Once you get a reputation as a bad teacher, is there any way to change it? Or are students always going to write you off from the beginning?
I have a colleague who has quite the reputation for being rude to students, unapproachable during office hours, and disorganized in the classroom. Students complain to me about him all the time (I just put on my I-support-my-colleagues face). His ratemyprofessor is full of student rants and, truth be told, some fairly logical, well-supported complaints. Students start the semester knowing his reputation, and I wonder if that fact alone is the biggest contributor to their low opinion of him-- not his actual actions in the classroom.
So is a frowny face on ratemyprofessor too much to overcome? Are there any strategies that professors can employ to turn around a reputation?
