UNLV students eye prof-rating website

Jennifer Knight

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 11:23 a.m.

Pssst.

If you want to take Sociology 101, Fredrick Preston is fun and interesting. If you're looking for a good English 102 teacher, Roberta Sabbath is easy to understand.

Those recommendations come courtesy of an informal, loose-knit, often word-of-mouth system at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for students looking to pick the right professor when signing up for classes.

The Internet has spawned a whole new way of spreading the word about professors, and UNLV student body representatives plan to jump on that bandwagon next semester by developing their own website designed to rate professors.

"This is obviously something that is long overdue and we are going to be taking a look at getting all of this information online for students to use," said Monica Moradkhan, UNLV's student body president.

For years, UNLV students have picked their professors either randomly, through word-of-mouth or by sharing information collected by sororities or fraternities.

But under their new plan, student government officials will make use of year-end teacher evaluations by posting the results online so that students can take a more scientific approach to picking a professor.

The idea isn't new. A handful of sites have already capitalized on the time-honored practice.

Online forums for sharing information on professors are available at sites such as:

The Ratemyprofessors site offers evaluations on more than 100 UNLV professors based on difficulty, clarity, helpfulness and even "hotness," or personal appearance.

There is also a comment section. One student's comment on a political science teacher reads, "The 1970s called. They want their ties back."

The Professorperformance site has 51 evaluations of UNLV professors posted.

While both sites offer ratings on selected professors usually from one or two students, Pick-a-Prof posts grade distributions for every course and every professor by using public records.

Students at 52 schools nationwide use the increasingly popular Pick-a-Prof site, but UNLV declined to join because it costs $5,000 a year, Moradkhan said. She added that UNLV's homespun version rating professors should be up and running next semester.

Of course, there are already systems in place for picking a good professor, but those are usually available only to members of sororities or fraternities.

For example, Mike Ty, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said his fraternity has an old filing system that members update each semester.

"Every semester we just have this hanging folder that is updated with the names of professors, sample tests and that's about it," Ty said.

Another group of sorority sisters, who could not reveal what group they are affiliated with because of rules set by the national office, described a more organized system.

"We usually fill out teacher evaluations at the end of the semester and those go into a file," said Joan Taylor, a 21-year-old hotel major, who has used the system a number of times throughout her academic career.

Taylor said most sorority members who use the system aren't looking for an easy A, but rather for professors who know the material and present it in an cogent format.

Krystal Steininger, 20, who is majoring in kinesiology, said she found her sociology professor, Preston, through her sorority's referral system.

"I picked him because he wrote his own book," Steininger said. "He's also pretty funny."

Because about 5 percent of UNLV students participate in Greek organizations, the rest are left to their own devices when choosing a professor -- meaning the information can sometimes be outdated or irrelevant.

"I was told all of these things about this one teacher, but I looked him up and he didn't teach anymore," said Roy Griggs, a 20-year-old sophomore communications major who does not belong to a fraternity.

"A lot of my schedule is based on time," said Brianna Rios, 26, finance major. "I would love something like (a referral service)."

The advent of websites that rank professors will likely have more students grading their professors regardless of how professors grade their students.

"This is consumer-driven higher education, I guess," said Sabbath, an adjunct English instructor. "I think you really have to take this stuff with a grain of salt."

Preston, who teaches sociology and earned high marks from students, pointed out that students have always tried to spread the word about professors and said there is no real harm in that.

But there could be a disadvantage to placing teacher reviews and grade distributions on the web for everyone to see, he said.

"The downside is that it does give more power to the students particularly if you are not tenured," Preston said. "Most universities understand that the students' (view is only) one perspective on this. But, if institutions give those opinions too much consideration, that could be detrimental."

Preston also said that sometimes you come across the best teachers randomly, just by coincidence.

Fifty years ago, that's how he found the greatest professor he ever had, Preston said.

"I learned more about writing from him than I did from anyone else," Preston said. "Teaching is serendipitous sometimes."