educational environment

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Learning Environment

Learning environment refers to the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. Since students may learn in a wide variety of settings, such as outside-of-school locations and outdoor environments, the term is often used as a more accurate or preferred alternative to classroom , which has more limited and traditional connotations—a room with rows of desks and a chalkboard, for example.

The term also encompasses the culture of a school or class—its presiding ethos and characteristics, including how individuals interact with and treat one another—as well as the ways in which teachers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning—e.g., by conducting classes in relevant natural ecosystems, grouping desks in specific ways, decorating the walls with learning materials, or utilizing audio, visual, and digital technologies. And because the qualities and characteristics of a learning environment are determined by a wide variety of factors, school policies, governance structures, and other features may also be considered elements of a “learning environment.”

Educators may also argue that learning environments have both a direct and indirect influence on student learning, including their engagement in what is being taught, their motivation to learn, and their sense of well-being, belonging, and personal safety. For example, learning environments filled with sunlight and stimulating educational materials would likely be considered more conducive to learning than drab spaces without windows or decoration, as would schools with fewer incidences of misbehavior, disorder, bullying, and illegal activity. How adults interact with students and how students interact with one another may also be considered aspects of a learning environment, and phrases such as “positive learning environment” or “negative learning environment” are commonly used in reference to the social and emotional dimensions of a school or class.

For related discussions, see learner , learning experience , and learning pathway .

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Appendix 1: Building an effective learning environment

A.2 What is a learning environment?

A.2.1 definition.

‘Learning environment refers to the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. Since students may learn in a wide variety of settings, such as outside-of-school locations and outdoor environments, the term is often used as a more accurate or preferred alternative to classroom, which has more limited and traditional connotations—a room with rows of desks and a chalkboard, for example. The term also encompasses the culture of a school or class—its presiding ethos and characteristics, including how individuals interact with and treat one another—as well as the ways in which teachers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning…..’

The Glossary of Educational Reform , 29 August, 2014

This definition recognises that students learn in many different ways in very different contexts. Since learners must do the learning, the aim is to create a total environment for learning that optimises the ability of students to learn. There is of course no single optimum learning environment. There is an infinite number of possible learning environments, which is what makes teaching so interesting.

A.2.2 Components of an effective learning environment

Developing a total learning environment for students in a particular course or program is probably the most creative part of teaching. While there is a tendency to focus on either physical institutional learning environments (such as classrooms, lecture theatres and labs), or on the technologies used to to create online personal learning environments (PLEs), learning environments are broader than just these physical components. They will also include:

the characteristics of the learners;
the goals for teaching and learning;
the activities that will best support learning;
the assessment strategies that will best measure and drive learning
the culture that infuses the learning environment.

Figure A.2.2 A learning environment from a teacher's perspective

Figure A.2.2 illustrates one possible learning environment from the perspective of a teacher or instructor. A teacher may have little or no control over some components, such as learner characteristics or resources, but may have full control over other components such as choice of content and how learners will be supported. Within each of the main components there are a set of sub-components that will need to be considered. In fact, it is in the sub-components (content structure, practical activities, feedback, use of technology, assessment methods, and so on) where the real decisions need to be made.

I have listed just a few components in Figure A.2.2 and the set is not meant to be comprehensive. For instance it could have included other components, such as developing ethical behaviour, institutional factors, or external accreditation, each of which might also affect the learning environment in which a teacher or instructor has to work. Creating a model of a learning environment then is a heuristic device that aims to provide a comprehensive view of the whole teaching context for a particular course or program, by a particular instructor or teacher with a particular view of learning. Once again, the choice of components and their perceived importance will be driven to some extent by personal epistemologies and beliefs about knowledge, learning and teaching methods.

Lastly, I have deliberately suggested a learning environment from the perspective of a teacher, as the teacher has the main responsibility for creating an appropriate learning environment, but it is also important to consider learning environments from the learners’ perspectives. Indeed, adult or mature learners are capable of creating their own, personal, relatively autonomous learning environments.

The significant point is that it is important to identify those components that need to be considered in teaching a course or program, and in particular that there are other components besides content or curriculum. Each of the key components of the learning environment I have chosen as an example are discussed briefly in the following sections, with a focus on the components of a learning environment that are particularly relevant for a digital age.

Activity A.2 Influencing a learning environment

Why do you think I focused on learning environments from a teacher’s perspective rather than a learner’s perspective?
In order to create the learning environment for HIST 305 in Scenario E, Ralph Goodyear carefully considered the learning environment he wanted to create and ones he had little or no control over. What components do you think he had little or no control over?
What would you add (or remove) from the learning environment in Figure A.2.2?
Figure A.2.2 focuses on a learning environment from a teacher’ perspective. Could you design a similar model of a learning environment from the perspective of a learner? What would be the main differences?
Does thinking about the whole learning environment overly complicate the teaching endeavour? Why not just get on with it?

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Transparent hallway at Sandy McNutt Elementary school in Arlington, Texas.

The Architecture of Ideal Learning Environments

We talked to some of the leading architects in the country about five key principles in K–12 school design.

To get a sense of the best practices in contemporary school design, we interviewed four of the top K–12 architecture firms in the U.S.: Fanning Howey , Corgan , Perkins+Will , and Huckabee . Collectively, the companies bill hundreds of millions of dollars in work annually, and have built or renovated thousands of schools throughout the country and around the globe.

Key insights into five common design principles—technology integration, safety and security, transparency, multipurpose space, and outdoor learning—surfaced during our conversations.

Technology Integration

At the dawn of the digital era, technology integration in most K–12 schools boiled down to the presence of computer labs, separate rooms filled with bulky terminals that students could sign up to use. Today’s school technology represents a quantum leap forward—it’s at once ubiquitous, invisible, personal, and mobile.

Wiring the entire school—including the outdoors—is necessary, architects agree, and projectors, screens, and sound systems are migrating out of classrooms and into hallways, common spaces, cafeterias, and even stairwells. Students can access the network anywhere on campus, and view and share work on digital displays throughout the building. The effects can be subversive in all the right ways, reducing students’ dependence on the teacher, promoting peer-to-peer collaboration, and widening the sphere of learning from the confines of the classroom to the whole school grounds.

The robotics lab at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts.

“The students we’re educating don’t know the world without the internet,” says Kerri Ranney, vice president of educational practice at Huckabee. “We need to be able to embrace that and prepare students for the types of work environments and companies they are going to be working for when they get out of school.”

At Ecole Kenwood French Immersion School, a pre-K to sixth grade public magnet school in Columbus, Ohio, designed by Fanning Howey, the stairway has been extended to accommodate carpeted student seating and features an overhead projector, a large projection screen, a sound reinforcement system, and wireless access. The location is a popular spot for lectures and student presentations as part of project-based learning (PBL).

The gathering stair at Ecole Kenwood French Immersion School in Columbus, Ohio.

And In Whitestown, Indiana, Fanning Howey designed a wet retention basin—a pond that collects stormwater—as an outdoor laboratory for Zionsville West Middle School, a public school.

“The one-acre pond has shallow-depth areas for wetland plant species, and the boardwalk has observation decks with wireless access for small group instruction. Many of our school projects have Wi-Fi in these outdoor spaces. In fact, it’s pretty much an expectation,” says Jeff Bolinger, a landscape architect with Fanning Howey and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The retention pond outside Zionsville West Middle School in Whitestown, Indiana.

Safety and Security

The horrifying events in Columbine, Colorado, and Parkland, Florida, among many other places, have raised the profile of safety and security measures in school design. But while safeguarding against acts of school terror is uppermost in the public mind, student bullying is a more pervasive, everyday issue and poses its own set of architectural challenges.

Not surprisingly, bullies seek out areas tucked away from adult supervision. In a recent study from the National Center for Education Statistics, students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported nearly twice as many bullying incidents in hallways and stairwells—where they spend a fraction of their time—as in other school areas like cafeterias or playgrounds. A more open, transparent design emphasizing windows and clear lines of sight, even between floors, reduces bullying opportunities and improves the learning environment for vulnerable students, according to architects.

“The old layouts present an anonymous kind of situation, and it’s easy for bullying to take place in those spaces,” says David Stephen, an educator and architect and the founder of New Vista Designs for Learning , a school design and curriculum consulting firm in Boston. “It’s much safer to have more visual interconnectivity because you have lots of sets of adult eyes connecting with kids around the school.”

At Annie Purl Elementary School, a pre-K to fifth grade public school, in Georgetown, Texas, the Huckabee architecture firm designed and installed floor-to-ceiling glass classroom walls. Each academic wing features classrooms that connect to a central collaboration space and a teacher design lab—enabling educators to see kids in the classroom, collaboration space, or corridors from virtually any spot in the learning environment.

Classroom with transparent walls at Annie Purl Elementary school in Georgetown, Texas.

In the unlikely event of an intruder or an active shooter in the building, architects rely on multiple layers of security. Having a single point of entry to the school is standard protocol to limit unwanted access, but many schools are starting to install double-locked entries—with two locked doors to get through—and often require sign-in and use video surveillance systems to screen visitors before they enter campus.

The administration office at West Muskingum Elementary School in Zanesville, Ohio.

Counterintuitively, large open spaces can provide protection during a lockdown. The architects of Fanning Howey describe several levels of security within an academic wing designed to prevent the unthinkable at a midwestern public school. The two sets of entry doors bracketing the academic wing are made of bulletproof glass and can be locked remotely from the main office, transforming the shared learning space into a safe haven. If an intruder gains access to the academic wing, four corner classrooms serve as shelters—each is outfitted with bulletproof glass and can be accessed from common areas and adjacent classrooms, and then sealed off from any further entry.

Diagram of a public school with multiple layers of security.

Transparency

Architectural transparency, the principle of visual interconnectedness, is an emerging standard in new school construction. Internal spaces like hallways, classrooms, and cafeterias—typically separated from each other by opaque structures like walls and doorways—have given way to open layouts that emphasize glass partitions and uninterrupted lines of sight, borrowing from cutting-edge work environments like Google’s and Apple’s campuses.

Breakout spaces in the library of Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Ohio.

“In very traditional schools, hallways often look exactly the same,” says Stephen, of New Vista Designs for Learning. “They’re 10 feet wide, lined with lockers, and the classroom doors are all closed.”

Opening a line of sight into adjacent spaces makes learning communal, encourages collaboration, and creates a public forum for celebrating and observing student work, according to leading educational architects.

Fanning Howey constructed the British International School of Houston in Katy, Texas, a pre-K to 12th grade private school, with the intention of making learning visible. The entire building is wrapped around a common area called the Agora—Greek for “gathering place”—which is modeled on the public courtyards at the heart of city life in ancient Greece.

All the classroom walls that surround the Agora are framed in floor-to-ceiling glass. From this central gathering place, students of all ages can see and be seen, peering into others’ classrooms to view what they’re doing while being observed at their own work.

The Agora, or gathering place, at British International School of Houston in Katy, Texas.

“Through visual transparency—by looking through a window into something interesting happening in a makerspace, robotic lab, or a classroom—you’re creating a public conversation about teaching and learning,” says Stephen.

Floor-to-ceiling glass isn’t the only way to achieve transparency, though. Perkins + Will used a cheaper alternative—strategically placed glass windows—at Campus International School, a kindergarten to sixth grade public magnet school in Cleveland, to create a continuous line of sight throughout the space. While the effect is less dramatic, the design is more cost-effective and the learning impact is similar, promoting a sense of collaboration and enabling students to gain inspiration from the work of others.

Glass classroom windows at Campus International School in Cleveland, Ohio.

Multipurpose Space

The pace of social and technological change is disorienting—and modern learning environments are evolving to keep pace. Part of making educational spaces work, according to architects, is incorporating long-term flexibility so that as technology, curricula, and pedagogies evolve over a building’s 50-year life span, it can support and not hinder those changes.

“We know education is going to change. We know curriculums are going to change. So how best do we provide a facility that is equipped to change over its life?” says Chuck Tyler, principal architect at Fanning Howey.

School architects are tossing out industrial-era blueprints that emphasized enclosed, single-use spaces connected by long hallways designed to move students rapidly between bell periods. Today, every inch of the school is scoured for its ability to contribute to learning: Corridors are being widened to become extensions of the classroom, stairs are turning into seating space, and walls throughout the building are doubling as writing surfaces or displaying Wi-Fi-enabled TV screens. Typical, single-use rooms like cafeteria and libraries, meanwhile, are being designed to function as hybrid theaters, makerspaces, and media centers.

The multipurpose dining area at Wagner Middle School.

“There’s a realization and understanding on the clients’ side that the factory model school that most of us went to—where you’ve got similarly sized classrooms marching down either side of the hallway—is not going to support the kind of teaching and learning that they’re after,” says Steve Turckes, principal and K–12 education global practice leader for Perkins+Will.

Truly flexible spaces should also meet the day-to-day needs of educators to create instructional variety—direct instruction, group work, independent work—by quickly altering their environments. Lightweight chairs, beanbags, area rugs, tables of different heights, and even movable or foldable walls can transform alcoves into quiet reading spaces, which can in turn be modified to suit project-based learning or direct instruction.

Students sitting in a learning alcove at Field Elementary School in Weston, Massachusetts.

For example, at Milan High School, a public school in Milan, Michigan, the PBL learning addition called the Milan Center for Innovative Studies has a designated collaboration space, the Innovation Zone, where students conduct individual research, collaborate on group projects, and give presentations. But the Innovation Zone also serves as the school’s social hub and hosts the campus coffee shop and student-run bookstore, mimicking the integration of work and relaxation space that is so common in today’s start-ups and cutting-edge technology companies.

The Innovation Zone used for collaborative learning at Milan Center for Innovative Studies.

Outdoor Learning

Research suggests that there are many benefits from learning in the outdoors, including improved creativity and reduced stress . And a 1998 study concluded that when learning is hands-on and made relevant to students’ surrounding environment, they are more engaged in the curriculum and perform better on academic tests.

According to leading education architects, some outdoor learning environments are simply spaces that facilitate learning—a group of benches, an amphitheater, or a partially covered workspace with amenities like Wi-Fi and supplies. Like classrooms, these outdoor spaces are designated for instruction, presentations, or independent and group work, but they provide a fresh perspective for students who spend most of the school days indoors.

Outdoor classroom and multi-purpose space at Annie Purl Elementary in Georgetown, Texas.

Other outdoor learning spaces are designed to be extensions of the curriculum, and provide opportunities to observe or interact directly with nature.

At Daugherty Elementary, a public school in Garland, Texas, the architecture and design firm Corgan created a learning courtyard that offers a variety of educational zones connected to Texas state standards. On the pavement, there are imprints of fossils native to Texas. Shadow walls—where suspended panels with cutout images cast shadows as the sun shines through the cutouts—teach students about the earth’s rotation and seasonal cycles as shadows cast by the sun shift positions and lengths. A rainwater cistern enables students to track rainfall totals, while xeriscape landscaping—which requires little to no water—helps students learn about local, drought-tolerant plants and gain authentic experience with complex biological concepts like photosynthesis and osmosis.

Learning zones in the courtyard of Daugherty Elementary School in Garland, Texas.

And at Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, the biggest net-zero public school in the country—it generates more energy than it consumes—the building itself is a laboratory for learning. Corgan designed the building’s green energy capacities to integrate with the school’s grade 6–8 science curriculum. For example, in sixth grade, students collect data and do hands-on learning related to energy transformation, comparing the efficiency of fossil fuel to solar, wind, and geothermal power—all sources of energy that the school taps into.

Large outdoor canopy in front of Ladybird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas.

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v.326(7393); 2003 Apr 12

ABC of learning and teaching

Educational environment.

A student might find a particular question threatening and intimidating in one context yet stimulating and challenging in a different context. What makes one learning context unpleasant and another pleasant?

Learning depends on several factors, but a crucial step is the engagement of the learner. This is affected by their motivation and perception of relevance. These, in turn, can be affected by learners' previous experiences and preferred learning styles and by the context and environment in which the learning is taking place. In adult learning theories, teaching is as much about setting the context or climate for learning as it is about imparting knowledge or sharing expertise.

Motivation can be intrinsic (from the student) and extrinsic (from external factors). Assessments are usually a strong extrinsic motivator for learners. Individual learners' intrinsic motivation can be affected by previous experiences, by their desire to achieve, and the relevance of the learning to their future.

A teacher's role in motivation should not be underestimated. Enthusiasm for the subject, interest in the students' experiences, and clear direction (among other things) all help to keep students' attention and improve assimilation of information and understanding.

Even with good intrinsic motivation, however, external factors can demotivate and disillusion. Distractions, unhelpful attitudes of teachers, and physical discomfort will prompt learners to disengage. Maslow described a model to illustrate the building blocks of motivation. Each layer needs to be in place before the pinnacle of “self actualisation” is reached.

Physiological needs

Although the need to be fed, watered, and comfortable seems trite, many teachers will have experienced, for example, the difficulties of running sessions in cold or overheated rooms, in long sessions without refreshments, in noisy rooms, in facilities with uncomfortable seating.

