Reflections on Session 4 of Learning Environment

Today I learnt about the steps to take in assessing the learning environment and the perceptions of learning environments with reference to the example of an institution of higher learning as follows:

1. Perceptions of heavy workload and inappropriate assessment influence students towards surface approaches to study, but perceptions of workload have no systematic relationship to students’ use of deep approaches to studying.
2. Perceptions of a good teaching environment influence students towards deep approaches to studying, and conversely, students’ perceptions of a bad teaching environment influence them towards surface approaches to studying. The strongest predictors of students using a deep approach to studying are their perceptions of the quality of the teaching and the appropriateness of the assessment.
3. Perceptions of teaching environments influence learning outcomes both directly (perceptions to outcomes) and indirectly (perceptions to approaches to outcomes). Thus, changes in teaching environments may have an impact on students’ learning outcomes without necessarily affecting their learning approaches.
4. Positive perceptions of the teaching environment not only directly influence academic achievement but also, importantly, qualitative learning outcomes. Generic academic and workplace skills are perceived to be best developed in learning environments characterised by good teaching and independence.
5. While a student’s school achievement is a positive (but weak) predictor of their university achievement (GPA), how they perceive their current learning environment is a stronger contributor to all types of learning outcomes at university. Thus, perceptions of university learning environments make a clear contribution to academic outcomes above the prior academic success of a student.
6. Prior academic achievement has no significant influence on how students evaluate their learning environment.
7. The above patterns are evident not only at the general level of the individual student, but also in three contrasting disciplinary contexts.

An example of an survey conducted to investigate students’ perceptions of assessment is as follows:

Comparative Perceptions
How does the assessment in this subject compare with assessment you have experienced in other subjects?
In what ways is it similar or different? Novel or repetitive?

Relationship to Learning
In what ways, if any, did the assessment in this subject help your learning, hinder your learning, or was not relevant to your learning?

Priorities
If all you knew about this subject was the forms of assessment used, then what conclusions would you reach about it?
What ‘messages’ do you take from the ‘assessment package’ about what we value?In discussions with staff about assessment pieces, what impressions did you get about what was ‘desirable’ or would be ‘rewarded’?
What is your reaction to this?

Congruence
How consistent are the espoused goals of this subject and the actual goals addressed by the assessment?
How congruent are we in your eyes in what we say is important and what we actually assess?

Scope
What is your sense of how well the assessment matched the curriculum? In your opinion, what, if any, were important aspects of the curriculum (e.g. knowledge, behavioural competence, values, etc.) that were not
assessed or could be better assessed?
In what ways did the assessment give/not give you an appropriate chance to show what you had learnt?

Timing
What are your perceptions of the relative timing and sequencing of assessment pieces in the subject?
For example, was the first piece ‘too early’ for people to do it justice or ‘too late’ to provide feedback on progress? Were pieces too close together to allow improvement between efforts?

Equity
What do you think about the ‘fairness’ of the assessment? Difficulty? Amount? Marking procedures?
Justification of grades/marks?

Feedback
What do you think about the feedback you have received on your assessment? What comments, if any, would you like to make about its quality, extent, effect on your motivation, and value in helping improve your performance?

Arousal
How anxiety or stress producing was the assessment in this course? Are arousal levels affecting your learning or enjoyment? How?

Informal Systems
What is your perception of the type or extent of informal assessment or feedback systems in this subject (e.g. peer interaction/feedback, informal ungraded exercises)?
Are there sufficient means, apart from formal graded assessment, for students to get feedback on ‘how they are going’?

Involvement
What is your opinion of the level of involvement or participation you have as students in the assessment process? Would you prefer more/less or different involvement or level of choice in the negotiation of the forms or content of assessment?

I also learnt to make use of the SPSS to conduct analysis and make valid conclusions in order to recomment improvements (if any), to the Learning Environment aessessed.

In summary, the data collected from our classroom survey using the preferred and actual WIHIC forms enabled me to better understand how to make good analysis of the statistical data from the SPSS computations thereby making sound recommendations on improving the classroom environment. In this case, the findings indicated that the actual was very close to the preferred WIHIC indicating that the cohort's perceptions met the learning objectives of the AILE course.

Kudos to Dr Quek for enabling the class to meet the learning objectives of the AILE course!