Rate My Proffessor

ShoulderChip · 18-12-2007 11:39PM #1

Is there a rate my proffesor/lecturer service available for Trinity,
I used to love ratemyteacher.ie,
does anyone know if one exists and if so is it a good idea,
anyone need to vent some opinions?

Crash · 19-12-2007 12:53AM

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=12373 <---knock yourself out. No one will be posting names or reviews of lecturers on this forum though, just so yee know.

NewGrad · 06-11-2010 09:42AM

The link above is not working.
Is there a site that rates 3rd level educational institutes (and staff) for Ireland?

PurpleFistMixer · 06-11-2010 03:25PM

How about contacting your lecturer if you have a complaint with how they teach? Maybe they'd appreciate constructive criticism.

Unregistered. · 06-11-2010 07:48PM

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

How about contacting your lecturer if you have a complaint with how they teach? Maybe they'd appreciate constructive criticism.

Or complement them on their engaging teaching-style.

aas · 06-11-2010 08:31PM

Unregistered. wrote: »

Or complement them on their engaging teaching-style.

Maths professors in particular love this.

PurpleFistMixer · 07-11-2010 12:05AM

aas wrote: »

Maths professors in particular love this.

I hope you're not being sarcastic, because I have had some amazing maths lecturers.

aas · 07-11-2010 12:35AM

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

I hope you're not being sarcastic, because I have had some amazing maths lecturers.

It's a hilarious complement/compliment joke...

NewGrad · 07-11-2010 09:05AM

I am interested in getting feedback from students who were supervised by professors/lecturers. Trying to identify the ones who really have a passion for research/learning/teaching.
I think the ratemyteachers.ie website is good. I checked out my old school a while back and would say the reviews were spot on. Maybe one or two students post "rough" reviews. In general though, the good teachers received >90% approval. Teachers who were rated poorly in my time 10 years ago are still rated poorly today. :-(

Any one know of a website reviewing college professors/lecturers?

NewGrad · 07-11-2010 09:26AM

I would recommend caution on this one. The junior/leaving cert is designed as an anonymous exam and difficult to interfere with results either way. College exams are not anonymous.
I know of 2 cases where students complained about cancelled lectures/quality of teaching and suffered in the marking of their papers (i.e. lowering marks to bring a 2.I down to a 2.II etc.) The lecturer involved always included a few subjective questions to achieve this. Granted he was a bit of a nut job.
Conspiracy theory? Was suspicious of the story myself until I was warned by another lecturer not to cross him. He attended a house party where said nut job had a few too many and was boasting about how he "got those little ****s" who had the cheek to complain.

blucey · 07-11-2010 01:29PM

NewGrad wrote: »

I would recommend caution on this one. The junior/leaving cert is designed as an anonymous exam and difficult to interfere with results either way. College exams are not anonymous.
I know of 2 cases where students complained about cancelled lectures/quality of teaching and suffered in the marking of their papers (i.e. lowering marks to bring a 2.I down to a 2.II etc.) The lecturer involved always included a few subjective questions to achieve this. Granted he was a bit of a nut job.
Conspiracy theory? Was suspicious of the story myself until I was warned by another lecturer not to cross him. He attended a house party where said nut job had a few too many and was boasting about how he "got those little ****s" who had the cheek to complain.

yes, they are. Get the facts right - annual examinations are anon. Now, its entirely possible to find out whom the student is , and thats as it should be because else how do you assign grades.... but the marking is on anon sheets.
In 20 years i havent ever heard even the nuttiest of nut jobs saying that they will get students. So, i dont think thats the case. And if it was, there are well defined ways to seek grade reviews, rechecks, remarks etc. There are or should be school meetings where students are present and can query process, there are external examiners on all scripts who check issues, and there is a students union that is exceptionally good at doing the representative job at the low level. subjective questions are in the eye of the beholder - perhaps the learning objectives the lecturer was operationalising were to seek the students to defend/debate an issue.

Mark200 · 07-11-2010 01:34PM

blucey wrote: »

yes, they are. Get the facts right - annual examinations are anon. Now, its entirely possible to find out whom the student is , and thats as it should be because else how do you assign grades.... but the marking is on anon sheets.