Physical factors can make it difficult for learners and teachers to relax and pay attention. Ensuring adequate breaks and being mindful of the physical environment are part of the teacher's role.

Case history: safe environment

Dr Holden claims to use interactive teaching techniques. She introduces the topic then points to a student in the audience and says, “tell me five causes of cyanosis.” Each student will get asked questions in the session, and most spend their time worrying about when it is their turn to be “exposed.”

After a course on teaching skills, she runs the same session. After the introduction, she tells the students to turn to their neighbour and together come up with some possible causes of cyanosis. After a couple of minutes of this “buzz group” activity, she asks for one suggestion from each group until no new suggestions are made. The suggestions are then discussed with reference to the aims of the session.

A teacher should aim to provide an environment in which learners feel safe to experiment, voice their concerns, identify their lack of knowledge, and stretch their limits. Safety can be compromised, for example, through humiliation, harassment, and threat of forced disclosure of personal details.

Teachers can create an atmosphere of respect by endorsing the learners' level of knowledge and gaps in knowledge as essential triggers to learning rather than reasons for ridicule.

Remembering names and involving the learners in setting ground rules are other examples of building mutual trust. Feedback on performance, a vital part of teaching, should be done constructively and with respect for the learner.

Many factors help to give a student a sense of belonging in a group or team—for example, being a respected member, having one's voice heard and attended to, being given a useful role, and having colleagues with similar backgrounds, experiences, and goals.

Case history: sense of belonging

Five medical students arrive at a distant hospital for a four week attachment. They are met by a staff member, shown around the unit, canteen, library, and accommodation. They are given name badges in the style of the existing staff, and after a couple of days are given specific roles on the unit. These roles develop over the weeks. There is little set teaching time, but the students feel free to ask any staff member for more details at quieter times.

After the attachment, they meet up with friends who were placed elsewhere. Their experience was different. No one was expecting them when they arrived, and ward and clinic staff were unhelpful. There was a set teaching programme and an enthusiastic teacher, but the students were relieved that the hospital was near a town centre with good shops and nightlife.

Learners are motivated through inclusion and consultation. Their input to a course's objectives and structure should be sought, valued, and acted on. On clinical placements, staff should help to prevent medical students from feeling ignored, marginalised, or “in the way.” Students should instead be valued as assets to a clinical unit or team.

Self esteem

Several of the points mentioned above feed directly into self esteem through making the learner feel valued. Praise, words of appreciation, and constructive rather than destructive criticism are important. It can take many positive moments to build self esteem, but just one unkind and thoughtless comment to destroy it.

Case history: self esteem

A senior house officer (SHO) is making slow but steady progress. His confidence is growing and the level of supervision he requires is lessening. On one occasion, however, his case management is less than ideal, although the patient is not harmed or inconvenienced. The consultant feels exasperated and tells the SHO that everyone is carrying him and it still isn't working. The SHO subsequently reverts to seeking advice and permission for all decision making.

Doctors are well used to their role in the doctor-patient relationship. Some find it hard to translate the same skills and attitudes to the teacher-student relationship. Their own experience of education or their own distractions, time pressures, and other stresses may be factors.

Self actualisation

If a teacher has attended to the above motivational factors, then they have sought to provide the ideal environment in which a learner can flourish.

An ethos that encourages intrinsic motivation without anxiety is conducive to a “deep” learning approach. However, there may be some who remain unable to respond to the education on offer. Teachers may need to consider whether the course (or that particular piece of study) is suitable for that student.

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The relevance of learning is closely linked to motivation: relevance for immediate needs, for future work, of getting a certificate or degree regardless of content. Learning for learning's sake is back in vogue in higher education after a move towards vocational or industrial preparation.

Certain courses in medical degrees have been notoriously poorly received by students. Faculty members need to explain to students why these courses are necessary and how they link to future practice. Allowing them to see for themselves, through early clinical exposure and experience, is likely to be helpful. Similarly, learning the basic medical sciences in the context of clinical situations is the basis for problem based learning.

If a teacher is asked to do a one-off session with learners they don't know, he or she should prepare—both before and at the start of the session—by determining what the learners know, want to know, and expect to learn. This involves and shows respect for the learners and encourages them to invest in the session

Students' perception of the relevance of what they are being taught is a vital motivator for learning

Case history: role models

Dr Jones is a well known “character” in the hospital. Medical students sitting in his clinic hear him talk disparagingly about nurses, patients, and the new fangled political correctness about getting informed consent that wastes doctors' time. Most students are appalled; but a few find him engaging—they view him as a “real” doctor, unlike the ethics or communication skills lecturers.

A challenging problem is the trainee who is in a post because he or she needs to do it for certification, although it is of no perceived value to the trainee's future career direction. A balance needs to be negotiated between respect for the individual's needs and the expectation of a level of professional conduct.

Teacher as role model

The teacher or facilitator is one of the most powerful variables in the educational environment. The teacher's actions, attitudes (as evidenced by tone of voice, comments made), enthusiasm, and interest in the subject will affect learners indirectly. The capacity for subliminal messages is enormous. Inappropriate behaviour or expression by a staff member will be noticed; at worst the learners will want to emulate that behaviour, at best they will have been given tacit permission to do so.

It is easy to “learn” attitudes—including poor attitudes. Attitudes are learnt through observation of those in relative power or seniority. Teachers must therefore be aware of providing good role modelling in the presence of students

Maximising educational environment

Classroom, tutorials, seminars, lectures.

Room temperature, comfort of seating, background noise, and visual distractions are all factors of the environment that can affect concentration and motivation. Some are within the teacher's control, others not.

Checklist to ensure good physical environment

Is the room the right size?
Is the temperature comfortable?
Are there distractions (noise, visual distractions inside or outside)?
Is the seating adequate, and how should it be arranged?
Does the audiovisual equipment work?

Respect for the learners and their needs, praise, encouragement of participation can all lead to a positive learning experience. Lack of threat to personal integrity and self esteem is essential, although challenges can be rewarding and enjoyable.

Small group teaching facilitates individual feedback, but the seating arrangement used will have an important effect on student participation. If, for example, students sit in traditional classroom rows, those on the edges will feel excluded. A circular format encourages interaction. It allows the teacher to sit alongside a talkative person, thus keeping them out of eye contact and reducing their input. A quiet student can be placed opposite to encourage participation through non-verbal means. Students can also work in unfacilitated groups on a topic, enabling them to work in teams and share the learning tasks.

Clinical settings

In real life settings, the dual role of teacher and clinician can be complicated. The students will be closely observing the clinician, picking up hidden messages about clinical practice. They need to feel that there is no danger that they will unnecessarily distress or harm patients or their families. They also need to feel safe from humiliation. Making them feel welcomed and of value when they arrive at a new placement or post will aid their learning throughout.

Checklist for teaching in clinical settings

Have patients and families given consent for students to be present?
Do the staff know that teaching is planned and understand what their roles will be?
Is there adequate space for all participants?
How much time is available for teaching?
How may the students be made to feel useful (for example, “pre-clerking” and presenting)?

Course and curriculum design

The designers of short and long courses should consider the relevance of the learning environment to the potential learners. Student representation on curriculum committees is one means of ensuring a more student centred course.

The aims, objectives, and assessments should be signposted well in advance of a course and should be demonstrably fair. The teaching methods should build on learners' experience, creating a collaborative environment. Disseminating the findings of course evaluations, followed by staff training, helps to identify and correct undesirable behaviour among faculty members. Evaluations should also include a means for reviewing the course's aims and objectives with the students.

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Many factors influence learning

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs for motivating learning. Adapted from Maslow A H. Motivation and Personality , New York: Harper and Row, 1954

Physiological needs

Physical factors can make it difficult for learners and teachers to relax and pay attention. Ensuring adequate breaks and being mindful of the physical environment are part of the teacher's role.

Case history: safe environment

Teachers can create an atmosphere of respect by endorsing the learners' level of knowledge and gaps in knowledge as essential triggers to learning rather than reasons for ridicule.

Case history: sense of belonging

Self esteem

Case history: self esteem

Self actualisation

If a teacher has attended to the above motivational factors, then they have sought to provide the ideal environment in which a learner can flourish.

Students' perception of the relevance of what they are being taught is a vital motivator for learning

Case history: role models

Teacher as role model

Maximising educational environment

Classroom, tutorials, seminars, lectures.

Checklist to ensure good physical environment

Is the room the right size?

Is the temperature comfortable?

Are there distractions (noise, visual distractions inside or outside)?

Is the seating adequate, and how should it be arranged?

Does the audiovisual equipment work?

Traditional teaching can leave some students excluded (that is, outside the “triangle of influence”)

Clinical settings

Checklist for teaching in clinical settings

Have patients and families given consent for students to be present?

Do the staff know that teaching is planned and understand what their roles will be?

Is there adequate space for all participants?

How much time is available for teaching?

How may the students be made to feel useful (for example, “pre-clerking” and presenting)?

Course and curriculum design

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3 Types of Learning Environments

Classroom Strategies
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What is a Learning Environment?

A learning environment is more than just a classroom—it’s a space in which students feel safe and supported in their pursuit of knowledge, as well as inspired by their surroundings. Think back to some of the classroom environments you’ve encountered on your educational path. In your childhood, the learning environment you engaged in was probably vibrant and colorful, with a desk layout that allowed for flexibility if a lesson required more room for movement and physical expression. In high school, your learning environment was likely more focused at the head of the classroom to direct your attention, with rows of desks pointed forward.

But there’s more than just aesthetics at play in an effective learning environment. Instructors can also influence a learning environment by the way they teach and the atmosphere they create in the classroom. They can help influence student learning by encouraging student engagement, providing positive and constructive feedback that supports exploration, community among peers, and diversity. Studies have shown that thriving learning environments help increase student focus and retention of information.

As students continue to grow and evolve as learners, so, too, do the environments in which they learn. Learning environments have changed over time and can continue to expand to meet student needs, allowing teachers to continually optimize their learning environment to help students meet their educational goals.

What are the Different Types of Learning Environments?

There are different types of landscapes or categories that impact our learning, including our physical environment, psychological environment, and emotional environment. Here’s how these three categories can influence a learning environment:

Those vibrant, colorful classrooms of your youth or the rows of desks that characterized high school both fall into the category of the physical learning environment. This category is all about the design of a classroom, including how it’s laid out to influence learning, and which spaces are designated for learning activities. This can include the furniture that’s used to fill the space and even the equipment a teacher relies on to enhance the learning experience.

In recent years, at-home and distance learning have also become a part of the physical environment discussion. Parents have had to make adjustments at home to ensure their kids have a comfortable space to attend class via video chat and do their classwork off-site. For many, this has meant creating a designated space that helps students feel separate from the rest of the standard home space so home students are encouraged to focus—and to leave school behind at the end of the day once class is done.

Psychological

A positive psychological environment can encourage students to engage with the curriculum—and their fellow students—in ways that can enhance their personal and professional development. By building trust with students and creating a safe space that feels welcoming for all, teachers create a positive learning environment and make sure students have more opportunities to participate, ask questions, take risks, and receive feedback.

School can be stressful at any age, which is why students need a positive emotional environment that supports their educational path. Part of creating the psychological environment’s safe space means addressing the emotional environment’s need for self-expression and the freedom to express emotions. By supporting student’s emotional needs and feelings, teachers help enhance their students’ emotional intelligence—which, in turn, gives them confidence. Teachers can also create a supportive emotional learning environment by creating routines students can rely on, encouraging diversity and choices, and celebrating their achievements.

How Can I Create a Better Learning Environment?

There are a lot of things that parents and both current and aspiring teachers can do to create better learning environments. Some examples include:

Parents can ensure their kids have a comfortable space where they can attend remote learning or video classes with the supplies they need, good seating, a strong internet connection, and more.
Teachers can set parents up for success by sharing upcoming lesson plans so they can prepare for what’s to come, whether by getting needed materials or doing additional reading, and reinforce lessons.
If a student is having difficulty, parents and teachers can collaborate on ways to support the student through the challenge, whether it’s through updated teaching methods, tutoring or just additional support from trusted parents.
Make study time more fun with a little music, timed contests and drills, scents that can jog the memory, and other unique learning approaches.

In the Classroom

Consider the layout of your classroom and how it supports student learning. Is there a better way to position desks so everyone can see what’s going on at the head of the class? Instead of rows, would semi-circles with the students facing one another create more engagement and camaraderie? Don’t be afraid to try new things!
Encourage students to become a part of creating their own learning environment. This could mean having an art day where everyone creates artwork to decorate the walls, or it could mean having an open forum discussion where students can express what they need to be successful in the classroom. It depends on how old the students are and what the class focus is, but students will feel more connected to the environment if they have a hand in shaping it.
Consider employing one of the five most common educational theories to adapt lessons to individual students and their learning needs.

By creating a positive and engaging learning environment, teachers can give their students the physical, psychological, and emotional support they need to thrive and be successful—in school, and beyond.

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Six ways to build more equitable learning environments, to support the well-being of all students, take inventory of your school policies and practices..

2020 was a tumultuous year that challenged us all to consider the inequitable systems in place in our society, from policing to health care. In a recent report I created for The Education Trust, I highlighted how racial inequities show up in our education system—and what we can do about it.

Today, the most popular approach to supporting student well-being are social-emotional learning programs, which focus on teaching students competencies like recognizing and managing emotions and behavior, adopting positive mindsets, and learning to build, maintain, and repair relationships. Unfortunately, in too many places, these programs focus narrowly on changing student behavior. This is especially true in schools and districts that serve large populations of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, leading to concerns that these approaches are really about policing students rather than holistic support.

When adults and systems haven’t first interrogated and addressed their own biases, this approach encourages them to see something wrong with their students that needs to be “fixed.” But in many cases, students aren’t the ones that need “fixing”; systems are.

Our Ed Trust report offers six recommendations to help schools and districts change those systems—to help students build relationships with other students and adults in schools, and create equitable learning environments that support social, emotional, and academic growth for all students. These recommendations are based on interviews conducted with students and families of color across the country, as well as existing research.

1. Engage students, families, and communities as full partners

While there’s no real order to these recommendations, engaging students, families, and communities as partners in schooling and decision making is foundational, because they know their context best. Their experiences should lead conversations on what changes and improvements are needed to best support student well-being.

Students, families, and communities should contribute to decisions in a wide range of issues, including how each of the policies discussed below are developed and implemented. This can be done in town hall meetings where school board members, school and district leaders, educators, and staff come together with students and families to discuss policy and practice decisions, and how they affect everyone involved.

As one Latina mother we interviewed said, “There should be a communication between teachers and parents. Teachers can get involved no matter how small the problem is.”

Ensuring a strong connection between educators and those they serve increases their understanding of students’ backgrounds and circumstances, which ultimately improves their ability to support their students.

2. Diversify the educator workforce

One topic that’s not often discussed alongside issues of belonging and social-emotional well-being is the makeup of the educator workforce, but research suggests this is critical. Educators of color are not only more likely to understand students of color because of a common culture, but also tend to have higher expectations of their students and better support their students’ social and emotional needs . Research also suggests that Black students who have at least one Black teacher are more likely to enroll in college.

Students and families of color also brought up this issue in many of our interviews. “Having a teacher that looks like you is very important,” one Black mother stated.

She went on to discuss the mismatch in cultural and social norms when she witnessed white teachers getting frustrated by a class of mostly Black students being “rowdy.” When educators apply the norms of their own culture to all students, they may believe students of color have behavioral issues where none actually exist.

3. Provide meaningful professional development and supports

Sizeable shifts in the demographics of the educator workforce will take time, but in the meantime, schools and districts can more immediately address the mindsets and skills of the educators currently teaching students through professional development and supports. One Black mother said, “If you can’t have folks that look like you, at least have the ones in the place [be] culturally competent so that they understand, and they don’t just make assumptions.”

Professional learning opportunities that create space for open conversations about bias can support adults in continuously interrogating their own biases, as well as developing more inclusive lesson plans, discipline strategies, and other ways to infuse self-awareness and cultural competence into the practices they use with their students.

Resources to Support Anti-Racist Learning

Readings, practices, and other resources to support anti-racist educators.

For example, this could include anti-bias training, professional learning communities where educators can discuss how to create inclusive environments, and training in restorative practices .

4. Develop inclusive discipline and dress code policies

While addressing bias and skills in adults is critical, it is insufficient without also addressing systemic discrimination.

We see this play out particularly clearly with school discipline policies like zero tolerance, which result in disproportionate punishments for students of color (like being sent to the principal, sent home, suspended, or expelled) for subjective and minor offenses, like being “defiant” or “distracting.” Other policies prohibit hairstyles that are common among students of color, such as braids or locs.

More Education Resources

Visit Greater Good in Education for more information, tips, and practices to support teacher and student well-being. To dive deeper into the research behind these practices and strategies, register for one of our online courses for educators .

These send messages to students of color that they don’t belong and aren’t welcome in their own schools. But, as one Black parent said, “School should be a safe zone for a kid to be able to come and really be their self.”

