Lecture Notes For Session 4 - Assessing Learning Environment II

Brief Recap:

In the beginning of this module, we were given a big picture of what the learning environment is, and we were introduced to the wide array of different instruments for assessing the learning environment, which are widely used in quantitative research. But, there is also qualtitative research, which can serve to complement the quantitative results of a research too.

What defines the school learning environment?

Many aspects make up the learning environment and we can categorise them according to the following groups:

1) Students: students' learning styles and needs, students' attitudes, student to student relationships
2) Teachers: pedagogies, teachers' attitudes to bring out the best in every child, interaction with pupils (rapport)
3) School: school culture/climate, physical aspects, shared vision among staff, discipline, leadership, support staff, funds, security, school leaders' vision, discipline, leadership,
4) Outside influences: parents' support (or lack of it),

An instruement that was explained in detail today was the SLCEQ - School Level Environment Questionnaire (Quantitative research). A sample of this survey can be found on Appendix 2 in the course pack. These questions are spread out in the survey to prevent respondents' detection of 'simialr' questions and to expose them to some kind of 'variety' so that they do not get bored with similar questions. This sort of arrangement also prevents inaccurate results due to boredom/ fatigue/ detection.

The questions are varied and can be grouped according to different categories (see below for classification). We were also using Moos's schema - Personal Development, Relationship, System Change/ Maintenance to label the categories below. (see right hand side)

1) Student support

2) Affiliation - sense of belonging

3) Professional interest - eg: Teachers frequently discuss teaching methods and strategies with each other

4) Achievement orientation

5) Staff freedom - To what extent do teachers take part in voicing concerns?

6) Participatory decision making - relates to school matters, policies

7) Innovation

8) Resource adequacy

9) Work pressure

There are some factors to consider when administering a survey to respondents, especially pupils. They are:

1) Consider the attention span of the pupils - Approximately 25 Qns for sec school pupils

2) Phrase the sentences positively, arrange from 'Positive' scale to 'Negative' scale - "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree"

3) Assign a 4 pt Liker Scale - omit 'Not Sure' because respondents have the tendency to choose that.

4) Consider pupils' command of the language - Do not use too difficult words which are beyond their level of understanding

Session 1 Article: The Desing Of Learning Environments

Brief notes:

Basically, there are 4 main types of learning environments:
1) Learner- centered
- refers to environments that pay careful attention to the knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs that learners bring to the educational setting.
- learner -centered instructions also include a sensitivity to the cultural practices of students and the effect of those practices on classroom setting
- learner -centered envrionments include teachers who are aware that learners construct their own meanings, beginning with the beliefs, understandings and cultural practices they bring to the classroom.
- teachers respect and understand learners' prior experiences and understandings, which serve as a foundation to build new understandings

2) Knowledge - centered
- knowledge -centered evnrionments ensure that students become knowledgeable
- they complement learner- centered environment, by emphasising on the content, while taking care of the other aspects of the learner, eg: emotional, psychosocil, mental, cultural, etc
- this type of learning also focuses on the kinds of information and activities that help students develop an understanding of disciplines
- emphasises on sense-making - on helping students become metacognitive by experiencing new information to make sense and asking for clarifications when it doesn't
-'Progressive formalisation' - the concept that that students bring their own ideas & other forms of knowledge to school, and teachers help them to see how these idesa can be transformed and formalised through a gradual and structured process (learning), so that they acquire the concepts and procedures of a discipline
- usually, educators who ascribe to this environment ask important questions on what to teach, and how to foster an integrated understanding of a discipline

3) Assessment - centered
- the key principles of assessment are that they should provide opportunities for feedback and revision and what is assessed must be congruent with one's learning goals
- formative assessment: invloves the use of assessments as sources of information to improve teaching and learning
- summative assessment: invloves measuring what students have learned at the end of some set of learning activities, eg: teachers' comments on drafts of writing exercises

4) Community - centered
- emerged as a result of new developments in the science of learning, eg: online learning
- the term is used to refer to several apects of community, including the classroom, the school, the degree to which students and teachers feel connected to the larger community of homes, business, states , etc

Takeaways For Session 3 - Lecture By Dr Quek & Presentations By Coursemates

Today's lesson was informative and insightful on 2 levels - that we had been given a good overview of two major authors in the field of Learning Environment, Murray and Levin and their contributions to the study of learning environments. My own knowledge of learning environment was later expanded by the interesting findings shared by my coursemates. Each group actually specialised in finding out more about an author's contributions to share with the rest of the class. It was simply amazing, to be sitting here listening to different perspectives and taking in new informative - this mode of sharing and reflecting, looking at other coursemates' blogs simply saves much time in having to surf for information on our own.

Such was my personal learning experience for today, which was certainly enriching in a sense. Also, I have been made more aware of the importance of learning about major contributors' works in this area because their research has been firmly grounded and carefully carried out for the benefit of educators and to serve as a platform for future research on learning environment studies to be carried out.

