There are no specific demographic details which pertain to the users. All visitors just have a common desire and involvement with the education process.

Ideal Users :

Students are the ideal user for this site because they are the ones who interact with the professors. They can take a class and see first hand how a professor teaches and then report their findings on the site to inform other students. Students are most likely to post a rating or comment only if they had strong feelings of like or dislike for a professor. Neutral feelings usually do not motivate a post (Kindred, Mohammed).

Some worry, however, that students may be posting on the site only to get revenge on a professor after receiving a bad grade (Reid). No matter what the reason, the comments posted on the site are predominately written by students.

Professors are also prominent users of the site. Since it is they who have their personal teaching profiles listed, it is no surprise that teachers often look themselves up. They are not likely to post because the site provides more of a “youthful atmosphere”. A lot of “slang” terminology is used or all capital letters may be seen when a student wanted  to stress a point. The text is similar to that of a blog or instant messaging.

Reasons for Usage:

Students use the site to aid with their class scheduling. One student from the University of Idaho commented that he used the site to “see how teachers are rated, see how hard their classes are, see what kind of teacher they are…” (Giegerich). Students may base what classes they take on the professor, in turn they may pick their professor based on ratemyprofessor.com. This chain of events could ultimately lead to students picking their classes directly on the information presented on the site.  Several other motives have been explored for the usage of the site by students.

The need to participate in and belong to a group was suggested as a way for students to freely express themselves and give input (Kindred, Mohammed). The number one reason; however was to acquire information about professors and to help make decisions while forming schedules. It was found, though, that students tend to rely more on the opinions of their peers as opposed to the comments on ratemyprofessor.com. They trust their friends’ judgments more but seek out extra information on the internet because they want to acquire as much information as possible (Kindred, Mohammed).

 

Professors may use the site to see what their students think of their teaching methods. Sometimes they can use the criticisms to their advantage. For example, Peter Sandborn a mechanical engineering professor at Maryland said that after looking at his profile he got the impression that maybe he was too easy of grader so he revised his method to be a little stricter (Lewin). After reading student’s opinions, professors can become aware of certain areas which they could use improvement. 

Other professors however, see the site as a negative thing. They feel that students use the site to only look for an easy A. An English professor at American River stated that faculty members worry that students will stay away from classes which they perceive as hard (Stern). Paul Dawkins a math professor at Lamar, stated that a high amount of bad reviews could lead to the professor becoming unpopular and therefore their enrollment would drop (Reid). Some professors are scared of losing their jobs if students stop taking their classes due to bad reviews on ratemyprofessor.com.

Professors from the University of Texas at Arlington noticed that teachers who gave higher grades had fuller classes (Reid). It was pointed out, however, that 60% of the ratings on ratemyprofessor.com are positive (Giegerich).

 

Expected Behaviors of Users:

Students operate under certain norms while on the site. Some of the norms in this community consist of sort of “visible boundaries.” Although students write their opinions, there should be a certain level of respect which is held for professors. This should result in comments avoiding things such as insults, “bashing” and swear words. 

A similar site, PickAProf.com actually rejects reviews which could be seen as malicious or as personal attacks (Solnik). Karen Bragg, directory of university relations for Pick-A-Prof based in Austin Texas said that they do accept negative reviews, but they have to be informative and state the reason behind the bad opinion (Solnik). If someone were to harshly insult a professor, other students may respond by posting comments defending them.

Professors also face certain expectations. The assumption is that professors will  remain professional and take the criticisms maturely. Assistant Professor of English at Assumption College James Lang found that the site could be a good thing when used correctly (Lang). He feels that when students ask meaningful questions then the site could provide useful information. He was however, disappointed with the fact that his profile was labeled with a red hot chili pepper. He could’ve easily made a post himself on the site but instead he chose to print a letter of his discontent in The Chronicle of Higher Education. This type of action is completely justified because his point was made clear in a respectable way.

Users experience with the internet:

Students using ratemyprofessor.com today are part of the digital native era. They most likely grew up with computers and took several classes while in elementary, middle and high school. It would be easy for them to find the site because of their comfort with the internet.  Also their familiarity with other collaborative websites would increase their chance of already knowing the mechanics of rating and posting comments.

Professors are not part of the digital native but they are obviously educated due to their profession. They most likely use the computer daily and have taken a computer class at some point in their lives.