When students can bring their full and authentic selves into the classroom rather than being asked to check pieces of themselves at the door, it creates a sense of emotional safety that supports positive identity development, positive social and emotional development, and academic engagement. Not to mention the diversity of students’ backgrounds benefits all students in learning from one another.

5. Ensure equitable access to rigorous, culturally sustaining curricula

Another way bias often shows up in systems is through artificial barriers that prevent students of color and students from low-income backgrounds access to rigorous and culturally sustaining curricula. Culturally sustaining curricula offers a balanced, non-stereotypical representation of diverse students and their histories and cultures.

Regardless of academic track, students should be provided with challenging material that does not provide a shallow and repetitive overview of diverse perspectives and histories, shaped by the upper-middle-class white norms and narratives that dominate our society. Lessons should truly provide opportunities for students to see themselves reflected in the material and develop their racial and cultural identities.

A Black girl we interviewed expressed her frustration: “I think that we should talk about other people other than just Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King because I’ve been learning about that since I was in first grade. I had to read myself about people like Malcolm X and things like that. Why can’t we talk about other people?”

Experiences like this send messages to students that their backgrounds and histories are not valued. Not offering rigorous material communicates to students they’re being underestimated, which can harm students’ sense of belonging. Consider this Black girl’s experience: “I took two AP classes my senior year, and in both of those classes, I was the only Black person. And I think that’s happened throughout my entire high school career.”

These experiences can be addressed through policy, such as what materials and curricula are used in schools. Access to advanced courses such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate should be based on objective factors like GPA, rather than the subjective decisions of adults that can be subject to bias.

6. Provide access to integrated services and supports

While what happens in schools is critical, students’ circumstances outside of school are often the leading factors in their well-being and success. And this is why schools must do what they can to holistically support students through the integration of supports and resources.

Many of the students I spoke with emphasized the need for mental health supports. One student explained, “If we don’t address that well-being aspect, then there’s no way we can progress.”

Schools should provide what supports they can, such as school counselors and school psychologists, but many families we interviewed also recognized that schools can’t do everything on their own. This means partnering with other agencies, organizations, and families to collectively find and provide the right combination of supports for students.

For example, school districts can develop “Handle with Care” programs, in which they partner with hospitals, police departments, and other social services to alert school personnel when students may have experienced an emergency situation. While the details of incidents are kept confidential, educators will still know that a student may have experienced something that could influence their wellness and engagement in school that day. This, in many ways, brings us full circle to the first recommendation of partnering with students, families, and communities to figure out the best ways to support student well-being.

A call to action

Social-emotional skill-building programs are insufficient if the learning environments in schools are not also addressed. As one Black Latino student said, “The way schools are structured now, and the way education is structured, it’s not set up for students to succeed in those environments.”

So, before school leaders reach for that off-the-shelf program aimed at changing student behavior, take inventory of the policies and practices currently in place. Ask yourself, is this creating an equitable learning environment? Have we addressed adult biases so that these skill-building programs won’t cause further harm? Only then will you be truly supporting the social, emotional, and academic development of all students.

About the Author

Nancy Duchesneau

Nancy Duchesneau is a senior P-12 research associate and leads the social, emotional, and academic development work at Ed Trust. In this role, she works to fill current gaps in research, policy, and advocacy to ensure that schools holistically support the well-being and development of students, and especially for low-income students and students of color.

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Open access
Published: 15 March 2021

Shaping the future learning environments with smart elements: challenges and opportunities

Simon K. S. Cheung 1 ,
Lam For Kwok 2 ,
Kongkiti Phusavat 3 &
Harrison Hao Yang 4

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education volume 18 , Article number: 16 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The evolving learning environments

Unarguably, technology has become an irreversible force driving the transformation of teaching and learning practices. Cloud computing, learning analytics, big data, and artificial intelligence are being adopted in today’s teaching and learning, though to different extents. For over a decade, educational researchers have been exploring how different innovative means could be integrated into traditional learning in order to enrich learning experience and enhance learning effectiveness. Enabled by various pedagogical and technological innovations, brand new learning environments can be created to optimize learners’ ability to learn. They are collectively referred as the commonly known “smart learning environments” which can best delineate the future learning environments. Embracing a variety of concepts, including but not limited to flexible learning, personalized learning, mobile learning, adaptive learning, and blended learning, for obvious reasons, there are no one single form of smart learning environments. The concepts, and even definitions, of smart learning environments have continuously emerging.

A smart learning environment can be conceptualized as a learning environment that emphasizes learning flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, engagement, adaptivity, and reflectiveness (Spector, 2014 ), where both formal learning and informal learning are integrated (Gros, 2016 ). It is basically an adaptive system that improves learning experience based on learning traits, preferences and progress, features increased degrees of engagement, knowledge access, feedback and guidance, and uses rich-media with a seamless access to pertinent information, real-life and on-the-go mentoring with the use of technologies to continuously enhance the learning environment (Singh & Hassan, 2017 ). In recent years, educational researchers have been actively investigating a smart learning environment. As of March 2021, a simple search of the keyword, “smart learning environment”, from Google Scholar and Scopus yields 1990 and 1773 results respectively. Over 80% of these results are published within 5 years, and almost all refer to the tertiary education settings, including higher education, further education and open education.

This thematic issue entitled Future Learning Environment: Pedagogical and Technological perspectives aims to report the latest research findings and share good practices on creating brand new learning environments that emphasize learning effectiveness, efficiency, flexibility and engagement. It started to invite submissions in April 2020. By the submission deadline in December 2020, over 160 submissions had been received. After a rigorous and highly selective review process, 6 papers were finally accepted to this thematic issue. All of them are well written with significant original contributions that would provide excellent references for educational researchers and practitioners in the pursuit of the best learning environments.

Serving as the editorial introduction, this position paper first discusses the new challenges and opportunities in designing and implementing smart learning environments in the higher education context, and then highlights the key findings reported by each article appearing in the thematic issue.

Current issues and new challenges

Today, the education system has been undergoing major changes brought about by emerging educational concepts and technological reforms. These emerging concepts and reforms pose a number of new challenges on smart learning environments, as enumerated below.

Pedagogical approaches

Many advances in education will be brought about by the further integration of personalized learning and intelligent learning environments (Price, 2015 ). Chatti et al. ( 2010 ) pointed out that learning is personal, social, distributed, universal, flexible, dynamic, and complex. In a smart learning environment, a fundamental shift is needed towards a more personalized, social, open, dynamic, emergent, and knowledge-pull model for learning, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all, centralized, static, top-down, and knowledge-push models of traditional learning solutions (Chatti et al., 2010 ). To achieving this goal, new pedagogical approaches are required regarding the effective application of integrating technologies into the curriculum in a smart learning environment, to improve the effectiveness and efficacy of students’ learning.

Personalized adaptive learning

In a smart learning environment, more attention has been paid to individual needs of students. According to Hwang and Fu ( 2020 ), a smart learning environment is regarded as a learning system for facilitating efficient personalized learning. Adaptive learning provides technical and methodological support for personalized learning. Personalized adaptive learning makes adaptive adjustments according to the individual characteristics of learners to promote the individualized development of students.

Smart devices and intelligent technologies in smart learning environments can be used to promote the development of personalized learning and adaptive learning for students. The smart learning environment has a large potential to effectively promote the development of personalized learning and adaptive learning (Peng, Ma & Spector, 2019 ). Thus, how to design learning ecosystems that integrate smart learning to personalize and self-regulated learning will be a key challenge (Gros, 2016 ). The following efforts could be made: monitoring learners’ differences and changes in individual characteristics, individual performance, personal development, and adapting teaching strategies (Peng, Ma & Spector, 2019 ).

Affective interaction

New knowledge is constructed through social interaction. Just because the smart learning environment makes it technically possible, it does not mean that social interaction will necessarily occur (Feidakis, et al., 2013 ). Emotion is a kind of psychological response of human beings, which can influence and regulate cognitive activities such as attention, perception, representation, memory, thinking, and language. It occurs in the social interaction between students. In the traditional face-to-face learning environment, affective interaction occurred among teachers and students at a very high frequency, while smart learning environments focus more on imparting knowledge than affective interaction. Therefore, how to improve the affective interaction within the smart learning environment is an important challenge nowadays. One effective solution is to construct a comprehensive and dynamic learner model, which can incorporate learners’ learning emotions as a more important influencing factor (Hwang & Fu, 2020 ).

Assessment method

Despite advances in psychological research and educational technology, assessment practices in educational institutions have remained unchanged for decades. Under a smart learning environment, there is an urgent need to go beyond traditional forms of assessment and use new methods to evaluate the effectiveness of the smart learning environment. The formative assessment might be an effective approach. It can enhance students’ ability to change from passive learners to active learners, where they can understand their strengths and weaknesses, recognize gaps in learning and develop solutions (Price, 2015 ).

Integration of formal learning and informal learning

In the past, the channels for students to acquire knowledge were formal school and university studies, but now through the Internet, students can easily obtain and use informal learning methods, which leads to formal learning time allocation may only account for 50% of learners’ study time (Kinshuk et al., 2016 ). However, due to the blurring of the boundaries between formal and informal learning and the increasing attention to informal learning, the smart learning environment must integrate formal and informal learning to create an autonomous learning environment to support individual learners (Gros, 2016 ).

Learning data

Education (in whatever form) has always used data (such as demographic and behavioral data) to plan, operate and teach, and smart technology offers new opportunities to extend the "data gaze" (Kwet & Prinslo, 2020 ). In a smart learning environment, a large amount of learner behavior data is generated. However, it is important to note that the data collected for these forms of delivery may vary depending on technology, background, institutional characteristics, and pedagogical strategies (Broughan & Prinsloo, 2020 ; Pink, et al., 2018 ). Therefore, how to integrate data in different scenarios, build data-centric smart education, and provide learners with a seamless learning experience and personalized customized services is also a big challenge (Zhu, Yu & Riezebos, 2016 ). It is also a challenge to collect and use these learning data, while observing relevant data protection principles and guidelines. Learning analysis could be used to process learning data, monitor learning progress, and provide feedback to the system, teachers, and students. However, the current studies on the design and implementation of learning analytics as reported in the literature are found to be largely driven by researchers in areas of computer science and decision sciences (Lee et al., 2020 ). The focus is on the applications of analytics to teaching and learning more from the technological perspectives that the pedagogical perspectives.

Opportunities and development trends

In the last decade, innovations have emerged into teaching and learning practices at an ever accelerating rate. The latest advances in pedagogies and technologies have brought new opportunities on the development of smart learning environments in two aspects, namely, performance evaluation and instructional design. The following discusses these opportunities with suggestions.

Evaluation of a smart learning environment

Evaluation on learning performance would be more accurate.

Through artificial intelligence technologies in a smart learning environment, such as the internet of things, perception technology, video recording technology, image recognition technology and platform acquisition technology, multi-source, heterogeneous, multi-modal big data (for example, raising hands, facial expressions, bodily postures, and discussion) concerning with students’ learning process could be collected (Beer, 2019 ; Chatterjee et al., 2019 ; Kwet & Prinsloo, 2020 ). Such big data would generate new insights about students’ behavior and learning performance in the smart learning environment, which makes it possible to better understand and optimize the learning process and the teaching environments (Shorfuzzaman et al., 2019 ; Syafrudin et al., 2018 ). For instance, the “artificial intelligence smart classroom” solution by Intel partner Corerain utilizes video analytics to detect and identify students’ positive actions, such as participation, hand raising, and standing up, and negative actions, such as turning around and resting their head on the table. Then, these actions would be traced, recorded, and visualized in a dashboard to determine students’ engagement situations (Intel, 2019 ).

Feedback and intervention would be more timely

With the help of learning analytics, a smart learning environment could monitor students’ learning process, alert possible academic failures, conduct timely and effective interventions for learning problems, and provide students with personalized support services (Pardo et al., 2019 ; Tempelaar et al., 2021 ). Specifically, with the application of machine learning and predictive modeling techniques, learning analysis could help to identify students at risk of failure or dropping out, and provide special support, such as course recommendation, instructional design (Sclater, 2017 ; Xing, et al., 2019 ). For instance, in response to the declining freshman retention rate, Purdue University launched the course signal system, which could collect and analyze data, such as student course performance, learning behavior, previous academic history, learner characteristics, etc., to realize real-time prediction of a course. Since students’ performance would be indicated by different signals, teachers can appropriately intervene in students’ learning by sending emails, text messages, and face-to-face interviews according to the signals. Furthermore, teachers can also guide learners through recommending appropriate learning resources of the system to promote their success in learning (Arnold & Pistilli, 2012 ).

Instructional design in a smart learning environment

Instructional resources would be more equitable.

In a typical smart learning environment, digital cameras and recording or casting equipment, multiple student-controlled interactive whiteboards or touch screen televisions, mobile devices that are compatible to connect with student-controlled displays, wireless Internet, and educational management software are ubiquitously available (MacLeod et al., 2018 ). These equipped resources and technologies could ensure all students in a smart learning environment have the access to engage in different kinds of instructional resources regardless of race, gender, learning differences, socio-economic status, or background.

Instructional approaches would be more student-centered and flexible

With the help of smart technologies, existing researches have shown that active learning approaches, including inquiry learning, collaborative learning, group learning, and so on, are increasingly ubiquitous (Ellis & Bliuc, 2016 ). With the continued maturing of smart technologies, these student-centered instructional approaches could be more common. With the ability to store, collect, compute and analyze the massive data of learners to do the optimized pedagogical decisions (Li, Kong & Chen, 2015 ), a smart learning environment could push personalized learning plans for every student, at the same time, students could interact with the smart learning management system to adjust the learning plan. Besides interaction between students and the system, interactions between students and teachers, students and parents would be more convenient and timely, since the smart learning system could assist teachers in mastering students’ conditions and in adjusting teaching in real-time (Dai, 2019 ).

What’s more, the ubiquitous instructional resources in a smart learning environment make it possible for students to conduct any learning activities with their preferential learning approaches at anytime and anywhere they wanted (Hwang, 2014 ). Students could choose their classmates by themselves, some in a face-to-face environment whilst some others in the cloud. Compared with the fixed time and fixed classroom in the traditional instruction, the instructional approach in the smart learning environment would be more flexible.

Instructional objectives would be more ability-centered

Previous studies have also indicated that a smart learning environment can stimulate students’ learning motivation, promote active learning, improve academic performance and stimulate higher-order thinking skills (Jena, 2013 ; Liu et al., 2011 ; Lu et al., 2021 ). With the tendency that the instructional approaches to be more student-centered, with the interaction between students, teachers, parents, and learning system to be more convenient, students would have more free space to develop and conduct learning activities by communicating and collaborating with their classmates, or seeking help from their teachers. This active learning process can not only help students gain new knowledge, but also cultivate their cognitive, behavioral, and emotional skills.

As a final note, while learning environments continue to evolve, the learning process itself is inevitably undergoing different levels of transformation. It is also about time for the learning process to be reviewed or even re-defined.

Papers in this thematic issue

The upcoming 6 papers collectively attempted to address the challenges and evaluate the effectiveness of learning environments, as well as to develop new instructional design approaches and technological measures.

The first upcoming paper entitled, “Past, Present, and Future of Smart Learning: A Topic-based Bibliometric Analysis”, provides a literature review of smart learning. The authors conducted a topic-based modelling analysis on the publications relevant to smart learning. The major research topics on smart learning were identified, for example, interactive learning, multimedia learning, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, blended learning, affective and biometric computing. Some emerging topics, such as learning analytics, IoT (Internet of things), could computing, MOOCs (massive open online courses), and feedback and assessment, were also identified. The authors attempted to explain how these topics evolved over the years. The findings help educational researchers, practitioners and policy makers better understand the past, present, and future of the development of smart learning and smart learning environments.

The second paper entitled, “Technology Acceptance of Four Digital Learning Technologies (Classroom Response System, Classroom Chat, E-Lectures, and Mobile Virtual Reality) after Three Months’ Usage”, provides a reflection of how the four popular learning technologies are compared under a technology acceptance model. The study was carried out through a survey conducted to the students of a university in Switzerland. Three core factors, namely, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioural intention, were considered. The results showed that classroom response systems had the highest level of acceptance, followed by e-lectures, and then classroom chat, and then mobile virtual reality. The authors admitted that the low level of acceptance for mobile virtual reality was surprising and went contrary to their expected results. Feedbacks from students were studied, revealing a substantial drop in perceived usefulness and behavioural intention.

The paper to follow is entitled, “Transitioning to the New Normal of Learning in Unpredictable Times: Pedagogical Practices and Learning Performance in Fully Online Flipped Classrooms”. The authors shared their successful experience in transforming two conventional flipped classes into fully online flipped classes with the help of a cloud-based video-conferencing app, in order to cope with the immediate switching of classes to online delivery modes due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The transformation was explained, based on the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) framework for flipped classes. The effect of fully online flipped classes on learning performance was evaluated. The results showed that the online flipped classroom approach can be as effective as the conventional flipped classroom approach. A number of good practices for using video-conferencing tools to support online flipped classrooms were proposed. Useful guidelines on the implementation of online flipped classes were provided for reference.

