[xijuan]

I just wanted to say few things about my experiences on reading students' ratings on ratemyprofressor.com.

First, professors who consistently get good ratings are usually very good lecturers. They are not necessarily easy profs. But they do give great lectures and explain things more thoroughly. On the other hand, professors who get consistently low ratings are usually not good. For example, last term, I took a course with a prof who got 2/5 on ratemyprofessor and her lectures indeed suck although she is a kind person. She doesn't explain the math materials she is teaching; just barely writes down notes on the board. And all the students I have talked to also think she is not a good teacher. The term before I took a course a prof who got 4/5 on ratemyprofessor. She is indeed a great prof and explained everything so clearly. Our class wrote the same exams as the sections but our average was 7 percentage higher overall.

Of course, the ratings from that website may not be equivalent to the ratings profs get from their actual teaching evaluation. But from my experience, I think the students do have the ability to distinguish between good profs and bad profs. And students' ratings are not only based on how easy the course is but also based on how interesting the lectures are and how approachable the prof is.

Does anyone who has an opposite experience from what I have experienced? That is taking a course who a prof who got high ratings on ratemyprofs but felt the prof was bad.

[ColinWright]

But everything you say is what everyone believes is "common sense." If all you want are clear lectures well delivered, great, follow the advice on some random rating website.

The research, however, says that the student evaluations are negatively correlated with subsequent ability in the subject. In other words, you are repeating the common sense view that is flatly contradicted by careful research.

What should I trust: your anecdata, or published research?

[Fomite]

I have definitely had life-changing professors who taught be extremely valuable lessons who were poorly rated on that site. And one of the worst professors I ever had (like if I build a time machine I'm going back to tell myself not to take his class) was highly rated on that site.