No abstract

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to (a) identify perceived triggering agents of student dissent in the college classroom, (b) determine common target receivers of dissent, and (c) reveal the types of dissent that students enact based on their intentional motives and construction of message content. Participants were 123 undergraduate students who completed a survey and provided multiple written narratives in response to open-ended questions. Results of a content analysis revealed that (a) common perceived triggering agents of dissent included (in rank order) unfair testing/assignments, unfair grading, and teaching style, followed by instructor offensiveness, policy, violating syllabus, instructor indolence, lack of feedback, and group members slacking; (b) target receivers of dissent were primarily the class professor, classmates, friends, and family members, among others; and (c) students engaged in three types of dissent including expressive dissent (i.e., to vent their feelings and frustrations), rhetorical dissent (i.e., to attempt to correct a perceived wrongdoing by the instructor), and vengeful dissent (i.e., to retaliate and ruin the reputation of an instructor).

No abstract

Two studies (N 0420) were conducted to develop and validate the instructional dissent scale (IDS) for use in the college classroom. Participants in study 1 were 210 students who completed the IDS pilot inventory which was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis yielding three distinct factors of dissent (i.e., expressive, rhetorical, vengeful). Concurrent validity support was provided as perceived teacher misbehaviors were associated positively with students' likelihood of engaging in dissent and students reported fewer learning outcomes when they dissented. Participants in study 2 were from a different sample of 210 students who completed the IDS along with measures of classroom justice and student challenge behavior. A confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the hypothesized item loadings confirming an expected three-factor solution. Additional concurrent and discriminant validity support were provided as scores on the IDS were associated inversely with perceived classroom justice and associated positively with student challenge behavior. Collectively, the results from both studies suggest that the IDS is a reliable and valid self-report measure of student dissent.