Miami Dade College Professors Make “Top List” On Ratemyprofessor.com

Miami Dade College professor, John Todd, has served as the chief of two African tribes, helped start the University of Belize  and worked as the director of training for the Peace Corps.

The 76-year-old Kendall Campus speech professor, who has been an educator for 52 years—the past 11 at MDC—now has another accomplishment to add to his list: One of the top community college professors, according to ratemyprofessor.com.

Todd, who was slected as the third best professor in the ratemyprofessor.com ranking for community colleges, was among four other MDC professors picked for the website’s 2011-2012 Junior College Top 25 List.

The website ranks hundreds of professors from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. More than 15 million college students use ratemyprofessor.com as a source of selecting professors for their courses. Professors on the Top List are rated based on clarity and helpfulness.

“Teaching is not stressful it’s fun for me, that’s why I do so much of it,” Todd said. “That’s why every day I get up and look forward to going to my classes”

According to the ratemyprofessor.com website the rankings, which are from the previous school year, use a combination of the five-point scoring system used by students on the website and  the tallies of  those scores for the past three years to rate professors. The scores from recent years carry more weight. Only professors with 30 ratings or more are considered for the top list.

In addition to Todd, the other four professors from MDC who cracked the top 25 were: InterAmerican Campus English professor Ronald E. Walker, who was ranked number six;  Ryan Adams-Barton a psychology professor at Homestead Campus, who is  ranked number ten;   Kendall Campus math professor Luis Beltran, who is  ranked seventh, and sociology professor  David Demko, who was  ranked 18th. Demko is no longer with the College, according to Jackie Perez the chairperson for the Department of Social Sciences at North Campus.  

Adams-Barton, who started his own company as a certified life coach, and works as an inspirational speaker, said he is  “absolutely ecstatic” about being ranked high by students.

“It was a huge compliment and very gratifying,” Adams-Barton.

But not everyone is thrilled with ratemyprofessor.

Despite being ranked high on the list, Walker warned students on the dangers of putting too much stock on the website’s rankings.

“Some students, because of a lack of interest in the course subject and/or because of the lack of hard work, may blame their less than impressive grade on the professor rather than where it rightfully belongs,” Walker said.

But he also added that he is  “honored to have this high ranking, and I am grateful that students take the time and make the effort to enter such encouraging comments.”

Adams-Barton suggests that the ratemyprofessor rankings is “a great tool and opportunity that can be used along with other sources of information about a particular course with a particular instructor.”

For example, MDC has its own rating system available online on the student portal. The ratings are available under the current student section in the student feedback of faculty area on the lower left side of the quick links tool bar. That system uses the end of the semester professor evaluation sheets submitted by students.  All evaluations are turned in anonymously and professors are asked to step out the room while students fill them out.

Some professors excel in both  systems. One such professor is Luis Beltran who teaches  a subject many college students fret about—math.

“Ratemyprofessor isn’t reliable,” said  Rene Barrientos, the chairperson of the math department at Kendall Campus and Beltran’s boss. “I believe in the college’s rating system. Luis Beltran is also doing well there and that makes me proud.”