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Finding Official UCalgary Course/Professor Ratings (NOT RateMyProf)

Like any anonymous review website, Rate My Professor is filled with fake positive reviews and review bombing. Sometimes, a professor just isn't there! So where can you go for extra information? You can check the official "Universal Student Ratings of Instruction" or USRIs.

Many students know about USRIs and their importance to improving quality of instruction at the university. They are optional surveys done anonymously near the end of each semester through the UCalgary portal (you can only review the course if you're actually taking it) and each course has a written survey and a rating survey for various metrics.

What few students know or take advantage of is that many USRI results from previous semesters are available for them to read (they are released to students if at least 20% of the section and a minimum of 8 students responded).

The following information is made available (for specific lecture sections taught by each professor):

  • Ratings on a scale of 1 (Strongly Disagree) - 7 (Strongly Agree) for each of the following metrics
  •  
    • The section, semester, and instructor (e.x. J. Smith, Winter 2020, AAAA101 LEC 02)
    • Number of responses and response rate for the course
    So without further ado, how can you access these ratings?
    1. Login to your portal and click on "Course Search" on the homepage

    2. Search for the course/professor for which you're looking for ratings. It doesn't matter which semester or section, so you can uncheck "Show Open Classes Only" so that the course will appear

    3. Click on the "Universal Student Ratings of Instruction" link below the course name in your search results

    4. If you then agree to the Usage Advisory, you should be brought to the following page (if it brings you to a login, then try clicking "I Agree" again)


    5. I recommend you check "USRI results for all terms" as there are often no results for the previous term. You will then be brought to a page where you can see a list of all previous sections for that course and who taught them.
      From https://www.ucalgary.ca/provost/sites/default/files/teams/2/USRIs%20-%20Students%20Access%20to%20Results.pdf

    6. Finally, you can click on the "Section Rating" button for any section you're interested in. You'll probably want to choose the latest section possible for the professor/course you are researching. Ta-da! The survey results for the section are now there for you to see :)
    From https://www.ucalgary.ca/provost/sites/default/files/teams/2/USRIs%20-%20Students%20Access%20to%20Results.pdf

    So there you go! It's certainly not as easy to use as Rate My Professor and is missing text feedback, but in some ways it can be more accurate and complete. I honestly think it's kind of fun and interesting to read.

    Until next time,
    Ana

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