18.5 Bias In The Classroom

There are many dynamics when students take a course. It is important to consider student expectations and perceptions about what the course will be like, what the instructor will be like, and what the value of the course will be. Sociology, psychology, social psychology, and ethnographic studies help us understand these dynamics. The first lecture, the first minute of the first lecture, will have a significant impact on student expectations and perceptions. Some of the expectations and perceptions can be altered mitigated; others will not be.

The students will make many assumptions and have many stereotypes in their cognitive space.

Similarly, instructors will make many assumptions, expectations, and have perceptions about the incoming class.

It is possible that the students’ prior experiences in life, especially in the context of courses and instructors, will have created expectations and biases which will affect the individual student and perhaps part of the class, or the whole class regardless of your hopes, expectations, and efforts. An instructor’s experience as a former student, and with former classes taught, can also create expectations and biases which will not be altered or changed. You can discuss biases and issues with someone, but you cannot change their perception, hopes, or expectations. Only they can. These facets of life are not necessarily logical or rational. They are very personal.

Our thoughts…

• Gender, race, religious bias
• This can be by field of study, the ecosystem of the world area that the learning is occurring in (e.g., cultural bias), or the historical ecosystem that each individual brings to the table. This can dramatically affect the relationship and expectations of both parties.
• National and geospatial bias in behavior
• Different regions of the world have different patterns of education, how they view education, and how both students and instructors relate to each other. Within an area there is a general homogeneity, but with the easy mobility of students, a classroom today can have many nationalities and many learning patterns. This can impact the behaviour and what is expected or accepted as being proper behaviour. This can impact what each party expects the other party to do.
• Temporal bias

• There is the concept of temporal locality and how this impacts a person’s expectations and behaviour. For example, the previous term can impact the expectations for the subsequent terms. B ad experiences are difficult to deal with and the bad taste seems to last a very long time. Multiple good experiences can be quickly forgotten and wiped out by a single bad experience.
• Reputation bias
• With social media and with other forms of student sharing, or hallway discussions between instructors, cohorts and students, and instructors can have reputations based on either fact or fiction. As with many situations, everyone seems to enjoy a dumpster fire, a crash and burn situation, or something to gossip about. Bad news travels fast, and people will complain when they are unhappy, and rarely do people compliment or praise when they are happy. It is easy for both students and instructors to listen to gossip from peers and have expectations set before the start of the term. A bad reputation is difficult to overcome. Note, the reputation can be for the course and it doesn’t matter who the instructor is, the instructor without regard for the course, or the students regardless of the course they had taken, or the fact that they are not the same students as last year that the instructor taught.
• Age and position bias
• Generally speaking, individuals will look at someone and use their age as a possible proxy or indicator of attitude, behaviour, expertise, or possible value. This can make it hard for an instructor who is almost the same age as the students. Or an instructor who looks like an elderly family member. This bias also applies to the rank of an instructor. Some instructors have a reverse bias when they view junior students versus senior students. Students in their discipline versus other disciplines.
• Knowledge and expertise bias
• It is easy for students who are quick-witted and have a sharp brain to think that they actually smarter than what evidence would suggest. They confuse memorization and packed retention with intelligence. They do not understand what wisdom and reasonable judgement means. And after course, they think they are an expert in the topic area. Or if they have worked for 4 to 8 months in a field, they are now experts in that field. At junior courses this is not likely to be a major problem, but with senior courses this can arise. In some topics, everyone might have an opinion, and think they have a certain level of expertise in the topic.

• Learning method bias
• Students can have a bias with respect to how they want to be taught and how they think they learn. As they go through their education they develop ways that they know how to get their 80% and they will be very unhappy if their methods do not work in your class.
• Learning outcome bias
• Based on a student’s experience, they might think that learning is all about memorization, regurgitation, recipe recital, and textbook problem-solving done by pattern matching and rote practice. They will not recognize other types of learning, nor value it. If they do not get the type of learning they expect, they will be unhappy. Unfortunately, this also applies to instructors as the only type of learning they may know is from their experience. And, they may think that learning is only memorization, regurgitation, etc. The instructor may not be able to recognize other forms of learning nor how to deliver it.

Further reading

• Boysen, G.A. and D.L. Vogel (2009). Bias in the Classroom: Types, Frequencies, and Responses. Teaching of psychology,36, 1, 12-17.
• Dee, T., and S. Gershenson (2017). Unconscious Bias in the Classroom: Evidence and Opportunities. Mountain View, CA: Google Inc. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/O6Btqi.