Pick A Prof
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pick-A-Prof is an academic services website focusing on professor reviews for university students. Started in April 2000 by John Cunningham and Chris Chilek, Texas A&M University alumni, Pick-A-Prof‘s services are now available to approximately 250 universities and colleges across the United States. The site posts student-written reviews on professors, professors’ official grading patterns, course schedule and degree planners, and book exchange programs among many other features.
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[edit] Reviews
Reviews for professors are written by students. The reviews focus on teaching style of professors, homework load, type and number of exams, attendance policies, and overall evaluation of the class and professor. The site encourages students to write information which future students of the professor will find useful, in sections labeled “strengths” and “drawbacks.” Each review is read by Pick-A-Prof and ranked according to its usefulness and content before it is posted. The site does not post reviews containing profanity, personal attacks or reference to other reviews or professors. In order to justify a professor’s rating, the website does not accept a rating for a professor without accompanying reviews listings pros and cons.
[edit] Grade histories
The site posts grade histories of professors which it gets from official university records. This feature lets students compare the grade histories in courses they are about to register for. Additionally, the grade history graphs lets students see the distribution of grades from A’s to F’s.
Students can also see which semester a professor teaches a particular course and the average GPA each professor gives in that course. While searching for a course, the site offers the professors teaching the course, a 5-star rating system (an overall average of student ratings for a professor), the number of student reviews available for each professor and the percentage of students who dropped the class.
[edit] Professor features
Pick-A-Prof also offers a new service called Professor Support System, which allows professors to post their syllabi and biographical information on the site prior to registration. Professors can use this feature to make their own course evaluations. In addition, professors will be able to upload their audio lectures for students to download. Professors and students have differing views about the website. While some find it useful, others believe it may not be a right tool to pick classes. Brian Bremen, an English associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, believes that the type of feedback found in Pick-a-Prof reviews can be important for faculty. "A professor can certainly learn a lot about themselves on Pick-a-Prof, and in some cases, the criticism I have found online has made me a slightly better teacher," Bremen said. The New York Times reports that students using the website “are enthusiastic, saying it is almost like having Consumer Reports ratings on professors.”
Many professors say the website portrays their courses unfairly and students will hesitate to take their classes if the grade distribution reported on Pick-A-Prof does not match their definition of earning an “easy A.” Karen Bragg, Director of University Relations at Pick-A-Prof, believes that there will always be students seeking an “easy A."[citation needed] There are also criticisms of the website reviews written by students being offensive to professors. Pick-A-Prof, although controversial, claims that its website and policies follow the law. It has even won a court case against University of California, Davis to release professors’ grades.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
5 New York Times article Lewin, Tamar, New York Times, 3/24/03
