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Participation and Performance by Gender in Synchronous Online Lectures: Three Unique Case Studies during Emergency
Sierra C Nichols1, Yongyong Y Xia1, Mikaylie Parco1
1Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
|May 2, 2022
Summary
In synchronous online biology classes during the pandemic, men spoke and chatted more than women. Performance gaps widened, favoring men, mirroring in-person trends.
Area of Science:
- Life Sciences Education
- Online Learning Pedagogy
- Gender Equity in STEM
Background:
- Traditional face-to-face biology classes show men speaking more than women, with documented performance gaps.
- Asynchronous online courses have previously suggested increased participation and performance by women compared to men.
- Emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic potentially exacerbated existing gender inequities in education.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of synchronous online lectures during the COVID-19 pandemic on student participation and performance by gender.
- To compare verbal and chat participation between men and women in life sciences classrooms.
- To examine final course grade disparities between genders in an ERT context.
Main Methods:
- In-depth observation of three undergraduate life sciences classrooms utilizing synchronous online lectures.
- Quantification of verbal and chat participation behaviors throughout the semester.
- Comparison of final course grades between male and female students.
Main Results:
- Men exhibited higher verbal and chat participation than women on average, aligning with pre-pandemic face-to-face patterns.
- Men's chat comments appeared more likely to be acknowledged by peers compared to women's.
- Evidence suggested increased performance disparities favoring men in final course grades compared to pre-pandemic data, though not uniformly across all classes.
Conclusions:
- Synchronous online learning environments during ERT may perpetuate gender participation gaps observed in traditional settings.
- The pandemic's shift to remote teaching may have widened performance disparities between genders in life sciences.
- Further research with larger sample sizes is needed to confirm these findings and inform equitable online teaching practices.
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