It would appear that the shoe is now officially on the other foot.
A free Internet service, www.ratemyprofessors.com, gives students nationwide the opportunity to rank professors in three categories - easiness, helpfulness and clarity. Helpfulness and clarity ratings are combined for an overall grade between one and five, with the highest rated professors denoted with a red chile icon and a "hot" classification.
UNM has 155 instructors rated on the Web site. Students are also given the opportunity to provide comments on classes taught by an instructor.
John Swapceinski created the Web site in 1999 while he was a master's student at San Jose State University. He said he developed the site because he had a professor who graded unfairly, and he wanted other students to be warned. Swapceinski said the site is meant to be a resource for students.
A news release from the Web site simply states, "Professors beware: Students are doing the grading." According to the Web site, 65 percent of the ratings are positive.
Reed Dasenbrock, dean of the UNM College of Arts and Sciences, said he sees nothing wrong with the Web site, but students should take its information with a grain of salt. He said the term "hot" makes him uncomfortable.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"The problems with how to get reliable information from opinion polls are enormously complex," Dasenbrock said. "This is not 'Entertainment Tonight,' this is education."
Dasenbrock said Arts and Sciences departments rely on ICES forms where students can comment on their professors' performance throughout the school year but students wishing to gain valuable information about a class or professor need look no further than their peers.
"I would say word of mouth from people you know and trust is certainly more reliable," Dasenbrock said. "What the Web site tells you is certainly open to questions. I'm not sure if I were a student, I would rely on the information."
He said students must keep in mind what is best for their education when using tools such as Web sites for important decisions such as which classes to take.
"A popular professor and an effective professor are not exactly the same concepts," Dasenbrock said. "If it were a UNM publication with UNM students in mind, it would make more sense to me than an anonymous Web site. This is simply part of the culture - whether it is good or not I don't know."
