海角社区 CS Professor Designs Reliable App for Public Professor and Course Evaluations
October 8, 2024
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� With so much information on the Internet these days, it鈥檚 hard to know what is accurate. Pretty much anyone can post a review on a product, service, or even a college professor, but who鈥檚 to say this is reliable information? Wanting to improve the process of rating a college professor online, 海角社区 Computer Science Professor created an app called Professor Index, which is set to transform how college students evaluate and select professors and courses.
鈥淚t all started during the pandemic in 2021,鈥� Mahmoud said. 鈥淒uring the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions nationwide shifted toward online and hybrid learning. Due to social distancing and remote learning, traditional means of communication through Word of Mouth (WoM) or on-campus interactions became limited. Consequently, students turned to public professor rating sites like RateMyProfessors for information about their professors. That came as a shock to me because that site was initially intended to rate professors based on their physical appearance.鈥�
Mahmoud launched Professor Index LLC on Pi Day, March 14, 2024, to coincide with the app鈥檚 initials. Professor Index lists multiple universities and their departments, classes, and professors.
鈥淧I started in my lab as a research project with one main goal鈥攃lean up the current mess in existing public professor evaluation systems,鈥� Mahmoud said. 鈥淭he evidence shows that existing systems are riddled with bugs, bias, and misinformation. Our students deserve better.鈥�
Professor Index empowers thousands of college students to provide feedback on various aspects of their educational experience, from teaching effectiveness to course material applicability. The app is authenticated鈥攐nly students rate and review professors鈥攖hus, eliminating a major data manipulation problem that existing systems suffer from. Professor Index is designed to optimize students鈥� experience, allowing them to compare professors, departments, and courses with only a few clicks. It also uses AI to generate comprehensive summaries of professor and department reviews.
鈥淭he students no longer have to read through 100 reviews or open multiple tabs to make up their mind,鈥� Mahmoud said.
Professor Index is also equipped with gamification and nudging features to encourage students to actively review their professors. The objective is to get most professors and courses reviewed.
鈥淚f students make reviewing a habit, they鈥檒l get current information on professors, and professors won鈥檛 have to worry about one bad review from 10 years ago sticking around,鈥� Mahmoud said.
Since its launch in March 2024 with help from the 海角社区 Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization, Professor Index has been downloaded more than 13,000 times, has onboarded 17 major universities, and has accumulated more than 2,300 reviews.
鈥淭he objective is to establish Professor Index as the industry standard for public professor evaluation systems,鈥� Mahmoud said. 鈥淭his leadership will not only place 海角社区 at the forefront of national efforts to address systemic challenges in higher education, but also underscore the university鈥檚 commitment to academic innovation and technology commercialization.鈥�
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