Well if it's easy to find out who a student is, then it's not really anonymous. Lecturers regularly say that those who attend lectures regularly will have their grades moved up in borderline cases, for example.

Jammyc · 07-11-2010 02:54PM

Of course they're anonymous, sure theres a corner of a piece of paper pasted over with spit! Fool proof!

I've also talked to people who have said they've seen lecturers after exams and told them of their grade, to which they reply, "oh yeah I know,congrats."

dabh · 07-11-2010 04:10PM

Jammyc wrote: »

Of course they're anonymous, sure theres a corner of a piece of paper pasted over with spit! Fool proof!

I've also talked to people who have said they've seen lecturers after exams and told them of their grade, to which they reply, "oh yeah I know,congrats."

Well the marks are anonymous only until the point when the scripts have been marked and the marks on the paper have been submitted for de-anonymization. They have ceased to be anonymous by the time that exam marks are combined with any continuous assessment, and are not anonymous as Courts of Examiners.

And with respect to the sealed flap - many candidates fail to include a valid exam number, and may not even fill in the seat number. So if those people want credit, they need to be identified. And if it weren't for the sealed flap, how else. Handwriting identification experts?

whydoibother? · 09-11-2010 10:26PM

blucey wrote: »

yes, they are. Get the facts right - annual examinations are anon. Now, its entirely possible to find out whom the student is , and thats as it should be because else how do you assign grades.... but the marking is on anon sheets.
In 20 years i havent ever heard even the nuttiest of nut jobs saying that they will get students. So, i dont think thats the case. And if it was, there are well defined ways to seek grade reviews, rechecks, remarks etc. There are or should be school meetings where students are present and can query process, there are external examiners on all scripts who check issues, and there is a students union that is exceptionally good at doing the representative job at the low level. subjective questions are in the eye of the beholder - perhaps the learning objectives the lecturer was operationalising were to seek the students to defend/debate an issue.

What does it mean when it is said that its entirely possible to find out whom the student is - at what point, and how do you need to know this to assign marks?

Also, this poster says they have never heard of a lecturer out to get anyone, has anyone ever heard of the other side of the coin - favouring a student?

NewGrad · 10-11-2010 03:25AM

The college exam marking process described by blucey is true in theory, however in practice it does not compare with the leaving cert in terms of anonymity.
In the leaving cert the exam papers are collected from the schools and delivered to a central point (ie Athlone) and then distributed to the exam markers throughout the country. The is very little chance that a teacher would correct an exam by a student he/she taught.
In college, the lecturer who taught a course corrects the exam paper. In a large class this is usually fine, however in a small class size it would be obvious who had written each exam as the lecturer would be familiar with handwriting style as the students would have produced assignments during the year.
In general I would say that the exams are fair, lecturer mark objectively to the best of their abilities and there is a review process. If a student received 80% in 3 exams, but 20% in one exam, then there might be a review based on a threshold.
However, again in the real world there are examples where the fair process can get distorted. The example I referred to above in a previous post came about as a result of a department head resigning mid year in controversial circumstances and a particular lecturer taking 4 out of 6 exams for a college year and having control of the process to reassign student names to exam scripts after the marking.
Again, I would recommend caution if making a complaint. Most lecturers/professors are helpful to students and are interested in developing student potential. However be careful of crossing the few who are the antithesis of these qualities.

just-joe · 10-11-2010 10:25AM

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

I hope you're not being sarcastic, because I have had some amazing maths lecturers.

Yeah, but have you had some awful ones too?

PurpleFistMixer · 10-11-2010 06:12PM

just-joe wrote: »

Yeah, but have you had some awful ones too?

