Dr. Linda Bond, assistant professor of communication at Stephen F. Austin State University, recently published a book titled “Women Negotiating Collaborative Learning: Making the Grade.”
The book is an in-depth study of what college students experience when asked to perform group assignments and the disadvantage some women face while participating in group work.
Dr. Linda Bond
VDM Publishing approached Bond about publishing the book based on the dissertation she completed while earning her doctorate at Texas A&M University in 2008.
“I really love group work and having group projects, especially in advertising,” Bond said. “I just felt like this was something I needed to research if I was going to continue to teach this way.”
The study focuses on the ways women negotiate collaborative learning in a university setting. According to Bond’s research, women take group work seriously and consider it to be very important, are often leaders in group work, do more than their share of work, and are willing to work harder than anyone else in a group to earn a good grade.
“All of the literature assumes that female students will do really well in group work because women tend to be more collaborative than men,” Bond said. “But, what I noticed is that in some of the groups the female students seem to be disadvantaged because they care so much about the grade that they are willing to do more of the work.”
One of the major qualitative aspects of the book is her observations of SFA Associate Professor Dr. Jean Eldred’s small groups class in communication studies.
“I spent a semester observing her class and interviewing her students,” said Bond. “Watching the students learn and react was incredibly informative, and I was lucky that she allowed me to sit in her class.”
“Women Negotiating Collaborative Learning: Making the Grade” is currently available at amazon.com.
Bond teaches advertising and journalism in the Division of Communication and Contemporary Culture at SFA. Her research includes journalism, advertising and technology; media convergence; women and collaboration; gender in advertising; and preconceived notions in media coverage. She has worked in almost all parts of the communication industry and has been published in many newspapers and magazines. Bond has hosted a live television talk show for a CBS affiliate, been in hundreds of radio and TV commercials, and given countless speeches and workshops. She will be taking a class of SFA communication students to London this summer to study media. Bond has earned degrees at Texas Tech University, University of Texas-Permian Basin and Texas A&M.
