Student vs. faculty perspectives on quality instruction: Gender bias, “hotness,” and “easiness” in evaluating teaching

ABSTRACT

This article systematically examines differences between student and faculty perspectives on quality instruction, using local data for a regional university's college of business matched to RateMyProfessors.com evaluations. Particular attention is focused on gender bias, “hotness,” and “easiness.” In addition to documenting a student bias or preference in favor of male faculty, this article also shows how students and faculty have different views of “easiness” and “hotness.” For this college, students value “easiness” while faculty penalize it; however “hotness” has no measurable effect on faculty in this study.

KEYWORDS:

• Business education
• gender bias
• RateMyProfessors.com
• teaching evaluation