Professors Strike Back

And...scene!

I'm back. Have been returned to campus after sabbatical, actually, for about six months so far -- I just haven't been blogging, and I apologize, but I've been rather busy. I will likely talk more about sabbatical and such later on. But for now, here's something fun that I found: professor's responding to ratemyprofessor.com comments on video for MTVu.

I found this immensely entertaining for some reason, and spent hours watching profs react, respond and vent about the open-to-the-public online teacher evaluation service. It gives a lot of insight into how teachers see themselves, their profession, and (some of) their students.

Here's an example, from a science fiction writer/professor I admire, Paul Levinson:

I actually like the responses and comments I've received on RatemyProfessor.com -- and on the myspace.com equivalent -- and while I don't actually thing RateMyProf is the best avenue for student feedback, it opens up to us another way of understanding our students, whether via their praise or their protest.

[Is it just me, or are students not using this service as much as they used to? Maybe I've just been away too long....]

POSTSCRIPT: Browsing around, I discovered that ratemyprofessors.com has become a little more proactive about allowing professorial rebuttals across the board. I decided to join up and register, despite my better judgment, simply because I support this move on their part... I don't think I have any rebuttals to file with them, but there you have it.