Ok, We Get It: No One Likes Being Criticized Online
from the but,-it-still-won't-go-away dept
Earlier this month we wrote about how doctors were freaking out over public sites where patients would complain about the doctors or rate them. And, now, Wired News is running a similar article about how professors are freaking out about the RateMyProfessors site, which has been around for ages. What's odd, though, is that the article seems to assume that all professors hate the site. Obviously, almost no one likes to be criticized (especially publicly), but some professors I know don't seem to mind those sites too much. While not all of the feedback is constructive, certainly a lot of it is. And, no matter how much people hate being talked about online, it's not going to make these sites go away. So, people need to learn to either ignore them or try to take the constructive feedback for what it is.
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My Uni performed a teaching audit (read: questionnaire) for every prof after every course, so the damage that can be done to a professor's professional status is zero - if you're incompetent, my online review is going to say pretty much the same as my anonymous form.
I see it as a positive tool. What are students going to do? If they read that a teacher is a real prick to undergrads, they probably aren't going to take his course - the administration takes lower enrolment (when possible) and the end-of-term comments (forget the online comments) and says "you need to stop being a dick".
There's also a plus - if everybody says "this guy is really easy", the administration is going to notice and ask him to step it up a bit. Obviously doesn't apply to bell-curved courses, but for most sciences this might be an easy out for students.
Again, this is "normal" folks suddenly getting a taste of what celebrities what to deal with. People you don't know taking shots at you and making judgment calls they aren't qualified to make. Might make you rethink pickin up that People magazine, won't it?
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