In the fourth paper entitled, “Examining the Key Influencing Factors on College Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Skills in the Smart Classroom Environment”, the authors conducted a structural equation modelling analysis to study the relationships between key factors that influence students’ learning and higher-order thinking skills in a smart classroom environment. It was revealed that peer interaction and learning motivation had a direct impact on higher-order thinking skills. Indirect effects were found between students’ learning strategy and higher-order thinking skills through the mediator peer interaction, and between smart classroom preferences and higher-order thinking skills through the learning motivation, the combination of learning strategy and peer interaction, and the combination of learning motivation, learning strategy and peer interaction. Accordingly, recommendations were made for teaching higher-order thinking skills in a smart classroom environment.

The next two papers shift the focus on improving the learning environments with technologies such as virtual reality and lecture capturing systems, where the benefits and advantages are illustrated.

The fifth paper entitled, “Benefits of Immersive Collaborative Learning in CAVE-based Virtual Reality”, demonstrated the use of immersive virtual reality in learning complex subjects for more engaging, motivating and effective learning experience. Taking neuroanatomy as an example of a visually and spatially complex subject, a virtual reality game was developed in a cave automatic virtual environment or CAVE for learning brain structures, their interconnections and broader spatial relationships. The game consisted of an interactive virtual learning environment which employed all four walls of a CAVE to provide an immersive and engaging experience to groups of learners. Constructivist elements, such as free exploration, knowledge construction and collaboration, were incorporated. It was found that learning in a CAVE yielded higher learning gains, as compared to the conventional textbooks, and that low spatial ability learners could benefit most from the strong spatial cues provided by immersive virtual reality in term of improvement in performance.

The last paper entitled, “Investigating the use of a lecture capture system within pharmacy education: Lessons from an internationally accredited undergraduate pharmacy program”, discussed the use of a lecture capture system to assist students in grasping difficult concepts. The authors conducted an analysis of 18 courses over three academic years. The results showed that year-1 students viewed lecture captures most frequently at the beginning of the academic year, followed by year-2 students, and then year-3 students, and that such pattern was further underscored by the class of 2020. Based on the findings, the authors proposed professional development for faculty to showcase the advantages of the lecture capture system and the benefits of a multitude of learning and teaching styles and methods, while also suggesting further quantitative and qualitative studies to help grasp the students’ motivations for use, and their attitudes and perceptions towards the system.

All these papers would contribute to help shape the future learning environments with various smart elements from both pedagogical and technological perspectives. We hope that you would enjoy reading the papers.

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Cheung, S.K.S., Kwok, L.F., Phusavat, K. et al. Shaping the future learning environments with smart elements: challenges and opportunities. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 18 , 16 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-021-00254-1

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Published: 29 October 2019

Improving students’ learning environment by DREEM: an educational experiment in an Iranian medical sciences university (2011–2016)

Hamid Bakhshialiabad ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2257-8378 1 , 2 , 3 ,
Golnaz Bakhshi 4 ,
Zahra Hashemi 5 ,
Amirhosein Bakhshi 6 &
Faroukh Abazari 7

BMC Medical Education volume 19 , Article number: 397 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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Students’ perception of the educational setting is an important source for improving and applying changes to the educational environment. In this study, we reassessed undergraduate students’ perception of the educational environment at two colleges of RUMS-Iran in the academic years of 2011 and 2016.

In the present prospective study, the DREEM inventory consisted of seven courses for undergraduate paramedical and nursing-midwifery students ( n = 982). After the first stage, educational seminars and workshops were set up for academic members and faculty staff on deficiencies and the ideal climate for optimizing the educational environment. The results of students’ responses in 2011 were compared with those assessed in 2016. For the data analysis, the independent t-test and the one-way ANOVA were utilized.

In the academic year of 2010–2011, the DREEM inventory scored 115.33/200 (57.66%); it also scored 123.47/200 (60.7%) in the academic year of 2015–2016 ( p ≤ 0.01). There was an interesting feeling about the first-year education, and female students felt a more positively perceived learning environment during all courses than male students at both stages of the study. There were significant positive differences (2 to 7%) in all domains of the components of DREEM in all courses between the academic year of 2010–2011 and the academic year of 2015–2016, showing that the DREEM score had changed and increased ( p < 0.05), in the latter case.

Conclusions

Positive differences were observed in DREEM scores between the two stages of the study. DREEM helped reduce the areas of deficiencies in students’ perception of many aspects of the educational environment. It also helped identify problematic areas in the improvement. In addition, DREEM could be used to optimize and make modifications to the educational environment.

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Students’ perceptions of their learning environment are valuable in revising and refining the quality of the educational environment [ 1 ]. Educational research has shown that the significance of orientation towards learning is positively correlated with students’ perception of the educational environment [ 2 ] . An educational environment is composed of the three components of the physical environment, as well as the emotional and intellectual climates [ 1 ]. The educational climate refers to various physical sets, contexts, and values in which students receive education [ 3 ]. The educational environment affects positively the motivation, happiness, achievement, success, and satisfaction of students [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. The quality of the educational environment indicates the efficiency of an educational program. The competency of the health care staff influences the safety and health of patients, and their education is essential to health initiatives [ 7 , 8 ]. Based on the guidelines of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), improving the learning environment has been recognized as one of the objectives of the assessment of medical education programs [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Medical educators believe that clinical and theoretical environments exert significant impacts on the attitudes, knowledge, skills, progress, and behaviors of medical students [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. If students’ perception in this context is considered as the basis for improvement, the measuring, implementing, modifying, and reforming of the educational environment will be possible [ 12 ]. Targeted learning is definitely associated with students’ perception of the educational environment, which influences their learning experiences and outcomes [ 12 , 13 ]. Students’ perception of the educational environment has been studied by many educational institutes [ 4 , 5 , 12 , 13 ].

In the latest attempts to boost quality assessment monitoring and guarantee the education of health professionals for the purpose of student-centered teaching and learning, a great deal of interest is observed in this field [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Students’ accomplishments can be influenced by their educational climate. The study of the learning environment is beneficial for the identification of students’ perceptions of their environment and support the staff to reflect on, plan for, and combine proper teaching approaches for the improvement of the educational environment.

The study of the educational environment deals with assessing what happens at school [ 13 ] and providing the available comprehensive evidence on the education process, the consequences of which being used to boost students’ satisfaction and achievements [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. A key indicator of the quality of learning experiences is students’ satisfaction, being linked to some important variables. To provide high-quality and student-centered curricula, the assessment of the educational environment and the use of an appropriate tool are required [ 11 ]. Researchers in the field of education have tried to explain and measure the education environment [ 13 , 14 , 15 ], with the most widely used tool being the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) [ 13 ]. DREEM is a validated and universal instrument [ 13 ], which has been translated into several languages, including the Persian, Swedish, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Malay, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Thai languages [ 6 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. DREEM has been recognized as a reliable tool in a series of medical settings, by which administrators can detect limits and consider alterations to curricula [ 5 , 19 , 20 ].

DREEM has so far been used to identify weaknesses in curricula [ 6 , 21 , 22 ] and determine the impact of new curricular interventions [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. It is also used for recognizing the distance between students’ anticipations and experience [ 25 ], as well as students’ understandings in different conditions at medical schools [ 13 , 26 ].

Students’ perception of their medical education [ 27 , 28 ] at different stages has also been examined by DREEM [ 5 , 7 , 29 ]. Furthermore, this valuable tool has been used in undergraduate courses by health professionals and in health care fields universally [ 3 , 30 ], including medicine, dentistry, nursing, midwifery, anesthesiology, medical emergencies, paramedical sciences, and chiropractic learning environments [ 5 , 25 , 31 , 32 ]. A significant part of identifying the efficiencies and fields where developments could be made is to receive ‘feedbacks’ from students on designing the learning environment [ 18 ].

The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) instrument is commonly used toا evaluate the learning environment of medical sciences as well as other health sciences in various academic settings, with the results being used to compare different institutions offering health courses. Since its development about 10 years ago, this instrument has been used to outline the strengths and weaknesses of institutions based on students’ perceptions. DREEM, in IRAN, is not commonly utilized to determine students’ perceptions of their learning environment. Aside from the lack of records on the strengths or weaknesses of institutions offering health courses, the Commission on Higher Education of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education has also indicated the need for some reforms in the schools of medical sciences in Iran. Based on this requirement, they must work aimed at educating graduates, by emphasizing competence-based learning, eliminating problems in the educational environment, and also improving the educational methodology, behavior, and professional ethics of instructors at school. In recent years, novel instruction methodologies, such as the use of technology, have been adopted and used at some higher education institutions in Iran, yet a gap exists between the prioritization level of this educational reform and its level of use. Hence, to initiate relevant educational reforms, it is required that the health science students’ perceptions of their learning environment be assessed In this respect, in this study, identify problems, design training programs, and determine the impact of these educational intervention programs on changing students’ perceptions and compare results of before and after interventions based on age, gender and year of enrolment using the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM). This study was carried out at Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (RUMS; undergraduate faculties This survey was also conducted to assess and compare the improvement of undergraduate student’s perceptions that studying in nursing-midwifery, and paramedical faculties, of their learning environment at two stages, i.e. before and after educational interventions, among academic members and staff at RUMS (2011 and 2016). This educational intervention model was used to identify problem areas to be considered and in the future for improvement and to apply reforms to learning environments to improve them.

Study design, samples, setting, and ethical considerations

This prospective quasi-experimental study was designed and implemented before and after interventions, using a standardized self-report scale. Data collection was done at two stages and at a five-year interval (2011 vs. 2016). The Board of Research Ethics at RUMS approved the study. The samples collected included 982 students at both stages. The study subjects were selected from the total population of students (first stage 610 and second stage 628 students) by a stratified random sampling method based on educational courses, sex and entry year of students. The participants at every stage of the survey included undergraduate health science students in the fields of nursing [ n = 202], midwifery [ n = 64], radiology [ n = 51], operating room nursing [ n = 46], laboratory sciences [ n = 44], medical emergencies [ n = 35], and anesthesia [ n = 51]). The students received instructions on the study and were informed that all data collected would be kept confidential. Next, written informed consent forms were obtained from the subjects. To collect data [ 12 , 18 , 28 , 33 ] on the students’ demographic characteristics, including gender, year of admission, and age, the Persian version of DREEM was used, with its validity and reliability approved. The sampling process continued to complete the Sample size required and replace the incomplete cases.

According to the results of the first stage of the study, DREEM items with poor perception (mean score ≤ 2) were extracted and quantified (Table 1 ) In addition, students evaluated the educational environment to have a lot of problems. A total of 38 items had aspects of the learning environment that could be enhanced (mean score ≤ 3). The students’ most difficult problems were observed in the fields of the faculty atmosphere, learning, teachers, their teaching methods, and social self-perception. In the meantime, the research team planned and ran training programs based on the problems. Educational programs included 12 short-term educational programs within a year in the fields of communications, teaching and assessment methods and materials, educational environment, self-study methods, and learning styles in the forms of workshops, conferences, and panels for teachers and staff, with trainings provided during non-administrative hours.

The data were collected from the undergraduates of two school students, including paramedical students and nursing-midwifery students, using the DREEM inventory at RUMS, Iran. After the first stage of the survey based on deficiencies and the ideal educational climate, some educational workshops and seminars ( n = 12), were planned and run for academic members and faculty staff by the educational development center (EDC). Next, the second stage was passed through for the latter five-year period, with its results compared with those of previous assessments (2011).

The DREEM scale is composed of 50 items, each of which scored on a five-point Likert scale (4 = strongly agree, 3 = agree, 2 = unsure, 1 = disagree, and 0 = strongly disagree) with the maximum score of DREEM being 200. However, nine out of 50 items (i.e. numbers 4, 8, 9, 17, 25, 35, 39, 48, and 50) were negative statements and had to be recorded reversely.

The questionnaire assigns an overall ‘score’ to the course. The educational environment was divided into five major areas, including the perception of learning (12 items, max score of 48), the perception of teachers (11 items, max score of 44), academic self-perception (8 items, max score of 32), the perception of atmosphere (12 items, max score of 48), and social self-perception (7 items, max score of 28).

The data analysis was performed using SPSS software (version17; IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Continuous variables were summarized as the mean and the standard deviation (SD), with the independent t -test and the one-way ANOVA used for the analysis. In this study, the significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05.

At the first (2011) and second (2016) stages of the survey, a total of 986 usable responses were obtained (response rate in first and second stages were 95 and 94%), with 493 questionnaires at every stage consisted of 201 (42%) males and 292 (58%) female students. The ages ranged from 17 to 30, with the mean age of 22 ± 5. In this context, 35.4% (175) of students were in first year, 23.5% (116) of them were in second year, 24.5% (123) of them were in the third year, and 16.5% (81) of them were in fourth year of education. There was no statistically significant difference in demographic characteristics between the students at both stages.

Analyzing of DREEM items in first stage of survey (2011) recognized that nineteen items had mean scores of less than two of five, with a usual of two to six items in each domain. Some items scored reliably badly indicating cause for concern, such as, lack of a support system for stressed students, and school time-tabling, authoritarian teachers and feedback from teachers and memorization of facts. The maximum mean score was 3.1 (I am encouraged to participate in class). A total of 38 items had aspects of the learning environment that could be enhanced, in the other hand, the items were with mean score less than 3 of 5.In addition, students evaluated the educational environment to have a lot of problems. DREEM items with poor perception of students were noted separately (Table 1 ). Based on the problems previously reported by the students, the training programs needed to address and enhance students’ understanding were designed.

At the first stage of the survey (2011), the total mean score was 113.5 (SD 21.9) out of the maximum of 200, being equal to 56.74% of the maximum score (95% confidence interval [CI]: 110–118); in addition, at the second stage (2016), the scores were 123.4 (SD16) and 61.74% [CI 95%: 122–124]. These overall scores of DREEM show an increase (5%) in the first stage compared to the second stage of the survey.

A statistically significant difference was observed between the subscale ( p = 0.01) and the total DREEM scores (in five areas) ( p = 0.001) at the two stages (Table 2 ).

The mean difference in the subscale group between the two stages was statistically significant, and the total DREEM and subscales were interpreted based on the study by McAleer and Roff (2001), which were in a ‘more positive than negative’ educational environment, indicating no alteration in the category of the two stages. Hence, the subscale of SPL was in the category of ‘a more positive perception’, the subscale of SPT was in the category of ‘moving in the right direction’, the subscale of SASP was in the category of ‘feeling more on the positive side’, the subscale of SPA was in the category of ‘a more positive atmosphere’, and the subscale of SASP was in the category of ‘not too bad’. In addition, there was a significant positive difference in all subscales between the two stages of the study (Table 2 ).

The mean difference in the subscale group (five areas) at the second stage (2016) of the survey was higher than that of the first stage (2011) [113.5(SD 17.3) vs. 123.48(SD16)], with the 95% confidence interval of the difference having been 8.07 to 9 ( p = 0.001). The overall score indicates that participants perceive the educational environment (EE) more positively than negatively at both stages. The highest mean differences between the two stages were observed in students’ academic self-perception (SASP), students’ perception of learning (SPL), and students’ social self-perception (SSSP). Students’ perception of teachers (SPT) and students’ perception of atmosphere (SPA) yielded the lowest mean differences, respectively. In addition, there was a statistically significant correlation [at the level of 0.01 (2-tailed)] between the five areas of DREEM at the first and second stages.

At both stages, the mean scores of the female students were found out to be higher than those of the male students. The overall DREEM scores showed significant differences between the male [116.2, 58.1% V 14.16, 62.8%] and female [110.7, 55.36% vs. 122.4, 61.2%] students at the first (2011) and second (2016) stages of the survey (Table 3 ).

Table 3 shows the DREEM scores of various areas for the two stages of the survey for the courses. The highest differences in the overall DREEM scores were seen among the students of midwifery, medical emergency, and radiology. In contrast, the lowest differences in the total DREEM scores were observed among the fields of laboratory sciences and operative room nursing. In addition, the results showed that the total score of the students of anesthesia had decreased at the second stage. Furthermore, the differences between the two stages were significant in all courses ( P = 0.001).

Moreover, the highest mean score differences between the two stages were seen in the fields of academic self-perception (SASP), social self-perception (SSP), and perception of learning (SPL) in all courses, with statistically significant differences (Table 4 ).

However, some statistically significant differences were observed between the mean scores of the DREEM fields and the total DREEM at the two stages of the survey among the first, second, third, and fourth-year students ( P = 0.03). The total scores of the differences between the first and second stages of the survey in the second and third year students were significantly higher than those of other students (Table 5 ).

The assessment of the educational environment is a vital part of program assessments [ 10 , 34 ]. In this study, the DREEM scale was used to compare the perceptions of students in the fields of midwifery, nursing, radiology, operating room nursing, laboratory sciences, medical emergencies, and anesthesia of their educational environment, at RUMS in the two time periods of 2011 and 2016.

