
during the registration process
could be considered common
practice. Ratings for the profes
sors vary from harsh to praising,
helpful to confusing and con
structive to damaging. But does
anyone wonder how the profes
sors feel about it or if their RMP
ratings and comments matter
to them? More importantly, do
instructors think that it is an
effective tool for the students?
No one knows what instruc
tors are talking about more than
administrative assistants, such
as Amy Burghardt from social
science and foreign language.
She explained that at certain
times over the years it has been
a big discussion topic among
instructors.
“It hasn’t come up for a cou
ple years, I have to say,” said
Burghardt. “It kind of does the
wave thing back and forth.”
For those who don’t know
what RMP is, it is a site that
allows you to rate a college or
its professors from one to five in
different categories. Professors
are rated in the categories of
overall quality, helpfulness,
clarity, easiness and even hot
ness. There are also options
to select a professor’s-specific
course and to leave comments;
how ever, all ra tin g s and c o m
m en ts are anonymous.
There are hundreds of CCC
professor ratings, with an aver
age professor rating of 3.94.
Clackamas Community College
itself has 41 ratings with an
overall quality rating of 3.6,
Other CCC ratings include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reputation: 3.5
Location: 3.9
Opportunity: 3.5
Library: 3.5
Campus: 3.8
Internet Speed: 4.2
Food: 3.1
Clubs & Events: 3.2
Social Activities: 3.1
Happiness: 4.4
“This is a very good school
to go to if you’re trying to stay
focused on getting your degree.
If you’re looking to party, go
to a state college,” [SP] said a
comment by one of the anony
mous students who chose to
rate the college. This person
rated clubs and events as well
as internet speed as a five, the
campus as a four and the rest
were threes.
But what do instructors, who
are the main topic of RMP,
think about the things students
say about them? Classes that
students feel strongly about
one way or the other, such as
writing or math, possibly lend
themselves to more criticism.
Despite the harsh nature of some
comments, part-time English
instructor Paul Crumrine shared
a few laughs while talking about
RMP.
ii
It is kinda funny
i f you read it. One
will say Pm the best
teacher ever and the
next [student] will
say Pm the most
horrible teacher
ever. ”
Paul Crumrine
Part-time English Instructor
no one but the instructor knows.
Math instructor Stefan Baratto
explains one example of this.
“The last time I looked at the
site was maybe eight or 10 years
ago. There was a comment there
that I used too much cologne,”
stated Baratto. “I think it’s been
20 or 30 years since I used
cologne and never much liked
the stuff. I thought it an odd
comment and haven’t been back
to the site.”
He went on, telling the story
of two math instructors, Carrie
and Carie. Students would rate
one professor under the oth
er’s name and vice versa. This
shows another problem with the
information that RMP offers to
students.
“I don’t have any problems
with [RMP], but wouldn’t send
students in that direction,” stat
ed Baratto.
Another obstacle students
might face when trying to find
the professor that’s right for
them using RMP is that instruc
tors change. They find teaching
methods that work better for
them and their students. Social
Science department chair Jackie
Flowers knows all about this.
“I’ve changed the way I
teach my U.S. History classes
several times over the last six or
seven years. And I’ve changed
the whole approach, the type of
assessments I do. I’ve changed
a lot of things,” said Flowers. “I
think that if someone read what
ever they might have had about
s “It is kinda funny i f y o u read
m e six y e ars ago, i t ’s g o n n a be a
to ta lly d iffere n t c lass n o w th an
it. One will say I’m the best
teacher ever, and the next [stu
dent] from the same class says
I’m the most horrible teacher
ever,” said Crumrine. “I don’t
think it’s good for finding a pro
fessor that’s good for an indi
vidual student. It might identify
a professor that more students
like or dislike.”
Crumrine went on to explain
why he thinks the site isn’t good
for finding a good professor
“match” for individual students.
“It has like, no validity
because most of the time there’s
no detail,” he said. “If someone
likes you or doesn’t like you —
or gives you a good review or a
bad review — it doesn’t matter
because they don’t back it up.
They don’t give you a reason
why the teacher is good or bad.”
Another issue with the site
is absurd comments from stu
dents, although it might be that
it was then.” -
Could there be a better way
for teachers to get feedback
from their students and for stu
dents to find out whose Writing
121 class they should take, for
example?
“I’m much more concerned
with what the official evalua
tions say, rather than something
informal,” said Flowers. “Isn’t
there a pretty effective infor
mal grapevine? Don’t [students]
hear who’s good to take and
who’s not good to take?”
Outside of the informal
grapevine, Baratto has another
idea to help match students to
instructors.
“I think that a much bet
ter solution would be for ASG
to compile something based on
student input that was CCC spe
cific,” he stated. “Given the two
year nature of our institution,
I don’t know if it is work
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able, but I can see how some
thing like that might serve the
needs of some of our students.”
Regardless of a better solu
tion, Flowers discusses why
some Students will decide to
leave such harsh comments on
the RMP site.
“Sometimes there’s just per
sonality issues that get in the
way. If you don’t like your
teacher’s personality, when
they’re in front of you four or
six hours a week, that could
affect how you feel about
their teaching,” said Flowers.
“Either that or they’re really
$3 Off
16 L a rg e
Pizza
upset about a teacher, in which
case they’re gonna go and post
whatever it is they really didn’t
like.”
The Print would like to know
what students think about Rate
My Professors, the Clackamas
instructors’ view of the site and
other alternative methods that
work for finding a professor
that will maximize your time in
the classroom. Join the discus
sion at www.theclackamasprint.
com under the “Forums” tab or
email newsed@clackamas.edu
to tell us what you think.
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