Session 3: Tools for Evaluating Learning Environments

Tools I would most likely use:

• Questionnaire on Teacher Intervention (QTI) - Perceptions of behavioural aspects
• What Is Happening In This Class? (WIHIC) [pg 148,149] - Pupil's perception of the class and own role
• Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) - Epistemological assumptions

Reasons for using them is that besides being reliable and valid instruments, they are most relevant to understanding the classroom environment in terms of the climate created by the teacher and also seeks pupils' thoughts of how they are also contributing towards the atmosphere. For the classroom of the today is one where there is a lot of interaction and students are more vocal leading to more "power" especially from secondary school age onwards. CLES ties in nicely with the general shift towards engaging learners and helping them to view education as a means to understanding the world, hence the current adoption (fad?) of pedagogies such as Understanding by Design (UbD) and Teaching for Understanding (TFU).

Other tools that can be considered include:

• Learning Environment Inventory (LEI) - earliest instrument
• Classroom Environment Scale (CES) - Teacher Support, Rule Clarity
• Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire(ICEQ) - Personalisation, Differentiation
• My Class Inventory (MCI) - for 8-12 years and lower literacy levels
• College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) - college and above, in small classes

IT related:

• Computer Classroom Environment Inventory (CCEI)
• Distance and Open Learning Environment Survey (DOLES)
• On-line Learning Classroom Environment Questionnaire (OLCEQ)
• E-learning Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ELCEQ)

Subject related:

• Test of Mathematics-Related Attitudes (TOMRA) [pg152-155]
• Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) - Integration, Open-Endedness
• Geography Classroom Environment Inventory (GCEI)

However rather than just evaluating what the environment is, active steps must be taken to improve the environment for the benefit of the students. Environments such as physical could be improved either through collaboration with other teachers in the scenario of shared classrooms or specially designed to reflect the subject in home rooms. The domain within the scope of the individual teachers resides in conducted lessons. This has to be done in consultation with the class (depending on the age) and amalgamated with the teacher's personal style so that both can be comfortable. But more often than not, teachers are the ones who are reluctant to change either because they are "experienced", takes too much effort or are just oblivious to what is really going on in the classroom.

There have been attempts in the education ministry to help school leaders to understand the school climate either from the views of the teachers through the School Climate Survey (SCS) or from the pupils through the use of the Quality of School Experience (QSE). The former at least is useful as school leaders can improve results by evaluating the type of answers given to particular questions. The QSE however is one where even the school leaders have no idea what is being asked but are just given general trends. This result is actually useful if only teachers could know what are the exact nature of the questions are as these may be skewed towards a certain perspective that the ministry has in mind which is only implicitly mentioned.

Thus it's often not just the reliability or validity of the tools used, but understanding and reading more into the exact nature of the results. For example, my results for my own 360 degree feedback was slightly mixed. On closer examination, I realised that there was an obvious outlier in one of the categories which proved that the respondent misread the scale. For good statistical analysis, it should have been removed before calculations but it was just included in.

Some Vocab to Note:

• Actual vs Preferred
• Class vs Personal

A good tool must be coupled with at least a basic understanding of statistics.