The overall mean DREEM score of the students of the first and second stage of the survey was found to have improved, but the mean DREEM scores at both stages were within the range of 101–150, indicating a ‘more positive than negative’ perception of the educational environment [ 10 , 30 ]. Although this improvement is considerable after five-year quantitative and qualitative interventions in RUMS, there is an opportunity for obtaining maximum scores using positive interventions to promote the educational environment. The significant differences between the two stages of the study imply that perceived factors, such as the curriculum, structure, focus, and goals have been different among students in different time periods within the time span of the study. There was an increase in the scores of the five fields of DREEM, with the greatest progress observed in the students’ academic self–perception (SASP) and students’ social self-perception (SSSP). The increase in the scores indicate that some emotional factors affect the educational environment, which of course need further examination. The comparison of the mean scores, i.e. in total and the five subscales, showed that the values were higher in 2016 than in 2011.

Although the students of different majors and courses were exposed to similar curricula, academic requirements, teaching methods, and socio-demographic characteristics, the mean scores of the total DREEM and its five subscales varied for different majors and academic years in the students at both stages of the survey (2011 vs. 2016). Past studies reported findings consistent with the results of this study on the academic year that reported a better EE. Most studies reported that freshmen performed better either in terms of the total DREEM scores or some of its subscales than the seniors [ 12 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. However, opposite results have been reported by studies in Saudi Arabia and Philippines [ 13 ] .

The students of the paramedical college showed higher mean difference scores than those of nursing and midwifery colleges from the total scores. The differences in the total DREEM scores could be attributed to a number of factors associated with differences in the curriculum, faculty profile, subjects offered, types of academic requirements, educational programs, teaching methods, as well as socio-demographic characteristics of the students of the study. Notwithstanding the fact that traditional didactic courses are still run in the two colleges studied, the paramedical college accounted for higher mean scores than the nursing-midwifery college from the total score, with this reflecting the changeability of the EE.

The students of nursing, midwifery, laboratory sciences, and medical emergencies had higher mean scores of differences between the first and second stages, but the differences among the students of anesthesia, radiology, and the operating room were not considerable. The total DREEM scores of a nursing school in China [ 30 ], medical schools in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the UK (Birmingham), Chile, Kuwait, Sweden, Jamaica, Trinidad, the dental school of Malaysia, the International Medical University (Malaysia) [ 37 ], the University of British Columbia’s Medical School [ 5 ], medical students of India [ 38 ] and Australia [ 36 ], the International University of Management (Bachelor of Nursing) [ 35 ], Indonesian nursing students [ 39 ], and similar studies [ 16 , 21 , 22 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ] were within the same score range of 101–150. According to DREEM interpretation guides, these scores are considered to be more positive than negative. There are also a few studies reporting an overall mean DREEM score of 130, such as the study on a Malaysian private nursing college [ 45 ], the study on a Chinese nursing school [ 46 ], a series of UK studies [ 24 ], and the study on Monash University in Australia [ 36 ].

The results indicated that the nursing-midwifery and paramedical schools of RUMS had a ‘more positive than negative’ status, having been only one level lower than the highest category of reachable scores. In addition, the students of innovative curricula were inclined to show more satisfaction with their educational environment than the students of more traditional curricula. According to the results, higher DREEM scores are more likely to be indicative of more student-centered curricula, while DREEM scores for conventional curricula are generally less than 120 out of 200 [ 11 , 12 , 30 ].

At both stages of the survey, the subscale scores of the DREEM indicated that the students’ perceptions of the learning environment were ‘positive’, and their perceptions of the teachers were ‘moving in the right direction’. The students’ perceptions of the atmosphere was ‘a more positive one’, and the students’ social self-perception was ‘not too bad’, whereas their academic self-perception was found out to be ‘more positive’. The sample’s mean perceptions were expressed in percentages, having been within the range of 53.44–56.87% for the five fields. These mean scores indicate that there is an opportunity for an improvement in the features measured by DREEM at schools. These findings are comparable with similar DREEM studies [ 16 , 21 , 22 , 40 , 41 , 47 , 48 ]. Students’ perceptions can be used to start making future changes and improvements. Medical education costs are high, and academic failures could be a great waste of resources of both the society and individuals [ 28 ]. Therefore, we are required to ensure that the learning environment is as encouraging as possible and ultimately try to reduce the risk of academic underachievement.

The significant differences between female and male students at both stages suggest that perceived factors, such as the curriculum, structure, emphasis, and goals are different for female and male students. There was a statistically significant difference between the genders in the overall DREEM scores; in addition, in terms of the individual subscales, academic, learning, and social perceptions were the areas of the highest difference between the two genders of the two stages, being comparable to other studies that showed female students’ perceptions were more positive [ 21 , 30 , 36 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. The results of the present study are significantly different from the studies that reported no significant gender difference or opposite results between females and males [ 20 , 30 , 43 , 44 , 47 , 53 ]. Concerning gender differences, both genders couldn’t perceive their courses identically and had different learning styles [ 35 , 52 ]. This variation in the total scores and domain scores may have been related to the gender profile of the respondents and other factors, such as different types of curricula [ 54 , 55 , 56 ], faculty profiles, and goals [ 28 ].

The mean scores of the DREEM and its five subscales varied based on the academic year at both stages of the survey (2011 vs. 2016). All students were exposed to the same curricula, academic requirements, and teaching methods with similar socio-demographic characteristics. The students’ perceptions of learning, atmosphere, and teachers varied according to the students’ academic year and level of education. According to the results of the present study, freshmen had the highest mean scores than sophomores, juniors, and seniors. In comparison to the second stage in which the mean scores were higher than the first one, the differences were similar to the results of other studies that reported reduced scores in seniors [ 35 , 57 ]. This trend could have been caused by the learning environment and the fact that students become mentally tired of their being students, so they look forward to leaving their education life. In addition, the dissatisfaction that appeared in the form of the novelty of joining a body of health science students may have worn off, upon the start of the course [ 18 , 57 ]. However, the difference does not follow a constant pattern from an academic year to another in other studies [ 22 , 36 , 58]. Further studies are required to be done on every single course to help make necessary alterations.

While the present study offered a profound insight into the learning environment as perceived by RUMS undergraduate students, conducting similar studies at other universities and at international levels seems to be plausible. In this context, there were some limitations, with one of which having been that individual items were not analyzed, and qualitative data were not collected to deal with specific problems or highlight the strengths of the university or various courses more deeply. The paramedical college had higher mean difference scores of the total score than the nursing-midwifery college in 2011 and 2016. The differences in the total DREEM scores may have been attributed to several factors, including the curriculum, faculty profile, subjects offered, types of academic requirements, different educational programs, teaching methods, as well as socio-demographic characteristics of the students studied. Medical science students require great academic and professional skills. One of the practical ways of assessing the quality of education in medical sciences is to examine students’ opinions. Unlike single-step studies, the present study was done by recognizing problems at the first stage and planning training courses to improve the learning environment. Although interventions were partially effective, student education could not be affected positively by them. The design of the before and after study can also be considered as a limitation of this study. According to the researcher’s experience, to eliminate the limitations, and a similar study must be done in just one field of the study, selection of control groups and during two semesters to determine the definite impact of training interventions.

The results of the present study indicate that the students enrolled at RUMS generally have had positive perceptions of their education environment at both stages of the study, i.e. 2011 and 2016. Better perceptions were reported in the second stage of the study than in the five years earlier (2011) in females. In addition, dissimilarities among academic levels were consistent with the results of other studies in this field. These issues as well as the differences between courses and study pathways need more examination by analyzing specific items and sub-cohorts.

DREEM provides a clear indication of the priorities required for reforming curricula. These results could be used as the basis for the longitudinal quality assessment of students’ perceptions at RUMS schools. Improving the quality of the educational environment and the effectiveness of educational programs are also necessary in educating students, thereby enhancing their learning capacity, increasing their interest in learning, inspiring them, producing better learning outcomes, promoting academic developments, and elevating the sense of well-being.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure

Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of paramedical and nursing- midwifery students and Research affair deputy of Rafsanjan university of medical sciences for funding this project.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

This study received funding from Research affair of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences.

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Amirhosein Bakhshi

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HBA and ZH conceived the article. GB, AB and HBA collected and analyzed and interpretation the data, HBA and FA responsible for writing the first draft. All authors revised subsequent draft and read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Bakhshialiabad, H., Bakhshi, G., Hashemi, Z. et al. Improving students’ learning environment by DREEM: an educational experiment in an Iranian medical sciences university (2011–2016). BMC Med Educ 19 , 397 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1839-9

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What are the key elements of a positive learning environment? Perspectives from students and faculty

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Volume 26 , pages 161–175, ( 2023 )

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Shayna A. Rusticus ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4403-3061 1 ,
Tina Pashootan 1 &
Andrea Mah 1

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The learning environment comprises the psychological, social, cultural and physical setting in which learning occurs and has an influence on student motivation and success. The purpose of the present study was to explore qualitatively, from the perspectives of both students and faculty, the key elements of the learning environment that supported and hindered student learning. We recruited a total of 22 students and 9 faculty to participate in either a focus group or an individual interview session about their perceptions of the learning environment at their university. We analyzed the data using a directed content analysis and organized the themes around the three key dimensions of personal development, relationships, and institutional culture. Within each of these dimensions, we identified subthemes that facilitated or impeded student learning and faculty work. We also identified and discussed similarities in subthemes identified by students and faculty.

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Introduction

The learning environment (LE) comprises the psychological, social, cultural, and physical setting in which learning occurs and in which experiences and expectations are co-created among its participants (Rusticus et al., 2020 ; Shochet et al., 2013 ). These individuals, who are primarily students, faculty and staff, engage in this environment and the learning process as they navigate through their personal motivations and emotions and various interpersonal interactions. This all takes place within a physical setting that consists of various cultural and administrative norms (e.g. school policies).

While many studies of the LE have focused on student perspectives (e.g. Cayubit, 2021 ; Schussler et al., 2021 ; Tharani et al., 2017 ), few studies have jointly incorporated the perspectives of students and faculty. Both groups are key players within the educational learning environment. Some exceptions include researchers who have used both instructor and student informants to examine features of the LE in elementary schools (Fraser & O’Brien, 1985 ; Monsen et al., 2014 ) and in virtual learning and technology engaged environments in college (Annansingh, 2019 ; Downie et al., 2021 ) Other researchers have examined perceptions of both groups, but in ways that are not focused on understanding the LE (e.g. Bolliger & Martin, 2018 ; Gorham & Millette, 1997 ; Midgly et al., 1989 ).

In past work, LEs have been evaluated on the basis of a variety of factors, such as students’ perceptions of the LE have been operationalized as their course experiences and evaluations of teaching (Guo et al., 2021 ); level of academic engagement, skill development, and satisfaction with learning experience (Lu et al., 2014 ); teacher–student and student–peer interactions and curriculum (Bolliger & Martin, 2018 ; Vermeulen & Schmidt, 2008 ); perceptions of classroom personalization, involvement, opportunities for and quality of interactions with classmates, organization of the course, and how much instructors make use of more unique methods of teaching and working (Cayubit, 2021 ). In general, high-quality learning environments are associated with positive outcomes for students at all levels. For example, ratings of high-quality LEs have been correlated with outcomes such as increased satisfaction and motivation (Lin et al., 2018 ; Rusticus et al., 2014 ; Vermeulen & Schmidt, 2008 ), higher academic performance (Lizzio et al., 2002 ; Rusticus et al., 2014 ), emotional well-being (Tharani et al., 2017 ), better career outcomes such as satisfaction, job competencies, and retention (Vermeulen & Schmidt, 2008 ) and less stress and burnout (Dyrbye et al., 2009 ). From teacher perspectives, high-quality LEs have been defined in terms of the same concepts and features as those used to evaluate student perspective and outcomes. For example, in one quantitative study, LEs were rated as better by students and teachers when they were seen as more inclusive (Monsen et al., 2014 ).

However, LEs are diverse and can vary depending on context and, although many elements of the LE that have been identified, there has been neither a consistent nor clear use of theory in assessing those key elements (Schönrock-Adema et al., 2012 ). One theory that has been recommended by Schönrock-Adema et al. ( 2012 ) to understand the LE is Moos’ framework of human environments (Insel & Moos, 1974 ; Moos, 1973 , 1991 ). Through his study of a variety of human environments (e.g. classrooms, psychiatric wards, correctional institutions, military organizations, families), Moos proposed that all environments have three key dimensions: (1) personal development/goal direction, (2) relationships, and (3) system maintenance/change. The personal development dimension encompasses the potential in the environment for personal growth, as well as reflecting the emotional climate of the environment and contributing to the development of self-esteem. The relationship dimension encompasses the types and quality of social interactions that occur within the environment, and it reflects the extent to which individuals are involved in the environment and the degree to which they interact with, and support, each other. The system maintenance/change dimension encompasses the degree of structure, clarity and openness to change that characterizes the environment, as well as reflecting physical aspects of the environment.

We used this framework to guide our research question: What do post-secondary students and faculty identify as the positive and negative aspects of the learning environment? Through the use of a qualitative methodology to explore the LE, over the more-typical survey-based approaches, we were able to explore this topic in greater depth, to understand not only the what, but also the how and the why of what impacts the LE. Furthermore, in exploring the LE from both the student and faculty perspectives, we highlight similarities and differences across these two groups and garner an understanding of how both student and faculty experience the LE.

Participants

All participants were recruited from a single Canadian university with three main campuses where students can attend classes to obtain credentials, ranging from a one-year certificate to a four-year undergraduate degree. Approximately 20,000 students attend each year. The student sample was recruited through the university’s subject pool within the psychology department. The faculty sample was recruited through emails sent out through the arts faculty list-serve and through direct recruitment from the first author.

The student sample was comprised of 22 participants, with the majority being psychology majors ( n = 10), followed by science majors ( n = 4) and criminology majors ( n = 3). Students spanned all years of study with seven in their first year, three in second year, five in third year, six in fourth year, and one unclassified. The faculty sample consisted of nine participants (6 male, 3 female). Seven of these participants were from the psychology department, one was from the criminology department and one was from educational studies. The teaching experience of faculty ranged from 6 to 20 years.

Interview schedule and procedure

We collected student data through five focus groups and two individual interviews. The focus groups ranged in size from two to six participants. All sessions occurred in a private meeting room on campus and participants were provided with food and beverages, as well as bonus credit. Each focus group/interview ranged from 30 to 60 min. We collected all faculty data through individual interviews ranging from 30 to 75 min. Faculty did not receive any incentives for their participation. All sessions were conducted by the first author, with the second author assisting with each of the student focus groups.

With the consent of each participant, we audio-recorded each session and transcribed them verbatim. For both samples, we used a semi-structured interview format involving a set of eight open-ended questions about participants’ overall perceptions of the LE at their institution (see Appendix for interview guide). These questions were adapted from a previous study conducted by the first author (Rusticus et al., 2020 ) and focused on how participants defined the LE, what they considered to be important elements of the LE, and their positive and negative experiences within their environment. Example questions were: “Can you describe a [negative/positive] learning [students]/teaching [faculty] experience that you have had?”.

We analyzed the data using a directed content analysis approach (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005 ) that used existing theory to develop the initial coding scheme. We used Moos’s (Insel & Moos, 1974 ; Moos, 1973 , 1991 ) framework and its three dimensions of personal development, relationships, and system maintenance/change to guide our analysis. During the analysis phase, we renamed the system maintenance/change dimension to ‘institutional setting’ as we felt it was more descriptive of, and better represented, the content of this theme.

We analyzed student and faculty data separately, starting with the student data, but used the same process for both. First, we randomly selected two transcripts. We each independently coded the first transcript using the broad themes of personal development, relationships and institutional setting, and developed subcodes within each of these themes, as needed. We then reviewed and discussed our codes, reaching consensus on any differences in coding. We then repeated this process for the second transcript and, through group discussions, created a codebook. The first author then coded the remaining transcripts.

When coding the faculty data, we aimed to maintain subcodes similar to the student data while allowing for flexibility when needed. For instance, within the personal development theme, a subcode for the student data was ‘engagement with learning’, whereas a parallel subcode for the faculty data was ‘engagement with teaching’.

We present the results of the student and faculty data separately. For both, we have organized our analysis around the three overarching themes of personal development, relationships and institutional setting.

Student perspectives of the learning environment

Personal development.

Personal development was defined as any motivation either within or outside the LE that provide students with encouragement, drive, and direction for their personal growth and achievement. Within this theme, there were two subthemes: engaging with learning and work-life balance.

Engagement with learning reflected a student’s desire and ability to participate in their learning, as opposed to a passive-learning approach. Students felt more engaged when they were active learners, as well as when they perceived the material to be relevant to their career goals or real-world applications. Students also said that having opportunities to apply their learning helped them to better understand their own career paths:

I had two different instructors and both of them were just so open and engaging and they shared so many personal stories and they just seemed so interested in what they were doing and what I was like. Wow, I want to be that. I want to be interested in what I’m learning. (G6P1)

A common complaint that negatively impacted student motivation was that instructors would lecture for the entire class without supporting materials or opportunities for students to participate.

