Female students vs male students
I teach in a field that is predominately dominated by males. In my classes, the proportion on female students is reflective of the industry--very low. i don't exactly know for sure, but it's probably less than 5%. Should I view or treat them any differently? Should I make extra effort to reach out to them or try and view them equally? Thanks.
Hi John,
I teach in a field that is the opposite. We are 99% female in enrollment. I would suggest approaching all students the same in terms of being consistent and supportive. As all students have selected this field for study, reguardless of gender I would teach them the same unless some unique situation should arise.
Gary
Yes, after some reflection I was beginning to arrive at the same conclusion. Thanks!
The students are all equal no matter what the field of study is, so I would not treat them differently due to a favoritism issue that could occur. In addition, if you reach out to them or try different teaching techniques in communication or making an extra effort, I would do it only if it was a special situation, but not to show favoritism.
Ava,
The key is instructional variety which will appeal to the different learning preferences of students. As you mention an instructor cannot show favoritism but can only show fairness.
Gary
Hi John,
I teach in a field that is dominated mostly by female students as well (~99.9%). Every now and again, I have less than 5 male students in a class that I teach.
I treat both gender one in the same and do not make any extra effort to reach out to the male students. I think if we do that, this could be seen as showing preferential treatment.
Yes, but in an online enviroment, discussion boards can easily be controled by a gender. This could discourage students who feel their comments would not be valid or feel uncomfortable in posting to gender biased audience.
Should an instructor attempt to encourage the minority gender, the other students could preceive the act as favoritism.
Thoughts on how to avoid the negative connotations when the instructor is simply trying to encourage a student?
