Grand Forks, ND

A sign of gender and genre bias from mentioning a blonde woman who sings pop music? Perhaps.
#taylorswift #collegeteaching

9/9

These weren't courses about Taylor Swift. These were psych, business, and humanities courses that were exactly the same descriptions/learning objectives except "incorporating Taylor Swift's career and music" was added.
8/N

But the popular culture themed course was not considered less difficult. The Taylor Swift course was though--perceived difficulty was notably lower than pop culture or control courses.
7/N

There's a concern that incorporating popular culture will lead to students thinking the course is less difficult/rigorous. Because pop culture is stereotyped as vapid and lacking value.
6/N

Students who knew more about Taylor Swift were more likely to be interested in the Taylor Swift themed course. Similar findings for popular culture. This makes sense--their initial interest in the theme of the course likely sparked interest in the course in general.

5/N

Students who knew more about Taylor Swift were more likely to enroll in the Taylor Swift course. Which makes sense. This wasn't the case with the popular culture course. Which doesn't really make sense and I'm still scratching my head a bit about.
4/N

interest in the course, and how difficult they thought the course was.
3/N