Dissecting the voice: Health professions students' perceptions of instructor age and gender in an online environment and the impact on evaluations for faculty

Gender and age bias is well‐documented in academia with many studies demonstrating bias in students' evaluations of instructors. Failure of an instructor to meet gender or age‐based expectations can translate to lower scores or negative comments on evaluations. While there is some evidence of b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anatomical sciences education 2016-11, Vol.9 (6), p.537-544
Main Authors: Doubleday, Alison F., Lee, Lisa M.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Differences
Age Factors
Ageism
Anatomy
Anatomy - education
Attitude of Health Personnel
Chicago
College Faculty
Colorado
Course Content
dental education
Dental Schools
digital resources
Education, Dental - methods
Female
gender bias
Gender Differences
gross anatomy education
Humans
implicit bias
Male
Medical Education
Narration
neuroanatomy education
Online Courses
online learning
Perception
Questionnaires
Random Allocation
Scores
Sex Factors
Sexism
Student Attitudes
Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance
student evaluations
Students, Dental - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Teacher Characteristics
Teacher Evaluation
Teaching
undergraduate education
Video Technology
Voice Quality
Young Adult
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Summary:Gender and age bias is well‐documented in academia with many studies demonstrating bias in students' evaluations of instructors. Failure of an instructor to meet gender or age‐based expectations can translate to lower scores or negative comments on evaluations. While there is some evidence of bias in students' evaluations of online instructors, current studies have not fully examined the relationship between bias and instructor vocal characteristics. First‐year dental students at two institutions were randomly assigned one of four videos on spinal cord anatomy to view. Videos contained identical content but were narrated by individuals of different gender and age (younger man, younger woman, older man, older woman). Students completed a content‐based prequiz, watched the video, completed a postquiz, and answered a questionnaire evaluating the video and instructor. Students at Institution A rated the younger man and younger woman highest for nearly every evaluation category. At Institution B students rated the older man and younger woman highest. Results reveal that the older woman's voice received the lowest rankings for nearly every question in both samples. This report confirms the presence of gender and age bias in student evaluations of instructors in an online environment and demonstrates that bias may surface in response to vocal characteristics. Bias may impact older women more significantly than other groups. Differences in results from Institution A and Institution B suggest that factors affecting student perceptions of instructors, and the roles that gender and age bias may play in student evaluations, are complex and may be contextual. Anat Sci Educ 9: 537–544. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.
ISSN:1935-9772
1935-9780
DOI:10.1002/ase.1609