Adapting A Project-Based Aging Laboratory During a Pandemic

Aging Well in Utah is a competitive 2-semester project-based Honor’s College Praxis Laboratory for 9 students from different degree programs dedicated to deepening understanding of the aging process through a broad gerontological lens. This session will address how the course was adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic, including: 1) scheduling virtual class times with guest lecturers; 2) conducting older adult interviews via Zoom to provide students experience in communicating “what matters most”, one of the 4Ms of Age Friendly HealthCare; 3) adapting a student-designed medical narrative project highlighting stories of transition and healing through the dying process for previously unsheltered residents of a hospice program to focus on the lived experience of hospice patients during COVID-19; and 4) utilizing virtual technology to interview hospice patients, family members and hospice staff. In spite of challenges, student evaluations were above average and reported increased interest in incorporating age-friendly concepts into future careers.

The pregnancy drop: How teaching evaluations penalize pregnant faculty

The “leaky pipeline” and the “maternal wall” have for decades described the loss of women in STEM and the barriers faced by working mothers. Of the studies examining the impact of motherhood or pregnancy on faculty in higher education, most focus on colleagues’ attitudes towards mothers; few studies explore pregnancy specifically, only a handful examine student evaluations in particular, and none include female faculty in engineering. This study is the first to compare student evaluations across fields from female faculty when they were pregnant against when they were not. Two scenarios were considered: (1) the lived experiences of faculty who taught classes while pregnant and while not pregnant and (2) an experiment in which students submitted teaching evaluations for an actress whom half the students believed was pregnant while the other half did not. Among faculty respondents, women of colour received lower scores while pregnant and these scores lowered further when women were in engineering and/or had severe symptoms. Depending on their demographics, students who participated in the experiment were awarded teaching evaluation scores that differed when they believed the instructor was pregnant. Findings suggest that in fields with fewer women, the maternal wall is amplified and there is a unique intersectional experience of it during pregnancy. These findings may be useful for Tenure and Promotion committees to understand and therefore account for pregnancy bias in teaching evaluations.

Journaling about progress and errors

Drawing on mindset, belonging, and equity scholarship, a journaling assignment was developed as a low-stakes, writing-to-learn, formative assessment instructional tool for engaging students with content, normalizing mistakes, and supporting students during remotely scheduled online instruction for introductory linguistic analysis courses. Anecdotal data from student evaluations and instructor impressions suggest that journals provide high impact learning opportunities.

The Effect of Gender Inequities in the Classroom and Beyond in U.S. Business Schools

When women teach management in U.S. business schools they are likely to experience more gender inequities than men. In this essay we examine three dimensions of management teaching where gender inequities are likely to occur: (1) student-faculty interactions; (2) student evaluations of teaching; and (3) interactions between faculty peers. The types of inequities experienced by women when they teach include feeling social pressure to submit to ad hoc student demands for personal favors and emotional support that infringe on a professor’s time; having their teaching performance judged from student evaluations of teaching that are subject to gender bias; and experiencing lower levels of organizational inclusion compared to their male colleagues. We utilize theoretical logic from social role theory, relational practice, and perceived organizational inclusion frameworks supported by the research literature to provide greater insight as to why women are likely to experience more adversity when they teach management in business schools. After we explain the basis for gender inequities we prescribe action steps that should improve equity for all faculty who teach management. Finally, we provide a call-to-action for business school administrators to implement action steps to make an equitable teaching culture a reality.