Tomorrow’s Professor Msg. #81 STUDENT EVALUATIONS: GENDER BIAS AND TEACHING STYLES

Folks:

The following excerpt is from an excellent book, Career Strategies for Women in Academe: Arming Athena, Lynn H. Collings, Joan C. Chrisler, Kathryn Quina, editors, Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, California 91320, pp 151-152. The authors discuss fac tors impacting student evaluations of faculty performance and steps women faculty in particular can take to ameliorate negative biases.

Regards,

Rick Reis

UP NEXT: Matching Your Characteristics to The Institution

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STUDENT EVALUATIONS: GENDER BIAS AND TEACHING STYLES

Lynn H. Collings
Joan C. Chrisler
Kathryn Quina

Many of the factors that contribute to negative ratings of women faculty appear to be beyond our control. Certainly students come to college with gender-role expectations that are difficult to modify. Society as a whole needs changing. But the women fa culty member can do several things to arm herself against unfairly negative student evaluations. Some of these suggestions (esp. #1 and #2 below) may not fit an individual woman's personality or ideology. Indeed, it's not fair that women professors have to be concerned about gender-stereotyped expectations. However, because those expectations do exist, it might be helpful for those who want to build an academic career to know how to try to get around them.

(1) Educate others about the ways gender can affect student evaluations. If done early enough, especially with students and supervisors, such material is less likely to be seen as defensive. Many are able to learn of and overcome their own biases if th ey are made aware of them.

(2) Women faculty must signal that they are competent and knowledgeable. For example, you might talk about your qualifications on the first day of class-anything associated with status, knowledge, competence, and connections.

(a) Dressing in a professional way appears more important for women faculty than for men. A woman professor who dresses informally (e.g. jeans) may seem more approachable, but she does not get high ratings for respect or knowledge (Lukavsky, Butler, an d Harden, 1995).

(b) Women faculty also may gain respect by using their title (Dr. or Professor) and last names, rather than their first names. Because women are frequently thought of as possessions in the domestic sphere, using professional titles may help students br eak the gender stereotype set.

(3) Women faculty must appear nurturant and expressive, but not too much so. These traits must go along with competent behaviors or else the woman risks being seen as the "mother" and similarly devalued. For example, along with telling students your qu alifications on the first day of class, you might also want to inform them of your willingness to help students and some ways in which you do so ; for example review sessions, help with papers.

(a) Smiling and eye contact appear to be particularly important for women faculty, especially with male students (Kierstead et al., 1988; Martin, 1984). These signs may make a competent woman less threatening.

(b) It is also important to be accessible to students (e.g., post and keep= regular office hours). Do not, however, be endlessly available to your students. You will not get any other work done, and you will not be particularly appreciated or rewarded with high evaluations (Bernstein, Sumner, et al., 1995).

(4) Teach female students. Female students tend to give higher ratings than male students overall, especially to female professors.

(5) Avoid too much lecturing Women who use the lecture format are rated lower than men who do so. Encouraging active participation by students is a good predictor of student evaluations, especially for women professors (Bernstein, Blaisdell, et al.,199 5).

(6) Try to get your institution to adopt standardized and objective assessment instruments, especially those that tap different teaching factors. Beware of forms that emphasize only some aspects of teaching, or that only ask vague general questions.

(7) If your institution doesn't have a good evaluation form, you might be able to substitute or supplement with your own. Try to get students to focus on behaviorally based questions that relate to your course objectives rather than on vague, subjectiv e ones.

(8) Before handing out evaluations, review the course objectives and ask students to consider what they've learned during the term. This may help to focus students on your effectiveness as a professor rather than on your personality.

(9) Ask peers to observe your classes and evaluate your teaching using behavioral rating forms. Although peers may be as vulnerable to bias as students, they may also provide a different, more objective view.

(10) Document the student learning in your classes using a portfolio approach. If you teach one section of a multisection course, that has a common final exam, document how well your students did relative to those in other sections. Include your grade distributions in your personal file because women faculty may be penalized more than a male faculty for being tough graders.

If you think the variables discussed in this chapter have affected your students ratings, include some of the research cited here in your personnel file or tenure packet. Encourage your Chair to read some of relevant literature before writing the reco mmendation to the tenure and promotion committee.