Yeah, but the amazing balances it out.

lucernarian · 12-11-2010 01:42PM

blucey wrote: »

yes, they are. Get the facts right - annual examinations are anon. Now, its entirely possible to find out whom the student is , and thats as it should be because else how do you assign grades.... but the marking is on anon sheets.
In 20 years i havent ever heard even the nuttiest of nut jobs saying that they will get students. So, i dont think thats the case. And if it was, there are well defined ways to seek grade reviews, rechecks, remarks etc. There are or should be school meetings where students are present and can query process, there are external examiners on all scripts who check issues, and there is a students union that is exceptionally good at doing the representative job at the low level. subjective questions are in the eye of the beholder - perhaps the learning objectives the lecturer was operationalising were to seek the students to defend/debate an issue.

That's a little unfair. Firstly, annual summer exams are not the only way of assessing a course, that much is patently obvious. There are many assessments where a student number would be the identifier for a student.

Secondly, that tab where the student's name and student number is written down on the exam booklet and folded over? It's easy to read from behind the page and see the number or even make out the name written, unless they wrote in pencil and didn't lean heavily on the page when writing.

Thirdly, as has been already outlined, in smaller groups or classes you can have situations where the examiner will recognise handwriting. On subjective questions, you can and do get "ranges" of results for any given answer. The negative bias of a lecturer can slip under the radar if it can be justified with other interpretations.

I do know of a couple of occasions, where deliberate marking down was suspected and the procedures only allowed for an average mark between a lenient corrector and someone who particularly didn't like the work. I'm won't go into that as I'm not sure of the specifics involved.

DeVore · 12-11-2010 02:48PM

20 years ago i wrote a confidential complaint about a Maths lecturer who I felt was incompetent. I was accosted with it 4 hours later. From that day on I never got higher then an F3 in his exams, despite compensating with 1.1's in my other exams. (please tell me what kind of student gets 1.1s *and* F3s).

Requests for scripts were refused or "lost". All exams were illegally normalised.

By third year I couldnt compensate for him and he taught two of my core lectures and I failed both. I took a case to an external examination tribunal (TCD has decent internal legal system) and before it came up I was offered a pass degree if I agreed to leave. I was so sick of the whole thing that I left and changed my life from wanting to do a masters to getting into business and starting Boards.
But to this day its almost impossible for me to do further education and I still hold a grudge.

I agree with the policy of not naming names, but dont tell me you've never met someone it has happened to because now you have.

DeV.

g'em · 12-11-2010 02:51PM

Jammyc wrote: »

I've also talked to people who have said they've seen lecturers after exams and told them of their grade, to which they reply, "oh yeah I know,congrats."

Once all the grades have been collated and before students get their grades there will be an examiners meeting at which point all the grades will be looked over for anomalies, outliers and to discuss any problems that came up during the marking process. At this point the student's name and mark will be put together so it's entirely normal for a lecturer to know a student's grade before the student does but that hasn't in any way interfered with the anonymous marking aspect.

dabh wrote: »

And with respect to the sealed flap - many candidates fail to include a valid exam number, and may not even fill in the seat number. So if those people want credit, they need to be identified. And if it weren't for the sealed flap, how else. Handwriting identification experts?

Every year, without fail, a surprisingly high percentage of students don't bother writing their student number/ fill in their seat number incorrectly, don't bother sealing the flaps. What's more worrying is the students who hand up their scripts without any form of identification on the front of their booklets :eek:

DeVore · 12-11-2010 03:23PM

My case came up at review simply because of the anomalies but both my tutor and a lecturer I had become friendly with said they hadnt said anything because they knew what he was like. Its was highly political. The exact phrase used to me (during a row about it) was "you wont be here next year, I will!!" meaning they would have to work with or possibly for him.

Anyway, the details arent important, but im not going to see someone post on my very own site that it doesnt happen. This site, ironically, wouldnt be here if it *didn't*.

