“It’s only one negative comment”: women instructors’ perceptions of (un)helpful support messages following hurtful course evaluations

Abstract

ABSTRACTCourse evaluations can be an effective tool for students to appraise a course and instructor; however, they can also be a communicative space for students to write comments instructors perceive as hurtful, need to make sense of and reconcile with their instructional practice. Instructors turn to others to help make sense of and cope with comments. This study applies a message-centered approach to consider what social support is in a specific context, types and functions of social support in that situation, and effects of that support based on unique cultural and institutional macrostructures of the communication event. The study's purpose was to identify support providers and messages women instructors receive when coping with hurtful comments. Collegiate women instructors (N = 81) received support from friends, family, colleagues, and administrators, including traditional forms (informational, network, emotion, esteem) as well as social undermining messages such as minimization and negative appraisal. Participants found network, situational appraisal, and esteem to be the most helpful types of support, and minimization, teaching recommendations, and negative appraisal to be the least helpful. Findings offer implications for women instructors seeking support for hurtful course evaluation comments and recommendations for how to offer support to those instructors.