How do Male and Female Faculty Members View and Use Classroom Strategies?

摘要

Research indicates differences exist between male and female students regarding preferences for various pedagogical practices, such as collaborative learning. Additionally, we know that students may construe an instructor's gender as influencing their capacity to be role models, teach effectively, and produce scholarship. Less well known is how male and female instructors view specific classroom strategies, as well as how often they use those strategies. To aid understanding, the newly developed Value, Expectancy, and Cost of Testing Educational Reforms Survey (VECTERS) was applied. VECTERS was based on expectancy theory, implying instructor decisions to integrate, or not integrate, classroom strategies are based on (1) perceived value for both students and self, (2) expectation of success, and (3) perceived implementation costs (e.g., time, materials). Responses were collected from 286 engineering faculty members (207 male, 79 female) from 19 institutions. Responses indicated frequency of use, perceptions of value, expectation of success, and cost (e.g., use of TA's, materials) for these classroom strategies: 1. Formative feedback loops, 2. Real-world applications, 3. Facilitating student-to-student discussions. Controlling for course enrollment and years of experience, several significant differences were found. Gender did not differentiate reported use of the strategies, but there were significant differences (p < .05) related to the expectation of success when integrating formative feedback and real-world applications. Women had significantly higher mean scores related to expectations of success for the implementation of formative feedback and real-world applications; however, effect sizes were small (partial eta-squared < .04). Similarly, women indicated that using the strategies of formative feedback and real-world applications had significantly greater value. Also, men were significantly more inclined to view the physical setup of their classroom as hindering implementing formative feedback or initiating student-to-student discussions. There were no differences in perception of costs for any of the strategies between male and female instructors.