The following is a letter I wrote a year ago defending the RIT Professor Evaluation System (http://professor.ritstuff.com).
----------------
A majority of students on campus find the PES a
valuable tool; this was made obvious by the outpouring of support from
students following the forced shutdown of the system. The current
'official' pencil and paper system RIT uses for evaluating professors is not
sufficient, nor are it's results made public. The PES was created to meet
the shortcomings of RIT's system.
Students at RIT pay thousands of dollars in tuition.
They pay this money in return for a first-rate education. Why should a
student have to settle for a professor that is sub-par, or doesn't mesh well
with their learning style?
The PES system is needed for two reasons:
First, it allows students to identify professors that
integrate well with their learning style. There is a multitude of teaching
styles at RIT, since a student's goal is to receive the best education
possible; students need to choose a professor with a teaching style that is
effective.
The PES allows students to easily identify how
professors conduct their lectures. A few of the questions that are often
answered by the PES include:
Does this professor use PowerPoint slides?
Are these slides available online?
I don't learn well by taking many notes, does the
class involve writing for 2 hours straight, or is the lecture more
thoughtful and interactive?
Does this professor favor group projects?
If I happen to miss a class, does this professor
post notes and/or homework assignments online?
What type of testing does this professor employ,
essay tests, multiple choice, the sometimes nice but often harder take
home tests?
Does this professor permit note cards with formulas
for math-based tests?
How helpful is this professor outside of the
classroom? I often need extra help after class, and a professor that is
in their office often is beneficial for me.
The second reason students need the PES is to identify
substandard professors. I can attest from personal experience, and I'm sure
many others will agree with me: There are a small percentage of professors
at RIT that are inadequate. To put it bluntly, they are not good at
teaching. They may be very intelligent and proficient in their field, but
when attempting to convey these concepts to students, they lack any
ability. These are the professors that often received the nasty and/or
offensive comments.
Although the PES has some flaws, and has been unfair to
a small number of professors, the benefits clearly outweigh the
disadvantages. The criticism should not be focused on the PES; the public
outcry should be directed towards the RIT administration for not changing
the official system to meet the needs of the students. The students have
demanded a system like this, and unless RIT revamps its official evaluation
system, the PES will be a popular tool on campus.
Many professor rating systems are threatened with legal action. We ran a similar system at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology). For a long time the site was under intense pressure from the academic senate. After awhile they realized they had no legal grounds and left us alone.
We ended up exporting all of our comments (over 7000) to TeacherReviews. We figured they already survived one lawsuit, so they would be around longer than us.
Looks like we were wrong... the RIT only review site is still online, read-only though:
http://professor.ritstuff.com
Username: pguest
Password: pguest
We have things all wrong and backwards. Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Diabetes will affect so many more Americans than terrorism ever could. Our funding needs to be diverted -- stem cells or not, our priorities here are all messed up.
this is crazy -- i'm going to start applying for my own patents. what the hell, it seems so damn easy to get, i might as well... then i can start making the big bucks...
contact this Kristine Kincaid who seemingly approved this thing, regular - 703 308-0640
FAX - 703 305-3719 -- contact list is here: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/patpers/patpe rs3.htm
Slashdot Mirror
----------------
A majority of students on campus find the PES a valuable tool; this was made obvious by the outpouring of support from students following the forced shutdown of the system. The current 'official' pencil and paper system RIT uses for evaluating professors is not sufficient, nor are it's results made public. The PES was created to meet the shortcomings of RIT's system.
Students at RIT pay thousands of dollars in tuition. They pay this money in return for a first-rate education. Why should a student have to settle for a professor that is sub-par, or doesn't mesh well with their learning style?
The PES system is needed for two reasons:
First, it allows students to identify professors that integrate well with their learning style. There is a multitude of teaching styles at RIT, since a student's goal is to receive the best education possible; students need to choose a professor with a teaching style that is effective.
The PES allows students to easily identify how professors conduct their lectures. A few of the questions that are often answered by the PES include:
The second reason students need the PES is to identify substandard professors. I can attest from personal experience, and I'm sure many others will agree with me: There are a small percentage of professors at RIT that are inadequate. To put it bluntly, they are not good at teaching. They may be very intelligent and proficient in their field, but when attempting to convey these concepts to students, they lack any ability. These are the professors that often received the nasty and/or offensive comments.
Although the PES has some flaws, and has been unfair to a small number of professors, the benefits clearly outweigh the disadvantages. The criticism should not be focused on the PES; the public outcry should be directed towards the RIT administration for not changing the official system to meet the needs of the students. The students have demanded a system like this, and unless RIT revamps its official evaluation system, the PES will be a popular tool on campus.
Many professor rating systems are threatened with legal action. We ran a similar system at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology). For a long time the site was under intense pressure from the academic senate. After awhile they realized they had no legal grounds and left us alone.
We ended up exporting all of our comments (over 7000) to TeacherReviews. We figured they already survived one lawsuit, so they would be around longer than us.
Looks like we were wrong... the RIT only review site is still online, read-only though: http://professor.ritstuff.com Username: pguest Password: pguest
We have things all wrong and backwards. Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Diabetes will affect so many more Americans than terrorism ever could. Our funding needs to be diverted -- stem cells or not, our priorities here are all messed up.
I'm a dumbass, I found them. All the patent numbers are listed here
Here are the 5 US Patent Office Links:
# 5,132,992
# 5,253,275
# 5,550,863
# 6,002,720
# 6,144,702
I can't seem to find the patents after doing a search at the patent office website http://patft.uspto.gov/. Anybody have better luck?
this is crazy -- i'm going to start applying for my own patents. what the hell, it seems so damn easy to get, i might as well... then i can start making the big bucks... contact this Kristine Kincaid who seemingly approved this thing, regular - 703 308-0640 FAX - 703 305-3719 -- contact list is here: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/patpers/patpe rs3.htm