Responses to Negative Student Evaluations on RateMyProfessors.com: The Effect of Instructor Statement of Credibility on Student Lower-Level Cognitive Learning and State Motivation to Learn

Abstract

Instructors have the ability to respond to student evaluations on RateMyProfessors.com (RMP). The current research conceptualized the juxtaposition of student evaluations and instructor responses using communication processes on participatory websites. In an original experiment, the results demonstrated that when faced with multiple negative student evaluations on RMP, an instructor's statement of trustworthiness robustly increased students’ lower-level cognitive learning. A supplemental analysis revealed that an instructor's statement of competence, caring, and trustworthiness additively increased the likelihood of student enrollment toward course content. This research established the empirical efficacy of instructor responses to student evaluations on RMP.

Keywords:

• RateMyProfessors.com
• Student Evaluations
• Participatory Websites
• Lower-Level Cognitive Learning
• Instructor Credibility
• Message-Sidedness