Student Perception of Instruction

Student Perception of Instruction (SPoI)

Racial, ethnic, gender, religious, and linguistic diversity in our faculty are valued contributions to the FGCU mission to provide students with an education founded on multiple perspectives and lived experiences. Nationally, however, research has established that perceptions of instruction are often influenced by students’ unconscious and unintentional biases about the race and gender of the instructor. Women and instructors of color are systematically rated lower in their teaching evaluations, even when there are no actual differences in the instruction or in what students have learned.

Research also has indicated that students tend to rate faculty who teach fully online courses (synchronous/asynchronous) lower than faculty who teach face-to-face, even though there are no differences in what students have learned.

Please keep both concerns in mind as you review the SPoI results.