LAUSR

Little is known about the effects of Ratemyprofessors.com teaching evaluations relative to university-administered teaching evaluations in students. Therefore, this study investigated differences in use and consideration of these evaluation sources. It also investigated the effects of evaluation source, evaluation valence (mostly positive or mostly negative), and their interaction on students’ decision making, self-efficacy for a course, and expectations about academic outcomes. Participants were 223 undergraduates who viewed either mostly positive or mostly negative teaching evaluations about a fictitious professor and were told that were from either university-administered teaching evaluations or Ratemyprofessors.com. Evaluation valence, but not source, affected participants’ decision making, self-efficacy, and expectations about the professor’s course. Implications for student self-efficacy and expectations are discussed. Additionally, recommendations for students who choose to use Ratemyprofessors.com to inform their course decision making are provided.