I’ve had a couple professors who just don’t have any visuals at all. All he does is talk. So, for the whole three hours, we would just be scrambling to write down the notes. It’s brutal...(G7P2)

Trying to establish a healthy work-life balance and managing the demands of their courses, often in parallel with managing work and family demands, were key challenges for students and were often sources of stress and anxiety. For instance, one student spoke about her struggles in meeting expectations:

It was a tough semester. For the expectations that I had placed on myself, I wasn’t meeting them and it took a toll on me. But now I know that I can exceed my expectations, but you really have to try and work hard for it. (G6P1)

Achieving a good work-life balance and adjusting to university life takes time. Many students commented that, as they reached their third year of study, they felt more comfortable in the school environment. Unfortunately, students also noted that the mental and emotional toll of university life can lead to doubt about the future and a desire to leave. One student suggested more support for students to help with this adjustment:

I think school should give students more service to help them to overcome the pressure and make integration into the first year and second year quicker and faster. Maybe it’s very helpful for the new students. (G7P4)

Relationships

Relationships was the second dimension of the LE. Subthemes within this dimension included: faculty support, peer interaction, and group work. Most students commented on the impact that faculty had on their learning. Faculty support included creating a safe or unsafe space in the classroom (i.e. ability to ask questions without judgement, fostering a respectful atmosphere), providing additional learning material, accommodating requests, or simply listening to students. Students generally indicated that faculty at this university were very willing to offer extra support and genuinely cared for them and their education. Faculty were described as friendly and approachable, and their relationships with students were perceived as “egalitarian”.

I think feeling that you’re safe in that environment, that anything you pose or any questions that you may have, you’re free to ask. And without being judged. And you’ll get an answer that actually helps you. (G1P4)

While most students felt welcome and comfortable in their classes, a few students spoke about negative experiences that they had because of lack of faculty support. Students cited examples of professors “shutting down” questions, saying that a question was “stupid”, refusing requests for additional help, or interrupting them while speaking. Another student felt that the inaction of faculty sometimes contributed to a negative atmosphere:

I’ve had bad professors that just don't listen to any comment or, if you suggest something to improve it which may seem empirically better, they still shut you down! That’s insane. (G2P2)

The peer interactions subtheme referred to any instances when students could interact with other students; this occurred both in and out of the classroom. Most often, students interacted with their peers during a class or because of an assignment:

I think the way the class is structured really helps you build relationships with your peers. For example, I met S, we had several classes with each other. Those classes were more proactive and so it allowed us to build a relationship… I think that’s very important because we’re going to be in the same facility for a long time and to have somebody to back you up, or to have someone to study with…”. (G1P4)

However, other students felt that they lacked opportunities to interact with peers in class. Although a few participants stated that they felt the purpose of going to school was to get a degree, rather than to socialize with others, students wanted more opportunities to interact with peers.

The final subtheme, group work, was a very common activity at this school. The types of group work in which students engaged included classroom discussions, assignments/projects, and presentations. Many students had enjoyable experiences working in groups, noting that working together helped them to solve problems and create something that was better than one individual’s work. Even though sometimes doing the work itself was a negative experience, people still saw value in group work:

Some of the best memories I’ve ever had was group work and the struggles we've had. (G2P2) I don’t like group work but it taught me a lot, I’ve been able to stay friends and be able to connect with people that I’ve had a class with in 2nd year psych all the way up till now. I think that’s very valuable. (G6P1)

Almost all students who spoke about group work also talked about negative aspects or experiences they had. When the work of a group made up a large proportion of the final grade, students sometimes would have preferred to be evaluated individually. Students disliked when they worked in groups when members were irresponsible or work was not shared equally, and they were forced to undertake work that other students were not completing.

A lot of people don’t really care, or they don’t take as much responsibility as you. I think people have different goals and different ways of working, so sometimes I find that challenging. (G7P2)

Institutional setting

The third overarching theme was the institutional setting. Broadly, this theme refers to the physical structure, expectations, and the overall culture of the environment and was composed of two key subthemes: importance of small class sizes; and the lack of a sense of community.

Small class sizes, with a maximum of 35 students, were a key reason why many students chose to come to this institution. The small classes created an environment in which students and faculty were able to get to know one another more personally; students felt that they were known as individuals, not just as numbers. They also noted that this promoted greater feelings of connectedness to the class environment, more personalized attention, and opportunities to request reference letters in the future:

My professors know my name. Not all of them that I’m having for the first time ever, but they try… That means a lot to me. (G6P4)

Several students also said that having smaller class sizes helped them to do well in their courses. The extra attention encouraged them to perform better academically, increased their engagement with their material, and made them feel more comfortable in asking for help.

Having a sense of belonging was a key feature of the environment and discussions around a sense of community (or lack thereof) was a prominent theme among the students. Students generally agreed that the overall climate of the school is warm and friendly. However, many students referred to the institution as a “commuter school”, because there are no residencies on campus and students must commute to the school. This often resulted in students attending their classes and then leaving immediately after, contributing to a lack of community life on campus.

What [other schools] have is that people live on campus. I think that plays a huge role. We can’t ignore that we are a commuter school… They have these events and people go because they’re already there and you look at that and it seems to be fun and engaging. (G4P1)

Furthermore, students commented on a lack of campus areas that supported socialization and encouraged students to remain on campus. While there were events and activities that were regularly hosted at the school, students had mixed opinions about them. Some students attended the events and found them personally beneficial. Other students stated that, although many events and activities were available, turnout was often low:

There isn’t any hanging out after campus and you can even see in-events and in-event turnout for different events… It is like pulling teeth to get people to come out to an event… There are free food and fun music and really cool stuff. But, no one’s going to go. It’s sad. (G5P1)

Faculty perspectives on the learning environment

Similar to the student findings, faculty data were coded within the three overarching themes of personal development, relationships, and institutional setting.

Personal development reflected any motivation either within or outside the LE that provided faculty with the encouragement, drive, and direction for their personal growth and engagement with teaching. Within this dimension, there were two main subthemes: motivation to teach and emotional well-being.

As with any career, there are many positive and negative motivating factors that contribute to one’s involvement in their work. Faculty generally reported feeling passionate about their work, and recounted positive experiences they have had while teaching, both personally and professionally. While recollecting positive drives throughout their career, one instructor shared:

It’s [teaching in a speciality program] allowed me to teach in a very different way than the traditional classroom… I’ve been able to translate those experiences into conferences, into papers, into connections, conversations with others that have opened up really interesting dialogues…. (8M)

Faculty also reported that receiving positive feedback from students or getting to see their students grow over time was highly motivating:

I take my teaching evaluations very seriously and I keep hearing that feedback time and time again they feel safe. They feel connected, they feel listened too, they feel like I'm there for them. I think, you know, those are the things that let me know what I'm doing is achieving the goals that I have as an educator. (1F) Being able to watch [students] grow over time is very important to me… I always try to have a few people I work with and see over the course of their degree. So, when they graduate, you know I have a reason to be all misty-eyed. (2M)

Emotional well-being related to how different interactions, primarily with students, affected instructors’ mental states. Sometimes the emotional well-being of faculty was negatively affected by the behaviour of students. One instructor spoke about being concerned when students drop out of a class:

A student just this last semester was doing so well, but then dropped off the face of the earth… I felt such a disappointing loss… So, when that happens, I'm always left with those questions about what I could have done differently. Maybe, at the end of the day, there is nothing I could've done, nothing. It's a tragedy or something's happened in their life or I don't know. But those unanswered questions do concern-- they cause me some stress or concern. (1F)

Another instructor said that, while initially they had let the students’ behaviour negatively affect their well-being, over time, they had eventually become more apathetic.

There are some who come, leave after the break. Or they do not come, right, or come off and on. Previously I was motivated to ask them ‘what is your problem?’ Now I do not care. That is the difference which has happened. I do not care. (4M)

This dimension included comments related to interactions with other faculty and with students and consisted of three subthemes: faculty supporting faculty; faculty supporting students; and creating meaningful experiences for students.

Most faculty felt that it was important to be supported by, and supportive to, their colleagues. For instance, one instructor reported that their colleagues’ helpfulness inspired them to be supportive of others:

If I was teaching a new course, without me having to go and beg for resources or just plead and hope that someone might be willing to share, my experience was that the person who last taught the course messaged me and said let me know if anything I have will be useful to you… When people are willing to do that for you, then you’re willing to do that for someone else….(7M)

Many faculty members also spoke about the importance of having supportive relationships with students, and that this would lead to better learning outcomes:

If you don't connect with your students, you're not going to get them learning much. They're not; they're just going to tune out. So, I think, I think connection is critical to having a student not only trust in the learning environment, but also want to learn from the learning environment. (3M)

Facilitating an open, inviting space in the classroom and during their office hours, where students were comfortable asking questions, was one way that faculty tried to help students succeed. Faculty also spoke about the value of having close mentorship relationships with students:

I work with them a lot and intensively…and their growth into publishing, presenting, and seeing them get recognized and get jobs on their way out and so forth are extraordinary. So, being able to watch them grow over time is very important to me. (2M)

Faculty also noted that occasionally there were instances when students wanted exceptions to be made for them which can create tensions in the environment. One instructor spoke about the unfairness of those requests arguing that students need to be accountable to themselves:

The failure rate, …it was 43%. I do not know if there is any other course in which there is a 43% failure rate. So, I do not want to fail these students, why? Instructors want these students to pass, these are my efforts […], and there are also the efforts of these students and their money, right? But, if a student doesn’t want to pass himself or herself, I cannot pass this student, that’s it. (4M)

Faculty were generally motivated to provide memorable and engaging experiences for students. These included providing practical knowledge and opportunities to apply knowledge in real-world settings, field schools, laboratory activities, group discussions, guest speakers, field trips, videos and group activities. They were often willing to put in extra effort if it meant that students would have a better educational experience.

Creating meaningful experiences for students was also meaningful for faculty. One faculty member said that faculty felt amazing when the methods that they used in their courses were appreciated by students. Another faculty member noted:

This student who was in my social psychology class, who was really bright and kind of quirky, would come to my office, twice a week, and just want to talk about psychology … That was like a really satisfying experience for me to see someone get so sparked by the content. (9F)

This third theme refers to the physical structure, expectation, and overall culture of the environment and it consisted of two subthemes: the importance of small class sizes, and the lack of a sense of community.

The majority of the faculty indicated that the small class sizes are an integral feature of the LE. The key advantage of the small classes was that they allowed greater connection with students.

Your professor knows your name. That’s a huge difference from other schools. It’s a small classroom benefit. (6F)

Similar to the students, nearly all the faculty indicated that a sense of community at the institution was an important part of the environment, and something that was desired, but it currently was lacking. They spoke about various barriers which prevent a sense of community, such as the lack of residences, a dearth of events and activities at the university, the busy schedules of faculty and students, the commuter nature of the school, and characteristics of the student population:

When I complain about the commuter campus feeling that occurs with students, we suffer from that too at a faculty level… People are just not in their offices because we work from home… And that really also affects the culture… We come in. We do our thing. We meet with students. And then we leave… I encounter so many students in the hallway who are looking for instructors and they can’t find them. (9F)

These findings have provided insight into the perspectives of both students and faculty on the LE of a Canadian undergraduate university. We found that framing our analysis and results within Moos’ framework of human environments (Insel & Moos, 1974 ; Moos, 1973 , 1991 ) was an appropriate lens for the data and that the data fit well within these three themes. This provides support for the use of this theory to characterize the educational LE. Within each of these dimensions, we discuss subthemes that both facilitated and hindered student learning and commonalities among student and faculty perspectives.

Within the personal development dimension, both students and faculty discussed the importance of engagement and/or motivation as a facilitator of a positive LE. When students were engaged with their learning, most often by being an active participant or seeing the relevance of what they were learning, they saw it as a key strength. Other studies have also identified engagement as a feature of positive LEs for populations such as high-school students (Seidel, 2006 ), nursing students (D’Souza et al., 2013 ) and college students taking online courses (e.g. Holley & Dobson, 2008 ; O’Shea et al., 2015 ). Faculty who reported being motivated to teach, often felt that this motivation was fueled by the reactions of their students; when students were engaged, they felt more motivated. This creates a positive cyclic pattern in which one group feeds into the motivation and engagement levels of the other. However, this can also hinder the LE when a lack of engagement in one group can bring down the motivation of the other group (such as students paying more attention to their phones than to a lecture or faculty lecturing for the entire class period).

Emotional climate was another subtheme within the personal development dimension that was shared by both students and faculty although, for students, this was focused more on the stress and anxiety that they felt trying to manage their school workloads with their work and family commitments. The overall emotional climate of the school was generally considered to be positive, which was largely driven by the supportive and welcoming environment provided by the faculty. However, it was the negative emotions of stress and anxiety that often surfaced as a challenging aspect in the environment for students. Past research suggests that some types of stress, such as from a challenge, can improve learning and motivation, but negative stress, such as that reported by our participants, is associated with worsened performance and greater fatigue (LePine et al., 2004 ).

For faculty, their emotional state was often influenced by their students. When things were going well for their students, faculty often shared in the joy; however, when students would disappear without notice from a class, it was a source of disappointment and self-doubt. For other faculty, the accumulation of negative experiences resulted in them being more distant and less affected emotionally than they had been earlier in their career. This diminishing concern could have implications for how engaged faculty are in their teaching, which could in turn influence student engagement and harm the LE.

The relationships dimension was the most influential aspect of the environment for both students and faculty. While both groups felt that the relationships that they formed were generally positive, they also reported a desire for more peer connections (i.e. students with other students and faculty with other faculty). Students commented that it was a typical experience for them to come to campus to attend their classes and then leave afterwards, often to work or study at home. Many of the students at this school attend on a part-time basis while they work part- or full-time and/or attend to family commitments. While this is a benefit to these students to have the flexibility to work and further their education, it comes at loss of the social aspect of post-secondary education.

The one way in which student–peer relationships were fostered was through group work. However, students held both positive and negative views on this: the positive aspect was the opportunity to get to know other students and being able to share the burden of the workload, and the negative aspect was being unfair workloads among team members. When group dynamics are poor, such as unfair work distribution, having different goals and motivations, or not communicating effectively with their groups, it has been shown to lead to negative experiences (Rusticus & Justus, 2019 ).

Faculty also commented that it was typical for them and other faculty to come up to campus only to teach their classes and then leave afterwards. They noted that their office block was often empty and noted instances when students have come looking for faculty only to find a locked office. Overall, faculty did report feeling congenial with, and supported by, their peers. They also desired a greater connection with their peers, but noted that it would require effort to build, which many were not willing to make.

Finally, student–faculty relationships were the most-rewarding experience for both groups. Students saw these experiences as highly encouraging and felt that they created a safe and welcoming environment where they could approach faculty to ask questions and get extra support. However, in some cases, students had negative experiences with faculty and these had an impact on their self-esteem, motivation and willingness to participate in class. Students’ negative experiences and feedback have been shown to result in declined levels of intrinsic motivation, even if their performance ability is not low (Weidinger et al., 2016 ).

Within the third dimension, institutional setting, a key strength was the small class sizes. With a maximum class size of 35 students, this created a more personal and welcoming environment for students. Students felt that their instructors got to know their names and this promoted more opportunities for interactions. Faculty concurred with this, indicating that the small classes provided greater opportunities for interactions with their students. This enabled more class discussions and grouped-based activities which contributed to a more engaging and interactive educational experience for students and faculty. For students, not being able to hide in the crowd of a large lecture hall, as is common in other university settings, encouraged them to work harder on their studies and to seek help from their instructor if needed.

Finally, both students and faculty commented that the lack of a sense of community was a negative aspect of the LE. This institution is known as a commuter school and both groups reported that they would often attend campus only for school/work and would leave as soon as their commitments were done. This limits opportunities to interact with others and could also potentially impact one’s identity as a member of this community. While both groups expressed a desire for more of a community life, neither group was willing to put in much effort to make this happen. Others have also found that sense of community, including opportunities to engage and interact with others, is important in LEs (e.g. Sadera et al., 2009 ). Schools with more activities and opportunities for student involvement have reports of higher satisfaction for both academic and social experiences (Charles et al., 2016 ).

Limitations

Because this study is based on a relatively small sample at a single university, there is a question of whether the findings can be applied to other departments, universities or contexts. However, it is a strength of this study that both student and faculty perceptions were included, because few past studies have jointly looked at these two groups together using qualitative methods. The use of focus groups among the student groups might have limited the openness of some participants. We also acknowledge that the analysis of qualitative data is inevitably influenced by our roles, life experiences and backgrounds. (The first author is a faculty member and the second and third authors were fourth year students at the time of the study.) This might have impacted our approach to the interpretation of the data compared with how others might approach the data and analysis (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008 ). However, the analysis involved consultation among the research team to identify and refine the themes, and the findings are presented with quotes to support the interpretation. Finally, because experiences were self-reported in this study, they have the associated limitations of self-report data. Despite these limitations, we believe that our findings add to what is known about LEs by capturing multiple perspectives within the same environment.

