Striking Back or Striking Out?

The unofficial faculty evaluation website RateMyProfessors has begun to post video responses to student comments by professors who feel that their teaching style has been misrepresented. Unfortunately, dignifying ratemyprofessors.com rather than supporting evaluation efforts on their own campuses that can be perceived by students as more transparent does little to improve the status quo. For samples, see the video of an physics professor or of a psychology professor. Although their one-way exchanges with students are certainly civil and good-humored, these examples of digital rhetoric don't really engage fundamentally with the audiences they should be addressing.