Historical instructor

STEPHEN VAUGHN

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.64/5 from 14 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

JOURN 676
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Students were given freedom to conduct their own research project with their interests. It was pretty fun to critique on other students' projects. Students also had a long time to revise their websites and project papers. Only a final presentation was required, so the second half of this class was pretty easy.
Rate My Professors ↗
JOURN 676
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
I really disliked this class. Professor Vaughn assigns a huge research paper at the beginning of the semester. Each class he makes up a new part of the paper and he changes what he wants every day. If you don't know how to code a website I do not recommend taking this course. Vaughn is irrational in what he expects students to be capable of.
Rate My Professors ↗
560 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
With a large swath of communication history under his belt, Vaughn really, really knows what he's talking about in his hour-and-fifteen-minute lectures. That can be an albatross around his neck at times, especially if he's your section leader, but he'll elaborate on any topic. Exams are standard multiple choice, paper was graded fairly.
Rate My Professors ↗
NEWMEDIA · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
As a recent grad, I have to say Vaughn was one of maybe two professors in the J-School I actually admired and liked as a person. Stands out as being nice, genuine, humble, and an excellent professor.
Rate My Professors ↗
JOURN 676
Quality 2/5Difficulty 1/5
Class is rough. He is super smart, but rather dominating in class, if you have questions or you are not on the same page it won't get straightened out. Great analysis of the history of new media, little working knowledge of new media.
Rate My Professors ↗
J560 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Really like the class and Dr. Vaughn. Very, very smart guy, and his content is very fresh and interesting every day, albeit a little droll in presentation. Class is just two exams and one paper, discussion mandatory... Relatively easy. A TON of reading, but its mostly interesting and useful. Very nice guy too, definitely recommend taking it.
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with STEPHEN VAUGHN

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_454fd9149539b54c3aa456bd",
  "source": "legacy",
  "source_instructor_id": null,
  "identity_basis": "name_only",
  "identity_status": "unresolved",
  "name": "STEPHEN VAUGHN",
  "email": null,
  "first_observed_at": "2025-04-16 05:20:33.104844+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 14,
    "quality": 3.64,
    "difficulty": 2.5,
    "quality_count": 14,
    "difficulty_count": 14,
    "profile_id": "rmp:266505",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/266505",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:04:44.345650+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_12cd95ac5e46e8b391c94d96": {
        "review_count": 3,
        "quality": 2.67,
        "difficulty": 2.33,
        "quality_count": 3,
        "difficulty_count": 3
      },
      "course_8d1a863312e63ed5c2fc2c6b": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 5,
        "difficulty": 2,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      },
      "course_0c69bb7e7198e2a783522b58": {
        "review_count": 2,
        "quality": 4,
        "difficulty": 2.5,
        "quality_count": 2,
        "difficulty_count": 2
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.651579872674468,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": false,
  "courses": [],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/STEPHEN_VAUGHN--instructor_454fd9149539b54c3aa456bd"
}