Rate My Professors: Reviews of U.S. and Canada Teachers

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the website Rate My Professors, focusing on the reviews of teachers in the U.S. and Canada. Participants share their experiences and opinions regarding the accuracy and usefulness of the ratings, as well as the implications of the reviews on teacher evaluations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant finds the site helpful and believes the reviews are generally accurate, citing humorous ratings as an example.
  • Another participant expresses disappointment that the site only covers American universities.
  • A different participant notes that some ratings may not reflect the true quality of teaching, suggesting that strict teachers often receive lower ratings compared to those who are lenient.
  • One participant mentions that their school provides more comprehensive data from end-of-year surveys, implying that those ratings might be more reliable.
  • Another participant advises caution in interpreting the reviews, suggesting that well-written posts are more trustworthy than poorly written ones, which may indicate a lack of effort or understanding from the reviewer.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express mixed views on the accuracy of the ratings, with some finding them helpful while others question their reliability based on personal experiences. There is no consensus on the overall effectiveness of the site.

Contextual Notes

Some participants highlight the potential bias in ratings based on teaching styles, and the discussion reflects varying standards of what constitutes a good teacher.

Math Is Hard
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I was checking out a site called www.ratemyprofessors.com to get the low-down on some prospective teachers and I found it very helpful. They have listings for schools in the U.S. and Canada. I looked up the reviews of former teachers and they are pretty accurate.

I particularly enjoyed the collection of funny ratings:
http://www.ratemyprofessor.com/Funniest.jsp

excerpts:
"Evil computer science teaching robot who crushes humans for pleasure."

"Teaches well, invites questions and then insults you for 20 minutes."

:smile: :smile: :smile:
 
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Cool site.

Too bad it's only for american univ's.
 
I like the one that said "Your pillow will need a pillow"
Well, actually some of the rating are not very accurate . I looked up some of favorite my former teachers and they all have bad rating just because they are strict . I think generally teachers who give you and A for just showing up at the class get high rating compare to those who actually does teach you something worthwhile
 
I've found it to be fairly accurate. Good site, though my school compiles the data from surveys given at the end of the year and posts them online, so that one is more complete.
 
Look carefully at the posts. The ones that are well worded and well written, you can usually trust those to be fair.

If it's like this:

"teacher sucks, I do not bad, I do work but its still got me a bad grade."

Don't assume that English is their second language. People who write and talk like this not only graduate from high school today, but they actually get into college. They probably didn't have the basic skills to do well in that class in the first place.
 

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