Spark Talk: Addressing Social Comparison to Improve Student Engagement

March 18, 2025 - 10:00-10:30 AM

Location: This is an online event. Register to receive the Zoom link and calendar invitation.

Intended Audience: Academic Support Staff, Faculty, Graduate Student Instructors, Instructors

Do you notice that students seem reluctant to engage during class? Do you wish more students contributed to enrich the collective learning experience? Let’s explore fear of negative evaluation, a feeling of social anxiety around how one will be perceived if they speak up in class. A recent article reports that fear of negative evaluation was higher for LGBTQ+ and women/nonbinary students in large enrollment science courses. This fear was partially mediated by the level of academic social comparison, the feeling that one is “less” than their peers. For example, LGBTQ+ students and women/nonbinary students were more likely to feel generally left out in their major, which exacerbated their fear of negative evaluation. We will dig into these findings and consider how interventions that address social comparison can encourage more students to fully engage, both improving their own learning, but also enhancing the learning of their peers.

Reference:

Pigart, C.J., MacKinnon, D.P. & Cooper, K.M. Academic social comparison: a promising new target to reduce fear of negative evaluation in large-enrollment college science courses. International Journal of STEM Education11, 42 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00501-7

What are Spark Talks? Spark Talks are short 20-minute sessions that aim to spark interest in new or different approaches to teaching and learning, as well as foster connections and conversations around instruction at UC Berkeley. Spark Talks are interactive presentations that digest recent research articles into practical terms for instructors. Instructors are also invited to stay after the session to connect with colleagues and CTL staff.

Spark Talks are an opportunity to welcome IN our instructor colleagues and start cross-campus dialogue on teaching. As part of the Spark Talk series, this session aims to:

  • INtroduce one specific evidence-based teaching practice from the recent literature on teaching and learning

  • INform instructors about the considerations for applying this particular practice (what, why, and how)

  • INvestigate a few examples of how this technique could be implemented in a course

  • INspire instructors to explore using this new technique in their course

Instructors are encouraged to follow up with CTL in a 1-on-1 consultation to continue to explore what this particular teaching practice might look like in their own course contexts.

This session will run for 20 minutes, with an additional 10 minutes reserved for questions and networking. 

➡️Register for this event here!⬅️

Registrants will be sent a Zoom link and bCal invite as the workshop date draws near.

***Registration for this session will close one hour before the session***

This event is part of the "Accessibility and Inclusion in Teaching" learning path. Be sure to check out this learning path and explore its other components!

Facilitator:

Picture of the facilitator, Melissa Ko Dr. Melissa E. Ko is the Assessment & Curriculum Design Specialist at the Center for Teaching & Learning . Dr. Ko was trained as a computational cancer biologist having received her SB from MIT and her PhD from Stanford University. She pivoted into an education-focused career through several teaching roles at Stanford and other local institutions, before focusing on partnering with instructors to provide effective and inclusive learning experiences informed by data.