Assessing Learning Environment

In today's session we looked at assessing learning environment. To assess learning environment, it is very important for one to keep in mind the rationale for assessing the learning environment, what to assess in the learning environment and which appropriate qualitative and quantitive instruments to use to assess the learning environment.

What do we assess in the learning environment? Basically, we need to look into the physical, student and social aspects. The physical aspect involves the seating arrangement, noise level, space provision for movement and work and even resource provision. Student aspect include how students work in groups/ individually, students interaction with each other and students' concentration. Finally the social aspect involves the teacher's mode of instruction and the types of educational tasks that he/ she assigns to the students.

Most of the instruments that were that created for assessing the classroom learning environment were based on Moos' Scheme of the three dimensions, namely,
1. Relationship: the extent of people incolvement and support for each other
2. Personal Development: direction along which personal growth and self enhancement occur
3. System maintenance and systen change: the extent of which the environment is orderly.

In order to assess the learning environment, one may evaluate the pupils' perceptions of the class or even the pupils' opinion of his/ her role within the class through the use of instruments such as My Class Inventory (MCI), e-leraning, What's Happening In this Class (WIHIC) etc.

Apart from look at what, why and how to assess learing environment, we also look at researchers in the field of Learning Environment, Murray, Levin, Walberg, Moos, Fraser and Fisher, and their contributions to the study of learning environments. There was an insightful sharing by the various groups on the different researchers and some of their works on learning environment.