When I was an undergraduate at Montclair State University in the late 1990's, people used to have entire binders of professor ratings. You would look to register for, say, and art class, and if you knew the right person, you could get a look at the binder of art professors and see who people liked. I ended up taking a class called Art Forum because it involved listening to speakers on art and writing a reaction paper each week. I always liked writing, so this wasn't too scary for me, and I figured seeing a new speaker each week would be interesting. Professor Lay was the instructor, and to this day I would recommend that course (if you didn't mind writing).
Anyway, the problem was you were at the mercy of knowing someone. Today, you don't have that issue, because of a site like RateMyProfessors.com. The site allows students to rate professors anonymously on Helpfulness, Clarity, and Easiness, on a scale of one through five.
For example, if you search for me there, you will find I currently have a 4.2/5.0 for helpfulness, 4.2/5.0 for clarity, and a 3.2/5.0 for easiness. I think these are fair assessments. I tell students the first day that tests include stuff from the book, even if I do not lecture on it, because my expectation is that you are reading the book.
Check me out there if you are really interested and see if your experiences match what other people say:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=252178
Of course, as someone who has taught for 13 years, I have a lot of ratings. Professor Mosley has even more, due to his large class sizes. Someone who is in their first semester may not have any ratings.
Every time I show this in class I get a good laugh!
Anyway, the problem was you were at the mercy of knowing someone. Today, you don't have that issue, because of a site like RateMyProfessors.com. The site allows students to rate professors anonymously on Helpfulness, Clarity, and Easiness, on a scale of one through five.
For example, if you search for me there, you will find I currently have a 4.2/5.0 for helpfulness, 4.2/5.0 for clarity, and a 3.2/5.0 for easiness. I think these are fair assessments. I tell students the first day that tests include stuff from the book, even if I do not lecture on it, because my expectation is that you are reading the book.
Check me out there if you are really interested and see if your experiences match what other people say:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=252178
Of course, as someone who has taught for 13 years, I have a lot of ratings. Professor Mosley has even more, due to his large class sizes. Someone who is in their first semester may not have any ratings.
Every time I show this in class I get a good laugh!
