UGA employee, Chuck Griffin, at Tate Center help desk
John Champagne searches UGAKey.com
By: Ashton McKinnon
ATHENS, Ga. - - University of Georgia students use two Web sites, UGAKey.com and RateMyProfessors.com, when deciding which classes to take.
UGAKey.com is the university’s course review book that gives students the opportunity to view grade distributions for undergraduate courses. Beginning as a project of the Student Government Association in 1999, UGAKey.com now contains grade data for classes from Fall 1999 to Spring 2009 and also contains syllabi for most classes.
Currently, UGAKey.com accepts grade data obtained from the UGA Office of Institutional Research. The site is maintained by students and is based on information preserved by SGA and the university.
Ali Noeltner, a freshman from Atlanta, majoring in pre-business finds UGAKey.com a useful source in registering for classes.
“I found out about it at orientation,” Noeltner said. “I use it because I like to find teachers with good grades. I look especially at GPA ratings.”
Noeltner said there are some things she would like to see changed.
“I would maybe like to see a link to a professor profile---a student comment page or even a professor bio would be helpful,” she said.
Web sites such as UGAKey.com and RateMyProfessors.com have been accessible to students since 1999 and are used frequently by students of all ages and majors.
Ratemyprofessors.com is the Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings, with more than 6.8 million student-generated ratings of over 1 million professors, according to its Web site.
While student-generated ratings may appear to be an advantage for other students searching the site, it would have to depend on what students consider advantageous.
UGAKey.com may not have personal student assessments, but it accurately outlines and updates statistical information for each class by professor. UGAKey.com provides the course number, the professor, the average GPA, percentage of each grade, number of students in the class, the syllabus and a basic course description.
Chuck Griffin, a Tate employee who graduated last September with a degree in Telecommunications, said he used UGAKey.com every semester while he was at the university.
“I liked that it had all the averages and was 100% accurate I guess,” Griffin said. “Students come to me all the time asking for help with it. I give them the address and show them what the site looks like.”
Ratemyprofessors.com rates teachers and professors on a five-point scale on four attributes: helpfulness, clarity, easiness and popularity. For each section, a user picks a number between one and five, one being the worst and five being the best. The numbers are then averaged to provide a quality score.
Some students find this scale of evaluation to be advantageous because it provides personal opinions from students who have previously experienced this professor or class.
John Champagne, senior economics major from Atlanta, said he likes to use both sites when researching a class.
“The UGAKey.com is good for statistics, but I like to check out Rate My Professor and see what other students think about the class,” Champagne said. “I can usually tell if a teacher is someone I will be able to respect and learn from based on what other students say about them.”
For many students, a professor’s ratings affects whether or not they will choose to enroll in the class. Students want to know how hard they are going to have to work at each subject to get the grade they want. For some, this is a make-or-break deal.
“It’s really good for figuring out what electives to take,” Champagne said. “When I’m overloaded with major classes, I want an elective that can be my easy break.”
UGAKey.com and Ratemyprofessors.com have become the ultimate forum for students helping students succeed in undergraduate courses. However, for some students at UGA this forum is becoming insignificant.
Lily Binner, a junior majoring in international affairs from Charlotte, N.C., said she stopped using UGAKey.com after her sophomore year.
“Once I got into my major classes it didn’t really matter,” said Binner. “I didn’t have a choice for what teacher I wanted; I was going to have to take the class to graduate no matter what."
ATHENS, Ga. - - University of Georgia students use two Web sites, UGAKey.com and RateMyProfessors.com, when deciding which classes to take.
UGAKey.com is the university’s course review book that gives students the opportunity to view grade distributions for undergraduate courses. Beginning as a project of the Student Government Association in 1999, UGAKey.com now contains grade data for classes from Fall 1999 to Spring 2009 and also contains syllabi for most classes.
Currently, UGAKey.com accepts grade data obtained from the UGA Office of Institutional Research. The site is maintained by students and is based on information preserved by SGA and the university.
Ali Noeltner, a freshman from Atlanta, majoring in pre-business finds UGAKey.com a useful source in registering for classes.
“I found out about it at orientation,” Noeltner said. “I use it because I like to find teachers with good grades. I look especially at GPA ratings.”
Noeltner said there are some things she would like to see changed.
“I would maybe like to see a link to a professor profile---a student comment page or even a professor bio would be helpful,” she said.
Web sites such as UGAKey.com and RateMyProfessors.com have been accessible to students since 1999 and are used frequently by students of all ages and majors.
Ratemyprofessors.com is the Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings, with more than 6.8 million student-generated ratings of over 1 million professors, according to its Web site.
While student-generated ratings may appear to be an advantage for other students searching the site, it would have to depend on what students consider advantageous.
UGAKey.com may not have personal student assessments, but it accurately outlines and updates statistical information for each class by professor. UGAKey.com provides the course number, the professor, the average GPA, percentage of each grade, number of students in the class, the syllabus and a basic course description.
Chuck Griffin, a Tate employee who graduated last September with a degree in Telecommunications, said he used UGAKey.com every semester while he was at the university.
“I liked that it had all the averages and was 100% accurate I guess,” Griffin said. “Students come to me all the time asking for help with it. I give them the address and show them what the site looks like.”
Ratemyprofessors.com rates teachers and professors on a five-point scale on four attributes: helpfulness, clarity, easiness and popularity. For each section, a user picks a number between one and five, one being the worst and five being the best. The numbers are then averaged to provide a quality score.
Some students find this scale of evaluation to be advantageous because it provides personal opinions from students who have previously experienced this professor or class.
John Champagne, senior economics major from Atlanta, said he likes to use both sites when researching a class.
“The UGAKey.com is good for statistics, but I like to check out Rate My Professor and see what other students think about the class,” Champagne said. “I can usually tell if a teacher is someone I will be able to respect and learn from based on what other students say about them.”
For many students, a professor’s ratings affects whether or not they will choose to enroll in the class. Students want to know how hard they are going to have to work at each subject to get the grade they want. For some, this is a make-or-break deal.
“It’s really good for figuring out what electives to take,” Champagne said. “When I’m overloaded with major classes, I want an elective that can be my easy break.”
UGAKey.com and Ratemyprofessors.com have become the ultimate forum for students helping students succeed in undergraduate courses. However, for some students at UGA this forum is becoming insignificant.
Lily Binner, a junior majoring in international affairs from Charlotte, N.C., said she stopped using UGAKey.com after her sophomore year.
“Once I got into my major classes it didn’t really matter,” said Binner. “I didn’t have a choice for what teacher I wanted; I was going to have to take the class to graduate no matter what."
Edited by: Katie Lazzara
This version is clearer and better focused. The lead is a little dry, but it leaves no doubt as to what the story is about.
ReplyDeleteBe careful about overstating, like your third-to-last paragraph: "UGAKey.com and Ratemyprofessors.com have become the ultimate forum for students helping students succeed in undergraduate courses." Really? The ULTIMATE forum?