a point to fumble with book bags in the aisle, kicking them out of the way, as she left the classroom.
Approximately three minutes after her exit, the student knocked on the (locked) door closest to
where the faculty member was standing and was let back into the class by a fellow student. At this
point there was no response to the distraction from the instructor. Approximately five minutes after
the initial distraction, the graduate student repeated the routine – this time knocking loudly on the
locked door upon her return. This time, Instructor D, stopped lecturing, turned to the door where
the student was knocking and in a humorous tone (mimicking a game show host) responded
“cooommmeeee onnnn innnn.” The students laughed while one opened the door and another told
the graduate student in a stern tone to “sit down.”
At the end of each faculty presentation the students were provided with an evaluation
containing five questions that were rated on a 10-point scale (1 being the lowest and 10 being the
highest. The five questions measured the strength of the faculty member’s knowledge of the subject,
confidence in presenting the material, sensitivity to students, organization and preparation, and
objectivity.
The evaluation asked students to clarify their numerical evaluation with comments and a
majority of the students provided this additional commentary. Analysis of this data included both an
evaluation of the numerical values as well as an assessment of the themes in the students’
comments.
Outcomes of Focus Group
An initial review of the student evaluations suggests a surprising outcome -one not
anticipated from the existing literatures; namely both ethnic minority faculty received the highest
evaluations and faculty who focused more centrally race and/or gender in their lecture received
more favorable reviews. In each of the five questions, both ethnic minority faculty (Instructor C and
Instructor D) outperform the white faculty and the ethnic minority female faculty member received
the highest average of all four instructors across all five questions.
19
Convention