DeV.

evercloserunion · 12-11-2010 11:12PM

If it's feedback you want, this seems to be on point

Dear Students

Again, this academic year, College offers undergraduate students the opportunity to provide feedback on their taught modules through student surveys. Trinity College believes that its students have a vital contribution to make towards the improvement of courses and to the overall quality processes within College. College’s commitment to this principle is manifested by Council approving a number of developments to College policy on student evaluation. In particular,

· All undergraduate taught modules shall be evaluated by students at least once every three years.
· While the use of survey questionnaires is College’s preferred mode of gathering student feedback, other objective methods may be employed to obtain feedback. Where individual lecturers choose not to avail of the central survey questionnaire for a particular module, they will be required to designate a preferred alternative means for gathering feedback from students on the module eg. paper-based surveys, focus groups, meeting student representatives etc.
· Centralised online surveys will replace the paper-based surveys used previously and student anonymity will continue be maintained;
· Equally important is the need to ‘complete the feedback loop’ by module lecturers informing students of actions taken on the basis of information provided. Students need to see what action is taken as a result of their comments. By closing the feedback loop, a more positive attitude is created towards the whole student feedback process.

Keeping the above in mind, it is important for students to participate and engage with the student feedback processes by completing the module evaluations in a timely and constructive manner.

Wishing you the very best during the academic year.

Senior Lecturer

Jehuty42 · 13-11-2010 09:37PM

DeVore wrote: »

My case came up at review simply because of the anomalies but both my tutor and a lecturer I had become friendly with said they hadnt said anything because they knew what he was like. Its was highly political. The exact phrase used to me (during a row about it) was "you wont be here next year, I will!!" meaning they would have to work with or possibly for him.

Anyway, the details arent important, but im not going to see someone post on my very own site that it doesnt happen. This site, ironically, wouldnt be here if it *didn't*.

DeV.

Your example isn't as relevant as you seem to think it is- that was 20 years ago, with a smaller undergraduate intake, with many of the people who were around back then now gone. It really has no bearing on what happens today.

lucernarian · 13-11-2010 10:57PM

Jehuty42, that's purely a matter of opinion - for one, there are many staff members throughout TCD who would have been here 20 years ago. Procedural and department inadequacies can and do continue to exist based on what I have seen in my time here so far. Larger numbers of students don't affect these issues, except for a more diluted staff knowledge of each student. And with the way some courses are structured, it's still quite possible to be assessed as part of a small group or class. Especially in sophister years.

From what I've seen, the problems of "who guards the guards" still remain in many aspects of college. Staff members are not going to shop each other out and certainly not if the issue is with a senior member of staff. Staff members bending or breaking or ignoring the rules is not unique to colleges. An example from 20 years ago will not become irrelevant in and of itself?

Mr. Presentable · 13-11-2010 10:58PM

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Is there a rate my proffesor/lecturer service available for Trinity,
I used to love ratemyteacher.ie,
does anyone know if one exists and if so is it a good idea,
anyone need to vent some opinions?

If he's your English professor he's sh1t

DeVore · 14-11-2010 03:58PM

Jehuty42 wrote: »

Your example isn't as relevant as you seem to think it is- that was 20 years ago, with a smaller undergraduate intake, with many of the people who were around back then now gone. It really has no bearing on what happens today.

Every single one of the lecturers I have mentioned are still active in the school.

DeV.

Doug Cartel · 14-11-2010 05:37PM

DeVore wrote: »

Every single one of the lecturers I have mentioned are still active in the school.

DeV.

Even if they were gone, it's not like human nature has changed at all over the years.

janec · 09-12-2010 06:47PM

DeV,

Your story is interesting as I have had similarly bad experience on the other side of things. I am a lecturer myself and have had bad experiences with student feedback handling and exam anonymity issues. When the relationships between staff and students is distant or poor (e.g. in UCD or TCD) these otherwise helpful resources become nasty and sometimes litigious. Nobody is protected. Neither staff nor student.

Now I teach in DIT where staff/student relationships are very involved and positive and where there are real processes and means of appeal, both the feedback and the exam results are handled much better and everyone has a voice.

However, back to the original point. I for one would LOVE a ratemyteachers-style site for third level (and I am a lecturer!)

DeV, sounds like a challenge for someone with your website skills….

You up for it?

ilovechocolate · 09-12-2010 10:51PM

I just happened to stumble across this thread.... 2days ago myself and a friend sent an email asking could we discuss concerns about a module with a head of the department. Our concern is the lecturer... now I am panicking about meeting with the department head next week! :S

Rate My Proffessor

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