[28] Cookies, Charisma & Bias: Exploring the Hidden Consequences and Impact of Teaching Evaluations

This episode was first released on November 11, 2025

Description

In this episode, Adam (and resident guest co-host Mario Corrado) speak with Dr. Lynfa Stroud about the complexities of teaching evaluations in medical education. They discuss some of the biases that influence evaluations, the unintended consequences that can arise, and the delicate power dynamics between learners and educators. Their conversation underscores the need for a more nuanced, supportive approach to assessing teaching quality - one that moves beyond student ratings to foster genuine growth and development in medical education.

Length of episode: 48:34

Resources to check out

How Teacher Evaluations Broke the University "We give them all A's, and they give us all fives." By Rose Horowitch

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/teacher-evaluations-grade-inflation/684185/

The Doctor Fox Lecture: A Paradigm of Educational Seduction Donald H. Naftulin, M.D., John E. Ware, Jr., and Frank A. Donnelly https://romanfrigg.org/wp-content/uploads/links/Dr_Fox_Lecture.pdf

Stroebe, W. (2020). Student Evaluations of Teaching Encourages Poor Teaching and Contributes to Grade Inflation: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 42(4), 276–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2020.1756817

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01973533.2020.1756817

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