With the new Course Offering Directory out last Friday, students are beginning to select classes for the spring semester. TheCourseForum.com, a new course evaluation Web site geared solely toward the University community, can now be used to help students select classes.
TheCourseForum.com, in its first month, has about 400 registered students evaluating about 200 classes with approximately 320 reviews, Third-Year Council Webmaster Alan Webb said.
Webb and the other Third-Year Council Webmaster Jeff Bordogna created the Web site in an effort to consolidate the resources of existing course evaluation Web sites such as RateMyProfessors.com and the Course Offering Directory, Webb said. It was launched in collaboration with the Third-Year Council.
Unlike RateMyProfessors.com, where students only can rate and post comments on their professors, TheCourseForum.com allows University students to rate and evaluate both professors and courses. In addition, while the COD includes number rankings for classes, TheCourseForum.com includes student comments to supplement those rankings, Bordogna said.
TheCourseForum.com includes additional features as well, including the ability to sort classes by graduation requirements and the option of viewing the highest-rated courses within one's particular field of study, Webb said. It can only be used by University students.
According to Bordogna, who designed the Web site with Webb over the summer, TheCourseForum.com was created in an effort to make a better professor and course ranking system than those found on other Web sites and to enhance the efficiency of students' course selection process.
The Web site is "designed to combine all the features of the random spattering of course evaluation sites," Webb said.
Bordogna and Webb said they hope TheCourseForum.com will help bring the University community together. They also said they hope that students will find the Web site to be an easily accessible source that caters to students' particular needs.
Yet Bordogna also emphasized the importance of growth for the site.
"The most important thing is to get a high number of reviews on the Web site," Bordogna said.
Third-year Engineering student Laura Cavanaugh, a registered user of TheCourseForum.com, said she likes the Web site because it is specifically geared toward University students, and it is more comprehensive than similar Web sites.
It has "a lot more options," Cavanaugh said.
According to Webb, he and Bordogna's benchmark goal is to have 65 percent of the University population using the Web site. But Webb and Bordogna said they are not looking to draw the line there.
"Our ultimate goal is that everyone will know that this is the source to go to, and use it," Webb said.
Read More
U.Va. loses over $60 million in federal research cuts
By Bertie Azqueta | 20 hours agoThe impacted grants include three from the NIH, seven from the NEH, one from the United States Agency for International Development and four from the State Department.
Department of Education reverses course, awards Federal Executive Institute to U.Va.
By Ford McCracken | 3 days agoThe ED had previously awarded the institute to Charlottesville City Schools.
Students reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis
By Bertie Azqueta | 4 days agoAt the University, students shared a range of perspectives on his legacy of reform, inclusivity and his impact on the global Catholic community.
