The Influence of Teacher Avatar Gender and Ethnicity on Student Expectations and Evaluations in a Virtual World Environment

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Beck, D. & Murphy, C. (2012). The Influence of Teacher Avatar Gender and Ethnicity on Student Expectations and Evaluations in a Virtual World Environment. In P. Resta (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2012 (pp. 145-149). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/39551.

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Conference Information

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (SITE) 2012
Austin, Texas, USA
March 5, 2012
ISBN 1-880094-92-4
  Paul Resta
AACE

More Information on SITE
Table of Contents

Authors

Dennis Beck, Cheryl Murphy, University of Arkansas, United States

Abstract

The gender and ethnicity of teachers have been shown to affect student expectations and evaluations. In Multi User Virtual Environments (MUVE), people socially interact via avatars that have the capability to be customized to minute details of ethnicity and gender. This study’s purpose was to examine the influence of teacher avatar choice of gender and ethnicity on students’ expectations and evaluations. Students were asked to review a vita, image and video of a teacher avatar and then respond about their abilities. Results indicate that avatar gender and ethnicity does influence students’ expectations and evaluations. Results may aid students to discover biases toward some teacher avatars, as well as level the playing field for teacher avatars of differing genders and ethnicities.

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