Gender Expectations and On-Line Evaluations of Teaching: Evidence from RateMyProfessors.com.

Using publicly available data from RateMyProfessors.com, we explore whether an instructor’s gender influences how students rate that instructor. Although RateMyProfessors.com may not accurately reflect quality teaching, it provides a unique window   into   how   students   construct   their   classroom   experiences.   Multiple regression analyses of 500 professors from five public universities in the state of Florida fail to reveal significant gender differences in ratings of ‘overall quality’. Using  more complex models,  we test  the  hypothesis  that  female  instructors  are rated  more  positively  when  they  display  traditionally  female  traits,  namely teaching in a traditionally female field and offering courses that are perceived as easier.  Contrary  to  our  expectations,  our  analyses  fail  to  reveal  the  use  of  a gendered  yardstick  in  quantitative  evaluations  of  college  instructors.  Instead, perceptions of ease appear to be the great equalizer within this on-line context.