Of course, certain concepts such as what exactly make up the learning environment, the range of different surveys and instruments used have been reiterated again, and I believe this serves as a reminder that in order to have a comprehensive discussion/ research on the learning environment, we can't afford to miss any of the facets that make it up, because the concept of the learning environment is simply too encompassing and dynamic. Or perhaps, more importantly, each facet plays a part - whether direct or subtle, to pupils' outcomes - in terms of academic, social well-being, emotional aspects, etc, and we can't afford to be ignorant in any aspect.

Brief notes on lecture:

There was a brief recap on what makes up the learning environment at the beginning of the lecture - students' needs, perceptions of environment, school culture, school climate, human behaviour, school environment, classroom environment, conducive envrionment, psychosocial, gender differences, assessment, attitude, cognitive development and community. Against this myraid background, which makes up many dimensions of the learning evnrionment, there are many aspects to assess, and these are grouped into 3 main groups - physical, students and social. One of the major features of the lecture was the detailed explanation on the diagram on the inter-relationship between Lewinian's formula and Murray's needs-press formula. At this point, some techinical terms were introduced - alpha press (a term used to describe the environment as assessed by a detached observer) & beta press (a term used to describe the environment as perceived by mileu habitants)

There were some other interesting facts that Dr Quek mentioned during the lecture about doing research. For instance, the sample size for a quantitative research must be 30 (as a rule of thumb) while the sample size for qualitative research, the sample size is just 1. It is also more useful to utilise a 4 pt Likert's scale, compared to a 5 pt Liker's scale as people tend to choose the option 'not sure', thus giving results which are not very meaningful. Other useful information that Dr Quek mentioned included - taking into account of the cultural environment when we administer the tools and knowing the guidelines and principles behind the instruments before we apply them.

Timothy Leary's Interpersonal Diagnosis Personality

Useful websites on Timothy Leary

Biography on Timothy Leary

http://www.timothyleary.us/index.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/timothy-leary?cat=entertainment

http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/leary_timothy/

Quotable Quotes by Timothy Leary

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/timothy_leary/

His instruments:

http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/suppmat/74leary.htm

http://www.oneminutegallery.com/leary_chart/index.html

























An Article On The Diagram Above:

http://www.jstor.org/view/00018392/di995381/99p01392/0

Session 2: Some thoughts on videos – “The Quilt Math Project” & “Ms McLane’s Bicycle Journey”

The videos are certainly interesting and makes one reflect on the prevalent use of ICTs in this era of new learning environments. I thought the lesson featured in the first video was simply creative, because she was thinking out of the box when she made use of ‘quilts’ (something that seems quite ‘irrelevant’ to maths at first thought!) to design her maths lesson. I was also thinking about the maths syllabus and I had the impression that the pupils were certainly required to learn more than Singaporean kids because Kristi mentioned that the pupils had to demonstrate how to write and talk about maths concepts! I am certain that Singaporean kids need not go to that extent in elaborating on maths concepts, at most they just merely stop at solving challenging problem sums. (Well, do correct me if I am wrong.) Kristi’s class is just wonderful, from many perspectives – the fact that she assigns roles to different pupils to carry out different tasks, eg: note-taking and photography, shows that she lets pupils take ownership of their learning, and the most striking feature of her lesson is definitely her lesson planning. Just think about it, she needs to come up with a new quilt design each year and probably has to do a lot of adjustments in her instructional packages along the way, just so that she could deliver an irresistible (as she described it herself) lesson to her pupils. Her efforts are definitely laudable. Certainly, her lesson objectives would most likely be met, given that her learning environment is so creative, engaging and allows meaningful discourse to take place among her pupils.

The second video, “Miss McLane’s Bicycle Journey” definitely offers some learning points for language teachers – not only do pupils learn how to read and write via fun ways, eg: reading and replying to emails, they also learn many cultural issues and general knowledge through Miss McLane’s messages. I especially like the way Kristi structures the writing task in an organized manner for her pupils, so that they have a ‘system’ to follow correctly when it comes to writing a specific genre, because language, after all, serves functional purposes, and it is sensible to follow certain protocol to suit specific needs. The use if IT, notably computers and digital cameras seem to be the norm in Kristi’s class, and while I certainly see the benefits of using them – as reflected in pupils’ excitement, interest and engagement during the lessons, I don’t think I could apply the use of ICTs (though there may be computer labs around in school, but the overall setting is different from a classroom, where it is more personal and pupils have ownership over their setting) the way she does, in my own classes. And, I guess it is not difficult to see why, the main reasons being a lack of resources. ;-(

Session 1: Learning Points from article – ‘New learning environment & constructivism’

3 main learning points from this article:

1) When creating a learning environment, one should bear in mind the concept of ‘constructivism’ – a term to refer to how pupils construct knowledge during the learning process. Some authors tried to define the key components of constructivist learning environments and developed questionnaires to evaluate their presence in daily educational practice. (Gijbels, Watering, Dochy & Bossche, 2006: 214) Take into consideration the seven factors – eg: sharing ideas with others, meeting student needs and making meaning, real-life examples (as listed on page 225) when constructing a learning environment.

