12-31-2007, 12:19 AM
I let them use audio recording devices, but I have long made it a policy to bar students from using cameras in my classroom. Most of the places I've taught have had similar campus-wide policies.
It has less to do with my privacy than it does the privacy of my students. My classroom is not a public space, but I do have a diminished expectation of privacy when lecturing in front of 30 to 250 students in a room equipped with surveillance cameras and -- sometimes -- video cameras running for distance learning applications.
My students, OTOH, did not sign up to perform in front of an audience.
If my lectures end up on YouTube I will probably complain to the school's lawyers, but mostly I try not to pick my nose or physically assault a student any time that I might be caught on tape (or solid-state equivalent).
Honestly, if I wasn't comfortable (occasionally) being lampooned or pilloried I'd never step in front of a class of college students again.
As for ratemyprofessors.com -- just ignore it. There is nothing there that you need to see.
A colleague of mine was viciously attacked on that site. From the content of the slanderous posts, it was clear that her critic had never been in any of her classes. She was never able to prove it, but she suspected that it was an ex-boyfriend.
Since there is no way to know if the negative posts come from unique students, or from students at all, no reasonable employer would act upon them.
As for what the students make of these ratings, that it something over which you have little or no control.
It has less to do with my privacy than it does the privacy of my students. My classroom is not a public space, but I do have a diminished expectation of privacy when lecturing in front of 30 to 250 students in a room equipped with surveillance cameras and -- sometimes -- video cameras running for distance learning applications.
My students, OTOH, did not sign up to perform in front of an audience.
If my lectures end up on YouTube I will probably complain to the school's lawyers, but mostly I try not to pick my nose or physically assault a student any time that I might be caught on tape (or solid-state equivalent).
Honestly, if I wasn't comfortable (occasionally) being lampooned or pilloried I'd never step in front of a class of college students again.
As for ratemyprofessors.com -- just ignore it. There is nothing there that you need to see.
A colleague of mine was viciously attacked on that site. From the content of the slanderous posts, it was clear that her critic had never been in any of her classes. She was never able to prove it, but she suspected that it was an ex-boyfriend.
Since there is no way to know if the negative posts come from unique students, or from students at all, no reasonable employer would act upon them.
As for what the students make of these ratings, that it something over which you have little or no control.