Extra Credit Post #1

The study “Rate My Expectations:  How Online Evaluations of Professors Impact Students’ Perceived Control” conducted by Rachel Hensley evaluates the affect of a single website that is Ratemyprofessor.com.  Prior students of these professors write up a description of their personal experience in the course.  As one can imagine, every student’s experience varies.  Hensley’s study illustrates how “Ratemyprofessors.com can have an impact on students’ impressions of professors and directly affect student perceptions of control over the course outcome and their attitudes toward taking the course” (Hensley, 2011).  Those students placed into a “poor” rated professor’s lecture fail to cooperate with the teaching style of the particular professor due to a pre judged description.  Had the student simply accepted the alleged professor without reading a review before hand, one may question how the student would have performed.  Does someone else’s experience truly speak for that of future students?  Maybe the original student who struggled in the class was not as interested in the subject matter, failing to perform at the level desired by the professor of said course.  These factors must be taken into consideration when gaining insight into the professor’s ability to successfully teach his/her students.