2) Designers of the learning environment (referring to teachers/ educators), must be mindful of the fact that their own perceptions of the learning environment might not be shared by the learners themselves. This is shown by survey results (obtained using the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey), that comparisons between the designer’s perceptions and the students’ perceptions indicated that the seven factors are not very strongly present in the learning environment from the perceptions of the students, despite the belief of the designers that they had created the learning environments in such a way. (Gijbels, Watering, Dochy & Bossche, 2006: 215)

3) It is certainly important to investigate students’ perceptions (their own views) of the learning environment as they influence how students cope and serve as a reflective tool for educators to fine-tune certain strategies. But, the article also takes into consideration that students’ perceptions of constructivist principles in the learning environment are triggered by a greater variety in learning environments (Gijbels, Watering, Dochy & Bossche, 2006: 224) and I feel that these factors are beyond the control of the teacher. For instance, the character/ personality of the students themselves do affect their perception of the learning environment, something that the teacher does not have control over.

Reflections on articles From Session 1 – ‘Learning Environment For 21st Century’ & ‘Aspects of Effective Learning Environments’

The article, Learning Environment For 21st Century argues that the physical environment of the school plays an important role in pupils’ academic achievement and well-being in school. This does not only refer to the aesthetic sense of the surroundings but it also refers to whether the school is equipped with good facilities (which usually refer to up-to-date IT resources).

No doubt, I feel that there must be good facilities (eg: enough computers, a drama studio, an auditorium, enough resource rooms etc) in place in order to let pupils use them for different purposes. But, while the idea of a well-equipped school is inviting, I do not feel that this can be applied to all schools. For instance, there was once, when I was in another school for exam duties, I saw that there were computers in all the classrooms, and they were all very well-maintained and the classes were very clean. I was rather impressed, but then, when I thought about whether my own school should provide such facilities, I certainly had reservations that some classes might not treasure the facilities given to them.

Moreover, to me, the physical aspect of the learning environment makes up only the ‘hardware’ of the school. This is not enough, because for an effective learning environment to take place, we need to have other important qualities in place, which make up the ‘heart ware’, such as establishing good rapport between teachers and pupils, the infectious and gratifying camaraderie among pupils themselves, a supportive staff culture and an overall good school tone (eg: good discipline and pupils’ sense of belonging to the school).

In my current school, a lot of feedback has been made by the pupils that the façade of the school is very old and is in need of a makeover. The pupils, especially, have expressed certain dismal comments on the physical aspect of the school via formal channels such as using the ‘Pupils’ Suggestions Form’ and the ‘Pupils’ Needs Analysis Survey’, which is administered yearly by form teachers.

However, I feel that the physical environment is not the main determining factor in influencing a pupil’s educational outcome or sense of well-being. For instance, in my school, despite pupils’ grouses and seemingly incessant complaints about the physical plight of the school, pupils are nonetheless appreciative of the school teachers, the programmes planned for them and that they have demonstrated a positive attitude towards the school in many aspects in the surveys. Also, pupils’ performances at national exams have improved in general during the last few years, with some top pupils being featured in the local papers in just the past two years. Of course, it is important to have good facilities, because in this ever changing, dynamic educational landscape, there will always be an emphasis to embark on new methods of teaching and student-centered activities; up-to-date facilities and a pleasant surrounding will certainly cater to the demanding needs of pupils. But then, the learning environment has to take on a broader meaning, not just limiting it to the physical aspects of the environment.

Roger Hiemstra, in his article, ‘Aspects of Learning Environment’, points out that the learning environment comprises many different aspects. It is a very diversified notion, comprising the psychological or emotional conditions, and social or cultural influences in an educational setting. Amidst the complex and dynamic design that make up the learning environment, the teacher plays the most important role because she sets the direction, tone and expectations in the class. The role played by the teacher is certainly not easy, in the face of an ever challenging world, where teachers are always contesting for the attention of their pupils from many negative distractions, such as the media and the Internet. Not only that, teachers always have to come to terms with meeting demands brought about by sweeping educational changes (think about how fairly quickly TLLM was introduced, after the inception of TSLN) and the profiles of our pupils today are certainly very different from the past. Against this backdrop of complexities, very often, I feel that teachers always have this need to constantly reflect on many aspects of the learning environment. Perhaps, Hiemstra advises very aptly, that educators should be actively engaged in ‘perspective transformation’ – a reflective process by which we question certain values and assumptions during our learning process as educators, so that we can fine-tune our strategies in order to be more effective teachers. Self-reflection, of course is an effective process, because we are constantly making ourselves aware of our own strengths and weaknesses, through which we find ways to improve ourselves, and this certainly contributes to creating a more effective learning environment.