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THURSDAY JANUARY 24, 2013
COLLEGE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Rate My Professors is a website that allows students to rate professors after taking their class and allows for others to utilize professor ratings when enrolling for classes. The University has more than 2,000 professors listed on the website.
Students grade professors
IFNNA IAKOWATZ
iiakowatz@kansan.com
Many students now turn to the Internet for guidance before they enroll in a class.
Monica Marshall, a senior from Greenville, S.C., used Rate My Professors while enrolling this semester to decide what classes to take — and which professors to avoid.
"I've taken a certain class at a specific time because the teacher was rated so well by the other students on Rate My Professor," Marshall said. "I've also not taken certain classes because the teacher was rated so poorly."
Ratemyprofessors.com is a website where students can anonymously give feedback about the professors they have had at colleges across the country. According to the website, The University of
Kansas has 2.155 professors listed, with an average professor rating of 3.69. Comparatively, Kansas State University also has an average rating of 3.69, and Washburn University has an average of 3.78.
Rate My Professors boasts it is the "highest trafficked free site for quickly researching and rating 1.7 million professors from colleges and universities across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom."
However, some of the website's users are cautious before making a decision on a class or teacher solely based on the reviews.
Elizabeth Najim, a senior from
Wichita, is one of these users who is careful before taking the review of a professor at face value.
"Sometimes you have to use your common sense on some people's ratings, but usually they are quite accurate." Najim said.
"One of the downsides of the website is that it can become insulting and rude, or just infuriating because people can't spell, so how can you trust their judgement?" Naiim said.
Despite the website's drawbacks, many loyal users use it frequently and without hesitation.
"I use it every semester before I enroll." Marshall said.
The last day to officially add a class is Feb. 18, and the last day to officially drop or withdraw a class is April 22.
Edited by Sarah McCabe
ACADEMICS
EMILY DONOVAN
Fall marks curriculum changes
edonovan@kansan.com
Students can expect changes to KU's core curriculum starting next fall. The University Core Curriculum Committee is working on final revisions to the new KU Core, which will require students to take 12 general education classes along with classes specific to their majors.
Currently, 72 hours of classes are required for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' General Education degree. The KU Core will require approximately 36 credit hours. While the Core applies to all students regardless of their major and is in that sense an big change, it will likely cut down on total time spent in general education classes.
"Because the KU Core is based on educational goals and learning outcomes, students will have a better sense of what they are obtaining from the courses that they're taking," Haufler said. "The current general education requirements tend to just be lists of courses that don't seem necessarily tied to any particular learning goals."
Professor Chris Hauffer, who has been a leader in implementing the Core, believes that asking for only 12 units geared toward tangible learning goals such as strengthening written communication or expanding global awareness will give students a better sense of purpose.
possible courses to review this semester. When the reviewing process is finished, students will be able to choose between more than 800 classes to fulfill the required 12 units. Professor Chuck Marsh, chair of the University Core Curriculum Committee, believes that giving students so many class options in a variety of subjects will help them find courses that fit their interests.
Each school recommended courses to be added as options for the Core curriculum. The University Core Curriculum Committee has already approved nearly 500 courses and has more than 400
"It makes me want to be a student again," Marsh said. "One of the great things is to see how many courses in how many different departments across campus can clearly meet
certain of these learning outcomes."
"I wanted to be on the committee to make sure that while the college was making this change, that they were making sure that it was in the best interest of the students and that there was some student input," Childress said.
Faculty members and student senators have been working to make sure that these core curriculum changes will positively impact the students. Tyler Childress, a junior studying sociology and political science, is a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Student Senator and a voting member on the 2012-2013 committee that has been working to define the new KU Core for its first year.
The new Core will be put in practice after the Provost and the
Chancellor moved to update general education requirements last fall.
"We've had the same curriculum in place pretty much as it currently stands for about fifty years," Hauffer said. "The fact that for the first time, all KU undergraduates — no matter what their major — will have the same grounding in general education will be a huge
CHUCK MARSK
Chair of Core Curriculum Committee
change."
Incoming freshmen will be required to take the KU Core starting Fall 2013. When degree-specific requirements from each school are finalized after this
semester, current freshmen may meet with their advisors to decide whether to opt into the KU Core instead of continuing to study under current general education requirements.
"It may be advantageous for students to follow the KU Core rather than the current college B.A. requirements," Hauffer said. "However, I think, in the professional schools, it's just not going to have that much of an impact and it's much less likely that students will switch to the KU Core in engineering or journalism or architecture."
ODDITY
Current sophomores and upperclassmen will not be affected by the changes. More information can be found at http://kucore.ku.edu.
Two men sue Subway over too-short subs
a bit less than 12 inches.
Two New Jersey men sued Subway this week, claiming the world's biggest fast-food chain has been shorting them by selling so-called footlong sandwiches that measure
Facebook page to show that the sandwich was not as long as advertised.
At the time, the company issued a statement saying that the sandwich length can vary a bit when franchises do not bake to the exact corporate standards.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Superior Court in Mount Holly, may be the first legal filing aimed at the sandwich shops after an embarrassment went viral last week when someone posted a photo of a footlong and a ruler on the company's
Stephen DeNittis, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the New Jersey suit, said he's seeking class-action status and is also preparing to file a similar suit in Pennsylvania state court in Philadelphia.
He said he's had sandwiches from 17 shops measured — and
every one came up short.
"The case is about holding companies to deliver what they've promised," he said.
Even though the alleged short of a half-inch or so of bread is relatively small, it adds up. he said. Subway has 38,000 stores around the world.
nearly all owned by franchisees and its $5 footlong specials have been a mainstay of the company's ads for five years.
Subway did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Associated Press