Faculty Gender Differences in Feedback Practices

Abstract

Students and faculty believe that feedback is an important tool in the process of teaching and learning. Although there has been considerable research on the feedback methods faculty use, there has been little research examining whether there are gender differences in the types, methods, and amount of feedback faculty provide to students. Full-time academic faculty from a variety of disciplines completed a workload survey assessing elements related to their teaching workload, including assignment types, feedback methods used, and amount of feedback given to students. We hypothesized that female faculty would engage in more time-consuming feedback practices, including using more manually graded (versus auto-graded) assessments and providing more written or verbal feedback on substantive assignments. Our data suggest that female faculty are engaging in more time-consuming feedback practices, including using more manually graded assignments, using fewer quick or auto-graded assignments, and providing more substantive written feedback to students. These feedback differences have implications for exacerbating gender biases in student evaluations and gender differences in faculty workload.