Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education
Date of this Version
1994
Document Type
Article
Citation
To Improve the Academy, published by the Professional and Organizational
Development Network in Higher Education, volume 13, 1994.
Abstract
The importance of creating an atmosphere of fairness in the college classroom is discussed. Using psychological equity theory concepts of interactional and procedural fairness as the basis of study, a survey was conducted with 300 university students who were asked to rate the seriousness of 18 faculty misbehaviors. Misbehaviors related to interactional fairness (showing partiality to some students, using profanity and being angry or mean, embarrassing students in class) and misbehaviors related to procedural fairness (unfair in grading; changing policies during the semester; using unfair tests, trick questions) were considered by students to be much more serious than giving excessive work or giving dull, boring lectures. This paper gives a model for consideration of the relative importance of fairness in the college classroom and offers recommendations for faculty.
Comments
License: CC BY-NC-ND