Future directions

Because our sample was comprised of students across multiple years of their program, some of our findings suggest that upper-level students might have different perceptions of the LE from lower-level students (e.g. work/life balance, access to resources, and overall familiarity with the environment and resources available). However, because the small sample sizes within these subgroups prevent any strong conclusions being made, future researchers might want to explore year-of-study differences in the LE. Additionally, the data collected for this study occurred prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the mandatory switch to online teaching and learning. Future researchers might want to consider how this has impacted student and faculty perceptions of the LE regarding their personal motivation, the nature and quality of the relationships that have formed with peers and faculty, and the culture and norms of their institution.

This study increases our understanding of LEs by incorporating data collected from both students and faculty working in the same context. Across both groups, we identified important aspects of the LE as being high levels of engagement and motivation, a positive emotional climate, support among peers, strong faculty–student relationships, meaningful experiences, and small class sizes. Students identified negative aspects of the LE, such as certain characteristics of group work and struggles with work–life balance. Both faculty and students identified a lack of a sense of community as something that could detract from the LE. These findings identify important elements that educators and researchers might want to consider as they strive to promote more-positive LEs and learning experiences for students.

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Appendix: Interview guide

[Students] Going around the table, I would like each person to tell me a little bit about themselves. For instance, what program and year you are in, what your education goals are, why you were interested in this study.

[Faculty] Tell me a little bit about yourself. For instance, what department you are in, how long you have been teaching at KPU, what courses you teach, why you were interested in this study

When I say the word learning environment, what does that mean to you?

How would you describe the learning environment here at KPU?

Probe for specific examples

Relate to goal development, relationships, KPU culture

Can you describe a positive learning/teaching [students/faculty] experience that you have had?

Probe for factors that made it a positive environment

Can you describe a negative learning/teaching [students/faculty] experience that you have had?

Probe for factors that made it a negative environment

How would you describe an ideal environment?

How close is KPU to an ideal learning environment?

Probe for reasons why

Probe for how KPU could be made more ideal

What recommendations would you give to the Dean of Arts regarding the learning environment? This could be changes you would recommend or things you recommend should stay the same.

Do you have any final comments? Or feel there is anything about the learning environment that we have not addressed?

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Rusticus, S.A., Pashootan, T. & Mah, A. What are the key elements of a positive learning environment? Perspectives from students and faculty. Learning Environ Res 26 , 161–175 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-022-09410-4

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Received : 07 April 2020

Accepted : 18 April 2022

Published : 07 May 2022

Issue Date : April 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-022-09410-4

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What Is An Educational Environment

Published: November 3, 2023

Definition of an Educational Environment

An educational environment refers to the physical, psychological, and social setting in which learning takes place. It encompasses the classroom, school, and broader community, as well as the interactions between students, teachers, and other stakeholders. The educational environment plays a crucial role in shaping students’ learning experiences and outcomes.

At its core, an educational environment provides the infrastructure for teaching and learning. It includes factors such as the classroom layout, seating arrangements, and instructional materials. These physical aspects contribute to the overall atmosphere and functionality of the learning space.

Beyond the physical environment, the psychological dimension is equally important. The emotional climate, teacher-student relationships, and students’ perceived sense of safety and belonging all impact their cognitive and social development. A positive psychological environment fosters motivation, engagement, and a growth mindset among students, while a negative environment can hinder their learning progress.

Additionally, the social aspect of an educational environment refers to the interactions and relationships among students, teachers, and the wider community. Collaboration, teamwork, and the promotion of diversity and inclusivity are vital in creating a supportive and enriching learning environment. Students who feel valued and connected to their peers and teachers tend to thrive academically and emotionally.

An ideal educational environment is one that is inclusive, stimulating, and learner-centered. It acknowledges and celebrates the diversity of students’ backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles. It provides opportunities for active and experiential learning, encourages critical thinking and creativity, and fosters the development of essential life skills.

Overall, the key objective of an educational environment is to create a conducive space that maximizes students’ potential for learning and growth. By considering the physical, psychological, and social aspects of the learning environment, educators can create an atmosphere that inspires curiosity, supports academic achievement, and cultivates self-confidence. The educational environment is a dynamic and ever-evolving entity that requires continuous assessment and improvement to meet the changing needs of students and society.

Importance of Creating a Positive Educational Environment

Creating a positive educational environment is essential for the success and well-being of students. It sets the stage for effective teaching and learning, fosters a sense of belonging, and promotes positive social interactions. When students feel safe, supported, and motivated, they are more likely to engage with the curriculum, develop important skills, and achieve their full potential.

One of the primary benefits of a positive educational environment is increased student motivation. When students feel valued, respected, and connected to their learning community, they are more likely to be internally driven to succeed. They are more likely to take risks, participate actively in class discussions, and seek out additional learning opportunities. This motivation leads to improved academic performance and a love for lifelong learning.

In addition to motivation, a positive educational environment promotes social and emotional well-being. Students who feel safe and supported are better equipped to manage stress, build healthy relationships, and cope with challenges. They experience lower levels of anxiety and are more likely to develop self-confidence and resilience. This positive environment also reduces incidents of bullying and negative behaviors, creating a culture of respect and empathy.

Moreover, a positive educational environment encourages collaboration and teamwork among students. By fostering a sense of community and belonging, students learn to appreciate the value of diverse perspectives and develop essential interpersonal skills. They learn how to communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and work cooperatively towards common goals. These social skills are not only important for academic success but also vital for future work and personal relationships.

Creating a positive educational environment also enhances the teacher-student relationship. When students feel comfortable and supported, they are more likely to turn to their teachers for guidance and support. This strong bond allows teachers to better understand the individual needs and strengths of their students, enabling them to provide personalized instruction and feedback. With a positive teacher-student relationship, students feel more comfortable asking questions, seeking help, and actively participating in class activities.

Physical Aspects of an Educational Environment

The physical aspects of an educational environment play a crucial role in creating a conducive space for learning. These elements include the layout, design, and resources within the classroom, as well as the overall infrastructure of the school.

The classroom layout is an important consideration when designing an optimal learning environment. A well-organized and flexible space allows for various teaching methods, collaboration, and movement. It should provide clear sightlines for all students and promote easy interaction between the teacher and students. Furthermore, the arrangement of desks or tables should be adaptable to different instructional activities and promote a sense of inclusivity and equity.

Lighting is another essential physical aspect. Adequate natural and artificial lighting not only enhances the visibility of materials and reduces eye strain but also contributes to the overall mood and atmosphere in the classroom. Natural light can have a positive impact on students’ well-being and concentration, while appropriate artificial lighting can create a focused and comfortable learning environment.

In addition, the presence of visual aids and instructional resources is important for student engagement and comprehension. These may include whiteboards, projectors, posters, charts, and educational technology tools. Visual aids help to reinforce key concepts, provide visual representation of information, and facilitate interactive discussions. They make learning more interactive and appealing, catering to different learning styles and preferences.

The availability and accessibility of learning resources are also vital. A well-stocked classroom library with a diverse range of reading materials encourages independent reading and fosters a love for literature. Moreover, having access to up-to-date textbooks, reference materials, and educational technologies supports students’ academic development and research skills.

Beyond the classroom, the overall infrastructure of the school also contributes to the physical aspects of the educational environment. This includes facilities such as libraries, science labs, computer rooms, sports fields, and playgrounds. Well-maintained and properly equipped facilities provide students with opportunities for hands-on learning, physical activity, and extracurricular activities.

It is important to note that the physical aspects of an educational environment should be adaptable and inclusive. Considerations should be made for students with disabilities, ensuring that the space is accessible, accommodating, and supportive of their needs. Furthermore, the cleanliness and organization of the learning environment contribute to a positive and professional atmosphere that can enhance student focus and well-being.

Psychological Aspects of an Educational Environment

The psychological aspects of an educational environment are crucial for promoting students’ emotional well-being, motivation, and overall learning experience. These aspects involve the emotional climate, teacher-student relationships, and students’ perceived sense of safety and belonging.

The emotional climate of the educational environment refers to the overall atmosphere and tone within the classroom and school. A positive emotional climate is characterized by respect, encouragement, and support from both teachers and peers. It creates a sense of psychological safety, where students feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, taking risks, and making mistakes without fear of judgment or ridicule. This positive climate nurtures a growth mindset, resilience, and self-confidence among students.

Teacher-student relationships are a critical component of the psychological aspects of an educational environment. A strong and positive relationship between teachers and students establishes trust, open communication, and mutual respect. Teachers who show genuine care and interest in their students’ well-being and learning are more likely to build meaningful connections. These connections foster a sense of belonging, enhance students’ self-esteem, and create a supportive environment where students feel motivated to learn and succeed.

Furthermore, students’ perceived sense of safety and belonging greatly influences their psychological well-being and academic performance. When students feel safe in their educational environment, both physically and emotionally, they can focus on learning without distraction or anxiety. Schools must provide a safe and supportive environment free from bullying, discrimination, and harassment. Promoting inclusivity, respecting diversity, and actively addressing any issues that arise are essential for creating an environment where all students feel valued and supported.

Motivation is another key psychological aspect of an educational environment. When students feel motivated, they are more likely to engage actively in their learning, persist in the face of challenges, and achieve their goals. In a positive psychological environment, teachers use a variety of instructional strategies to make learning meaningful and relevant, provide constructive feedback, and acknowledge students’ achievements. This encouragement and support foster intrinsic motivation, curiosity, and a desire for continuous learning.

The psychological aspects of the educational environment also include promoting students’ social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL focuses on developing skills such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Integrating SEL into the educational environment helps students develop emotional intelligence, empathy, and effective communication skills. These skills contribute to their overall well-being, positive relationships, and academic success.

Social Aspects of an Educational Environment

The social aspects of an educational environment refer to the interactions and relationships among students, teachers, and the wider community. Creating a supportive and inclusive social environment is essential for fostering positive peer relationships, collaboration, and a sense of belonging.

One of the key social aspects is the promotion of positive peer relationships. Building a classroom culture that encourages respect, empathy, and kindness fosters a sense of community and cooperation among students. When students feel accepted and valued by their peers, they are more likely to engage in collaborative learning, share ideas, and support one another’s academic and personal growth.

In an inclusive educational environment, diversity is embraced and celebrated. Students from different cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds bring unique perspectives and experiences to the classroom. Creating opportunities for students to explore and appreciate their diversity helps to build cultural competence and empathy. It also prepares them for future interactions in an increasingly diverse society.

In addition to promoting positive peer relationships and diversity, an effective social environment encourages active participation in community and service-learning activities. Engaging students in community projects and volunteer work not only connects them to the broader society but also instills a sense of civic responsibility and empathy. These experiences broaden students’ horizons, develop their leadership skills, and enhance their understanding of real-world issues.

The social aspects of an educational environment also encompass the development of social skills and emotional intelligence. Learning how to communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and work in teams are crucial skills for success both in school and in the workplace. Creating opportunities for cooperative learning and group projects allows students to practice these skills and build healthy relationships.

Furthermore, the involvement of parents and the wider community in the educational environment strengthens the social fabric. Collaborating with parents through parent-teacher associations, workshops, and regular communication helps to establish a partnership in supporting students’ academic and social development. Engaging the community by inviting guest speakers, organizing field trips, or establishing partnerships with local businesses and organizations enriches students’ learning experiences and connects their education to the real world.

An effective social environment also promotes the values of empathy, equity, and social justice. It encourages students to advocate for fairness, challenge stereotypes and prejudices, and take action for positive change. This empowers students to become active and responsible citizens, contributing to a more inclusive and just society.

To foster a positive social environment, educators should promote positive behavior through clear expectations, consistent discipline practices, and opportunities for social-emotional learning. Creating a safe and inclusive space that values social connections and interpersonal skills enhances students’ overall well-being, engagement, and academic success.

Factors that Affect the Effectiveness of an Educational Environment

The effectiveness of an educational environment depends on various factors that can influence students’ learning experiences and outcomes. Understanding and addressing these factors can help create a more supportive and engaging environment for students.

One of the key factors is the quality of instructional practices. Effective teaching strategies that cater to diverse learning styles, promote active engagement, and provide timely feedback have a significant impact on student achievement. Teachers who use evidence-based instructional methods, differentiate instruction, and adapt to individual student needs contribute to a positive and effective educational environment.

The curriculum also plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of the educational environment. A well-designed and aligned curriculum ensures that learning goals, objectives, and assessments are clear and meaningful. It provides a coherent and progressive learning pathway, engaging students in relevant and challenging content. A curriculum that promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and real-world connections enhances student engagement and prepares them for future success.

Additionally, the availability and utilization of resources greatly influence the effectiveness of the educational environment. Having access to up-to-date textbooks, technology tools, and educational materials supports student learning and engagement. Adequate resources also include the availability of appropriate staffing, such as instructional aides and specialists, who can provide additional support and interventions for students with diverse needs.

The home environment and family support are significant factors that impact the effectiveness of the educational environment. Students who come from supportive and nurturing home environments tend to have better academic performance and social-emotional well-being. Parental involvement and engagement in their child’s education can contribute to a positive educational environment, including attending school events, communicating with teachers, and providing a conducive study environment at home.

The physical condition of the educational facilities is another factor that affects the effectiveness of the environment. Well-maintained and safe facilities provide a physically comfortable and conducive space for teaching and learning. Adequate space, sufficient seating, and proper ventilation contribute to an environment where students can focus and engage in their studies without distractions.

The socio-economic and cultural context of the school and community also influences the effectiveness of the educational environment. Schools located in disadvantaged areas may face challenges related to poverty, limited resources, and social issues. It is crucial to consider the specific needs and circumstances of the community in order to effectively address barriers to learning and create an environment that meets the unique needs of the students.

Lastly, the attitudes and behaviors of students themselves impact the effectiveness of the educational environment. Students who are motivated, engaged, and demonstrate positive behavior contribute to a harmonious and productive learning environment. On the other hand, disruptive behavior, lack of motivation, or negative attitudes can hinder the effectiveness of the educational environment and the learning experiences of others.

By understanding and addressing these factors, educators can create a more effective and supportive environment for students, ensuring that they have the necessary resources, support, and opportunities for successful learning experiences.

Creating an Inclusive Educational Environment

Creating an inclusive educational environment is crucial for providing equal opportunities, promoting diversity, and ensuring the success and well-being of all students. An inclusive environment recognizes and values the unique strengths, backgrounds, and experiences of each individual, fostering a sense of belonging and respect for all.

One of the key aspects of creating an inclusive educational environment is promoting diversity. This means embracing and celebrating the differences in ethnicity, culture, language, ability, gender, and socioeconomic background among students and staff. Incorporating diverse perspectives into the curriculum, teaching materials, and classroom discussions helps students develop a broader understanding of the world and promotes empathy and respect for others.

Ensuring equal access and opportunities for all students is another important facet of an inclusive environment. This involves removing barriers that may prevent certain students from fully participating in the learning process. It includes providing accommodations and support for students with disabilities, implementing strategies for English language learners, and addressing any other individual needs that may arise.

An inclusive educational environment also requires creating a safe and supportive atmosphere where students feel valued and accepted. This involves establishing clear expectations for behavior, promoting positive and respectful communication, and addressing any instances of bullying or discrimination. Creating a culture of respect and acceptance helps students develop a sense of trust and build positive relationships with their peers and teachers.

Providing meaningful opportunities for student engagement and participation is another crucial aspect of inclusivity. Students should be actively involved in the decision-making process, allowing their voices to be heard and their opinions valued. This can be achieved through class discussions, group projects, student-led initiatives, and involving students in school-wide activities and committees.

An inclusive educational environment also recognizes and supports the social-emotional well-being of students. Teachers and staff should be trained in social-emotional learning strategies to help students develop self-awareness, self-management, and interpersonal skills. Providing counseling services and support systems for students who may be facing emotional or personal challenges is essential in fostering their holistic development.

Professional development and training for teachers and staff is crucial in creating an inclusive educational environment. Educators should be equipped with the knowledge and skills to address diverse learning needs, implement inclusive teaching practices, and promote cultural competency. Ongoing professional development helps teachers stay informed about best practices and ensures that they can meet the diverse needs of their students.

Building partnerships and collaboration with families and the community is also essential in creating an inclusive environment. Involving parents and guardians in their child’s education enables a holistic approach to support student success. Engaging community organizations and resources helps to provide additional support and opportunities for students.

Creating an inclusive educational environment is an ongoing process that requires continuous reflection, evaluation, and improvement. By cultivating an atmosphere of inclusion, diversity, and respect, educators can create an environment where all students feel valued, supported, and motivated to thrive academically, emotionally, and socially.

Strategies for Fostering a Positive Educational Environment

Fostering a positive educational environment is essential for promoting student engagement, well-being, and academic success. Educators can employ various strategies to create a supportive and uplifting atmosphere in the classroom and school community.

