Web site lets students grade professors

Pick-A-Prof allows evaluation of classes, instructors

By Bill J. Perry

A growing number of Web sites allow students to post performance reviews of their professors to help other students make informed decisions when selecting classes.

Last year, Associated Students arranged with www.pick-a-prof.com to provide that service to Fresno State students.

“Its purpose is to benefit students, to help them do research before taking the classes,” said Jennifer Reimer, vice president of finance for Associated Students.

Other sites such as www.ratemyprofessors.com and www.professorsperformance.com also allow students to express their opinions about their professors. But Pick-A-Prof was chosen because it offered the best services for Fresno State students, Reimer said.

“The Web site has a two-fold purpose,” she said. “To help students get more insight on the classes they’re thinking about taking and to allow them to provide feedback on classes they’ve already taken to inform other students.”

Pick-A-Prof was started about four years ago by Chris Chilek and John Cunningham, two former students at Texas A&M University, said director of university relations for the Web site Karen Bragg.

“They knew students always look to their friends for advice when selecting classes,” she said. “Pick-A-Prof opens up the entire campus for getting advice.”

One professor isn’t so sure about the benefits of using professor-rating Web sites.

“It’s not a bad idea to have students talking about the professors and the courses they take,” said Michael Becker, professor of political science at Fresno State. “The drawback is that students are evaluating the course during the semester before experiencing the total nature of the course.”

Though he’s received an overall positive rating on Pick-A-Prof with an average of 3.88 stars out of a possible five, Becker is worried some students will turn to the Web site to communicate with their professors about problems they are having in class instead of speaking to the instructor in person.

“It might make some students bypass the professor with concerns,” he said. “I think generally speaking, it’s great to have feedback. But I’m always a little leery about substituting computer dialogue with face-to-face feedback.”

Bragg said some students might feel too intimidated to speak to their professors directly about problems, especially those that involve the instructor. She said Pick-A-Prof allows students to express their feelings anonymously.

However, Bragg said Pick-A-Prof does not accept personal attacks on professors on the site.

“On other sites, students are ranting and raving about professors, not giving informative reviews, but with us 75 percent of the students rate professors from average to excellent,” she said.

“We do post negative reviews,” Bragg said, “but they must be constructive, such as ‘the professor was always late’ or ‘I couldn’t follow the professor’s lectures.’ ”

Bragg said professors have the option of reading the reviews and adding their comments at the bottom of the page.

A new feature allows professors to put together their own feedback form for their students through Pick-A-Prof, Bragg said.

“That way they can see how they are doing and make necessary changes before the semester ends.”

That’s one weakness in the classroom evaluations that colleges conduct, Bragg said.

“A lot of universities have evaluations at the end of the semester, which the students never see,” she said. “But our system lets professors see feedback in real time and make changes right then. This lets students give feedback during the semester and see results before the semester ends.”

One student, Yer Lor, who is a math major and has some knowledge of professor-rating sites, agrees.

“I think it’s better than doing the evaluations [in class],” she said. “You are able to see which professors are getting good reviews.”

Zhao Yu, a business major, questions the classroom surveys, as well.

“Why are we even doing those when we never even know the results?” he asked.

With spring registration coming up, Bragg said Pick-A-Prof is a good tool to use to make informed decisions about what classes to take.

“Pick-A-Prof is really about students making educated decisions and helping them prepare for their courses,” she said.

Freshman Teng Vang, a biology student, agrees.

“If you’re new in college, this would be a good thing to have. You can see which professors people respect the most, and you can see the reasons why.”