Study finds race and gender bias in online classes

March 21, 2018
The Daily Tar Heel

By Emily Davis

Online course instructors show bias in their responses to students based on perceptions of gender and race, a recent study found.

Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, have become an integral part of higher education since their introduction in 2008. Twenty-five percent of all post-secondary students took some or all of their courses online in 2013, according to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

The design of MOOCs are intended to promote open-access and unlimited participation for all learners. A recent study of this platform, however, identified issues of equity within the classes themselves. The study, "Bias in Online Classes: Evidence from a Field Experiment," found instructors discriminate in their responses to students based on perceptions of race and gender.

The study was conceived and conducted by the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis. The authors of the study believe it is the first to demonstrate biases among both students and instructors in these settings.

According to the study, instructors are 94 percent more likely to answer comments posted by white male students than any other students. The study failed to find general evidence of bias in responses from other students.

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Click here to read full article originally posted by The Daily Tar Heel

Mentioned Publications

While online learning environments are increasingly common, relatively little is known about issues of equity in these settings. We test for the presence of race and gender biases among postsecondary students and instructors in online classes by measuring student and instructor responses to discussion comments we posted in the discussion forums of 124 different online courses. Each comment was randomly assigned a student name connoting a specific race and gender. We find that instructors are 94% more likely to respond to forum posts by White male students. In contrast, we do not find general evidence of biases in student responses. However, we do find that comments placed by White females are more likely to receive a response from White female peers. We discuss the implications of our findings for our understanding of social identity dynamics in classrooms and the design of equitable online learning environments.

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