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Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Jennifer Wong, School of Criminology

Project team: Jessica Bouchard and Walter Works, research assistants

Timeframe: June 2016 to February 2019

Funding: $5,000

Course addressed:

• CRIM 103 - Psychological Explanations of Criminal and Deviant Behaviour

Description: This study seeks to explore gender being a factor in students’ perceptions of course instruction in which gender of the online tutor marker (TM) is manipulated. The research question focuses on whether students rate their TMs differently on the basis of what they perceive their TM’s gender to be.

Questions addressed:

• What questions should be incorporated into an online TM evaluation form that measure overall student satisfaction with the TM as well as gender-stereotypical traits?
• Do student ratings of course TMs differ based on the perceived gender of the TM?
• What characteristics of TMs are most strongly linked with overall high ratings? Are these characteristics understood within the context of gender (e.g., traditionally masculine vs. feminine characteristics)?
• What information and recommendations can be given to course instructors, TMs, and departments given the findings from the research?

Knowledge sharing: Results from the study will be submitted to the online newsletter of the SFU School of Criminology, Crim News. Results may also be presented at the annual TA/TM day sessions, and submitted for presentation at SFU’s Annual Symposium on Teaching and Learning.

Keywords: Gender bias; student evaluations of teaching; teaching assistants; gender-based expectations