Hi! I’ve been teaching at UCLA for ten years. I’ve never really given much thought to Bruinwalk, the UCLA equivalent of RateMyProfessors.com.
Why now? The idea of rating an instructor was the subject, in part, of a really great post last week from former student Emiko Okamura, in which, among other things, Emiko yearned for a good professorship and a chance to earn a “chili pepper.”
A what now?
So I did some looking around and determined that students rate not only our teaching and difficulty and humor, etc, but how we look. On Bruinwalk it’s “snazzy dresser.” Elsewhere, it’s that chili pepper.
Procrastinating while I wait for the tide to drop, I see I have a 4.8 out of 5.0 for my Comp 3 class. Not bad. And that’s data from 31 users! And a 4.2 for Medical Narratives? Kinda low! But it’s data from only four students. Comment time: One student simply says, “Don’t take it.” Ouch. Another: “Best class I have ever taken at Ucla. If you are given the opportunity to take this course, DO IT!!! Deuel is a king.” *Blushing, regally.* And the Essays in Journalism course? A straight 5.0. But… that’s information from only one student, who apparently really enjoyed themselves. (The long and very warm comment begins, “This was hands down the best class I've ever taken.” Hell yeah! I’ll take that…)
So I have a few questions:
Do you look at Bruinwalk?
Is it valuable?
If you’ve written a review, do you think instructors should pay closer attention to the numbers?
If you’ve never written a review, would you consider writing one?
Is this important enough I should, I don’t know, specifically request that students post reviews on Bruinwalk? (Obviously it would be voluntary and I can’t force anyone to do it, nor would I want to, but I could reasonably just bring the idea up in class around the same time I ask for official MyUCLA reviews, which I do read very thoroughly!)
Anyhow, send me an email or leave a comment and help me understand!
Haha, thanks for checking BruinLearn. I've always wanted to know the reactions of instructors on their reviews.
* Do you look at Bruinwalk: Yes
* Is it valuable?: Not always, but it's a good measure for large sample sizes.
* If you’ve written a review, do you think instructors should pay closer attention to the numbers? Yes. Sample size matters.
* If you’ve never written a review, would you consider writing one? Yes, maybe for an incentive of %0.5 of the grade. It should be combined with UCLA evaluation surveys at the end of the quarters.
* Is this important enough I should...: it might be important if reviews are skewed. But my suggestion is a %0.5 grade incentive.