The Effect of Gender on Team-Based Learning Peer Assessment in a Psychiatry Clerkship
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
The Effect of Gender on Team-Based Learning Peer Assessment in a Psychiatry Clerkship Mark H. Townsend 1
&
Margaret Bishop Baier 1
# International Association of Medical Science Educators 2019
Abstract In team-based learning (TBL), peer evaluation is important, but also open to bias. We examined the relation between gender and summative peer feedback over 3 years in all 90 teams created in our psychiatry clerkship. Gender-equivalent (92.7 vs 88.1, p < 0.05) and majority-women (93.6 vs 88.1, p < 0.05) teams scored higher than majority-men in the first 2 years, as did womenmajority teams in the third (98.3 vs 94.8, p < 0.05). Mean scores were little-affected by team size. These findings suggest TBL team gender balance can adversely affect peer evaluations. Instructors should consider team gender composition and the weight given to feedback scores. Keywords Students, medical . Education, medical . Bias . Gender . Feedback
Background Upon graduation, medical students will work in mixed-gender teams where quick, cooperative decision-making is critical to patient outcome [1]. In medical education, team-based learning (TBL) is used both to teach the benefits of teamwork [2] and sharpen students’ cooperative skills [3]. Because TBL teams are also mixed-gender, they may also be useful for studying the gender-related behaviors and attitudes that these students will bring to the medical workplace. Peer evaluations are a ready way to gauge the effect of gender on TBL team behavior. Peer feedback is a key aspect of TBL, although instructors choose how to solicit and whether to use it for summative or formative assessment [4, 5]. In TBL, students must first complete an Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT), and then the Group Readiness Assurance Test (GRAT) with their team [6]. Peer evaluation is useful both to dissuade and reduce the effect of so-called social loafing, in which individuals who do not contribute to the group effort nevertheless receive the same score as the rest. [7] Peer feedback is also susceptible to interpersonal bias and, especially when it affects students’ final grades, relatively high-stakes. * Mark H. Townsend [email protected] 1
Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 2020 Gravier Street, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
Beyond TBL, the relation between gender and team-like behavior in the workplace is under wide study. For example, Neiderle and colleagues, in a series of experiments, assert that men respond more favorably to competition, while women report less self-confidence [8]. Other research shows that, in general, women not only experience collaborative work more positively [9] but also their presence enhances the quality of the work product itself [10]. In this study, we examined 3 years of peer evaluation scores for 90 teams in a TBL-focused psychiatric clerkship required by all third-year students. Other data from these same teams were combined with those from five other schools and reported separately [11, 12]. This study examin
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