One strategy is to establish clear expectations and routines. Clear guidelines for behavior, academic expectations, and classroom procedures help students understand what is expected of them. Consistency in enforcing these expectations creates a sense of predictability and stability, allowing students to feel safe and confident in their learning environment.

Building positive relationships with students is another crucial strategy. Taking the time to get to know students, showing genuine care and interest in their lives, and establishing mutual respect helps to cultivate a positive rapport. This allows teachers to better understand students’ individual needs, strengths, and challenges, and tailor their instruction accordingly.

Creating a culture of appreciation and recognition is also important. Celebrating students’ achievements, both big and small, reinforces their efforts and motivates them to continue putting forth their best. Offering praise, constructive feedback, and opportunities for self-reflection and goal-setting fosters a growth mindset and a sense of accomplishment.

Encouraging active student participation and engagement is a powerful strategy. Providing opportunities for hands-on learning, discussions, group work, and creative projects promotes higher levels of student involvement and investment in their learning. This active engagement not only enhances understanding and retention but also instills a sense of ownership and autonomy.

Creating a safe and inclusive environment is vital for fostering positivity. Employing anti-bullying strategies and promoting inclusive practices ensure that all students feel valued, respected, and accepted for who they are. Emphasizing the importance of empathy, tolerance, and understanding helps to build a strong sense of community and unity among students.

Utilizing technology and innovative teaching tools is another strategy that can enhance the educational environment. Integrating educational technology, online resources, and interactive multimedia platforms can make learning more engaging and dynamic. This also helps to cater to diverse learning styles and prepares students for a technology-driven world.

Promoting a culture of collaboration and teamwork is essential. Encouraging cooperative learning activities, group projects, and peer-to-peer interactions cultivates important social skills, problem-solving abilities, and empathy. Working collaboratively builds a sense of camaraderie and supports the development of strong interpersonal relationships.

Emphasizing the importance of well-being and self-care is a strategy that promotes a positive educational environment. Prioritizing regular breaks, physical activity, and mindfulness exercises supports mental and physical health. Teaching stress management techniques and providing resources for students to seek help and support when needed contributes to a holistic well-being approach.

Building partnerships with parents and the wider community is a valuable strategy. Regular communication with parents, involving them in school events and decision-making processes, and providing opportunities for family engagement fosters a sense of shared responsibility for student success. Engaging local organizations, businesses, and community members in school initiatives augments students’ learning experiences and broadens their horizons.

Regularly evaluating and reflecting on teaching practices and the overall environment is essential for continuous improvement. Seeking feedback from students, parents, and colleagues, and utilizing assessment tools helps educators gauge the effectiveness of their strategies and make informed adjustments as needed.

By implementing these strategies, educators can create a positive educational environment that empowers students, builds strong relationships, and fosters a love for learning. A positive environment enhances student well-being, engagement, and academic achievement, setting the stage for lifelong success.

Roles and Responsibilities in Creating an Educational Environment

Creating an effective educational environment requires the collective effort and commitment of various stakeholders, each with their own roles and responsibilities. These key roles contribute to the overall success and well-being of students within the educational environment.

Teachers play a central role in creating and maintaining a positive educational environment. They are responsible for planning and delivering engaging and meaningful lessons, employing effective instructional strategies, and providing timely feedback to students. Teachers also establish a classroom culture that promotes respect, inclusion, and a love for learning. They set clear expectations and create a supportive learning space where students feel safe, valued, and motivated to succeed.

School administrators have a crucial role in shaping the educational environment. They establish a positive and nurturing school culture by setting a vision, mission, and values that prioritize student well-being and academic success. Administrators ensure that resources, facilities, and support services are in place to meet the needs of students and teachers. They also foster collaboration among staff members and provide professional development opportunities to continuously improve the educational environment.

Parents and guardians have an important role in supporting the educational environment at home. They are responsible for creating a supportive environment for learning, providing a safe and comfortable space for study, and engaging in their child’s education. Parents can collaborate with teachers, attend parent-teacher conferences, and actively participate in school activities to contribute to the positive atmosphere of the educational environment.

Students themselves have a responsibility in creating a positive educational environment. They must actively engage in their learning by attending classes regularly, completing assignments, and participating in discussions. Students can contribute to a positive environment by respecting their peers, demonstrating good behavior, and treating others with kindness and empathy. By taking ownership of their education, students play a vital role in fostering a positive and productive learning environment.

Support staff, such as counselors, school psychologists, and special education coordinators, also play an essential role in creating an inclusive educational environment. They provide individualized support to students who may have unique needs, ensuring that all students have the necessary resources and interventions to succeed academically and socially. Support staff also collaborate with teachers and parents to develop strategies and accommodations that promote student well-being and engagement.

The wider community also has a role to play in creating a positive educational environment. Community partners, universities, businesses, and non-profit organizations can support educational initiatives, provide resources, and offer mentorship opportunities for students. Their involvement strengthens the connection between education and the real world, expanding students’ horizons and preparing them for future success.

Collaboration and communication among all stakeholders are crucial in creating and maintaining an effective educational environment. By working together, sharing information, and actively addressing any issues or concerns that arise, stakeholders can ensure that the educational environment remains supportive, engaging, and conducive to student growth and development.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Educational Environment

Evaluating the effectiveness of an educational environment is essential to ensure that it is meeting the needs of students and promoting their growth and development. By assessing various aspects of the educational environment, stakeholders can identify strengths, areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to enhance the overall educational experience.

One way to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational environment is through student performance and outcomes. This can include analyzing academic achievement, standardized test scores, and graduation rates. By tracking student progress over time, educators and administrators can gauge the impact of the educational environment on student learning and identify areas where adjustments may be necessary.

Another important aspect of evaluation is assessing student engagement. This can be done through observations, surveys, and interviews that measure students’ level of participation, interest, and motivation in their learning. Engaged students are more likely to exhibit higher levels of academic achievement and personal satisfaction.

Feedback from students, parents, and teachers is valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of the educational environment. Regular surveys, focus groups, or individual conversations provide insight into stakeholders’ perceptions of the learning environment, including its strengths, areas for improvement, and suggestions for enhancing the overall quality.

Self-reflection and self-assessment by teachers and administrators are also important evaluation tools. Educators can evaluate their instructional practices, classroom management strategies, and the overall climate they create. Administrators can reflect on the effectiveness of school policies, programs, and support services in meeting the needs of students and promoting a positive learning environment.

Assessment of the physical environment is another aspect of evaluating effectiveness. This can include examining the layout, functionality, cleanliness, and organization of classrooms, common areas, and facilities. A well-maintained physical environment contributes to a positive atmosphere that supports student engagement and well-being.

In addition, considering the social and emotional well-being of students is essential in evaluating the effectiveness of the educational environment. This can be done through monitoring student behavior, emotional health, and the presence of a positive and inclusive culture. Creating a safe and supportive environment that addresses students’ social-emotional needs is crucial for their overall development and academic success.

Teacher effectiveness is another factor to consider in evaluating the educational environment. Assessing instructional practices, teacher-student relationships, and professional development opportunities helps identify areas of strength and areas that may need support. Effective teachers are instrumental in creating a positive and engaging learning environment for students.

Last but not least, assessing the impact of community involvement and resources is important. Evaluating partnerships with community organizations, businesses, and parents can provide insight into the level of collaboration, support, and resources available to enhance the educational environment.

By regularly evaluating the effectiveness of the educational environment, stakeholders can make data-informed decisions and implement targeted improvements. This continuous improvement process ensures that the learning environment remains aligned with the needs and aspirations of students and helps support their educational growth and success.

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UCL retains top global ranking for education and architecture & built environment

10 April 2024

UCL remains ranked in the top 10 globally in 10 subject areas in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, the world’s most consulted university ranking, including two first-place rankings.

Image of UCL portico with text: 10 subjects ranked in the top 10 in the world, QS World University Rankings by Subject

UCL has retained the number one spot in two subjects for the second consecutive year: Education, with the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, now holding the top spot for 11 years running, and Architecture & Built Environment, recognising the academic excellence of The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment.

The 10 subject areas where UCL ranks in the global top 10 are Education (1), Architecture & Built Environment (1), Archaeology (3), Anthropology (4), Pharmacy & Pharmacology (4), Psychology (5), Medicine (6), Biological Sciences (6), Geography (7), and Anatomy & Physiology (8).

UCL appears in the rankings in all 46 subject areas that are ranked, featuring in the top 50 for 43 of them.

Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement), said: “ Our performance in these rankings shows how UCL is recognised as a centre for academic excellence in a wide range of disciplines. I am thrilled to congratulate my colleagues in the IOE and the Bartlett on once again being ranked first in the world. I continue to be impressed by the academic excellence of UCL colleagues across campus; in every faculty our students learn from world-leading researchers who continually strive to deliver the very highest standard of teaching. ”

Professor Li Wei, Dean and Director of IOE, said: “To be ranked first in the world in these subject rankings for the field of Education is very welcome recognition and affirmation of the outstanding performance in all areas of our work by my colleagues, in collaboration with our funders, partners, students and alumni. To achieve this for 11 years in a row is even more so. We are incredibly proud of IOE’s contribution to knowledge, policy and practice regarding the lives of children and families, not least in educating teachers, that most vital profession. From leading edge innovation in education research, to research and knowledge exchange that connects education to related societal domains, to teacher education rooted in subject specialism and engagement with research, all at scale, IOE embodies a distinctive contribution in that regard.”

Professor Jacqui Glass, Interim Dean of The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, said: “This wonderful achievement has been made possible by the continuing efforts of an outstanding community of people who come together at The Bartlett. It is a very welcome recognition of the incredibly diverse and impactful work that our students, educators, researchers and professional staff do – in partnership with peers and partners across many countries around the world.”

To compile the subject rankings, comparing over 1,500 universities across the globe, QS used five key metrics (including academic reputation, research performance based on citations impact, and graduate employability), the precise weighting of which varies by subject to reflect differing research practices across disciplines.

The QS World University Rankings, which rank universities overall rather than at subject level, will be published later this year. The last edition of these rankings placed UCL at ninth in the world.

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024
The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment
IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society

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The Growing Importance of Environmental Health in Medical Education: How Premeds Can Prepare

U.S. News & World Report

April 15, 2024, 8:00 PM

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As the global rise in temperature and associated anthropogenic climate change continue unabated, consequences for human health and disease are increasingly apparent. The medical field is beginning to recognize this critical intersection between human health and the environment.

The World Health Organization has categorized climate change as the most significant threat to human health in the 21st century, highlighting its increasing relevance for students pursuing medical education. Medical schools seek applicants who are prepared and motivated to deal with future health challenges. By taking an interest in environmental health, premedical students can demonstrate this preparedness while learning about a highly relevant topic.

Here are some ways premed students can prepare for the growing relevance of climate change and the necessity of environmental health awareness in the medical field.

Stay Informed

Educate yourself about current environmental issues and stay up to date with environmental research and policies that relate to health care and public health . Consider resources such as the WHO, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, Environmental Protection Agency and Environmental Health News.

Also, read the latest reputable, primary research through PubMed or Google Scholar so that you are familiar with the latest data. You can subscribe to PubMed alerts from a few relevant research groups so that you can remain informed automatically through your email inbox.

[ Related: Medical Schools Warm to Curriculum Changes as Climate Threats Grow ]

If you can, take a course and attend conferences, workshops or seminars on environmental health, sustainability efforts, the impact of environmental factors on human health, etc. You may find coursework in environmental science, public health or climate studies particularly relevant. Courses such as environmental epidemiology, toxicology and environmental policy can provide valuable knowledge and widely applicable skills.

These kinds of experiences provide opportunities to learn from experts in the field, network with professionals and stay informed about current issues and initiatives.

Volunteer or Work in Relevant Organizations

Ideally, premed students with genuine interest in climate change and other environmental issues will seek out experiences that demonstrate their commitment to addressing these issues throughout their career in the medical field, while also enhancing their medical school application .

A great way to begin is by working in volunteer initiatives or applying to internships with organizations focused on environmental conservation, sustainability or climate action. For example, participating in or leading projects related to pollution reduction, habitat restoration or community resilience can demonstrate a dedication to environmental stewardship with clear implications for the health care field.

Student organizations are a great place to start. Get involved with an organization or club focused on environmental health, sustainability or climate advocacy. These opportunities can also provide valuable leadership experience and teach you to think creatively about ways to participate in the national and international dialogue regarding climate change.

You may also find a crossover between local sustainability initiatives and community outreach, allowing you to meaningfully engage with your local community before entering the medical field.

Depending on your locale, you may find — or create — clinical experiences with an environmental focus. Think about working in communities frequently affected by environmental hazards, or volunteering in clinics that serve populations disproportionately affected by climate-related disasters.

[ Related: M.D.-M.P.H. Programs: What to Consider ]

Engage in Research

The intersection of environmental factors and human health is an extremely active area of research , with many exciting projects aimed at reducing the effects of climate change that routinely make international headlines. Opportunities to become involved with such projects have never been more prevalent. These include joining laboratories studying the health effects of air pollution, water contamination, climate-related disasters, etc.

Obtaining research experience in any field demonstrates critical thinking skills and a commitment to advancing knowledge — traits that are invaluable in medicine.

Advocate for Change

Get involved in advocacy efforts aimed at addressing environmental health disparities, promoting environmental justice and advocating for policies that prioritize and protect public health. Popular examples include initiatives to highlight health disparities in specific communities and populations, identify effective interventions to address such disparities, advocate for policymakers to implement policies that address environmental challenges and inequities, and advocate for the adoption of stricter environmental regulations (exposure to pollutants, access to clean air and water, etc.).

[ Related: How to Document Premed Activities ]

Also, consider the significant adverse environmental impact of health care and biomedical research, where advocacy for sustainable practices in academic institutions remains quite nascent.

If you have taken the time to stay informed, volunteer and engage with environmental health, be sure to integrate such experiences and themes into your medical school application materials.

When writing your personal statement , experience descriptions or secondary essays, highlight how your interests and experiences relate to environmental challenges and climate change. Emphasize your commitment to addressing these issues within the context of your future career in medicine.

By actively engaging with the myriad environmental challenges facing society and incorporating these experiences into your application, you can demonstrate your dedication to addressing pressing global issues while enhancing your candidacy for medical school admission.

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How to celebrate Earth Day 2024 with your students

April 16, 2024.

By Microsoft Education Team

Share this article

Join the global movement of Earth Day on April 22, 2024, and inspire your students to become stewards of our planet. Earth Day is not just a day—it’s a call to action for environmental awareness and appreciation. With support from Microsoft Education , you can weave interactive and engaging Earth Day activities and more into your lessons, inspiring your students to care for our planet today and every day.

Dive into our curated list of educational resources from Microsoft designed to make your Earth Day lessons not just informative, but transformative. Let’s collaborate to build a world of conscious minds for a greener tomorrow.

Dig deeper using Search Progress

This Earth Day, elevate your classroom's digital and environmental education by using Search Progress in Microsoft Teams for Education . Designed specifically for building information literacy skills, Search Progress is a fantastic way to lead students on a journey through the history and significance of Earth Day. Try some of these guiding questions to get them started:

What are the origins of Earth Day, and what global events led to its creation?
How has Earth Day evolved since its inception? How have its goals and activities changed over time?
What impact has Earth Day had on environmental policies and practices at the local, national, and global levels?
How do different cultures and societies around the world observe Earth Day, and what unique practices or traditions have they developed?

Early teen students working on laptops in a classroom while a teacher kneels by their table to engage with them.

Search Progress and Search Coach help students learn how to form effective search queries, find trusted sites with NewsGuard, and think critically about their results in an ad-free environment.

As they delve into the origins, milestones, and impact of Earth Day, students can develop a deeper understanding of the environmental movement. Search Coach will guide them towards reputable sources, aiding in the development of essential internet navigation skills. By engaging with this tool, students will not only learn about environmental stewardship but also hone their ability to distinguish fact from opinion, a critical skill in today’s information-rich world. You can customize search settings to ensure students are led to credible websites and factual content, in addition to the integration of NewsGuard which assesses the reliability of online sources.

Sending your students on an Earth Day exploration is the perfect opportunity for them to practice forming effective search queries and critically analyzing their findings, preparing them for informed and responsible internet use. Plus, you can track the development of your students’ information literacy skills when you use Search Coach alongside Search Progress . Creating a window into students’ search activity and behaviors, Search Progress provides a deeper understanding of their research habits and interests, helping you identify ways to improve the quality of their search queries over time.

Craft a passion for the planet with Minecraft Education

Environmental literacy is a crucial skill in today’s world. For Earth Day, help build your students’ environmental awareness one block at a time with activities for all ages from Minecraft Education . Explore all these standards-based climate and sustainability lessons while helping your students build a passion for the planet. Celebrate Earth Day 2024 in your classroom with Minecraft’s Earth Day resources .

Research climate change while learning the principles of AI. With Minecraft Education AI for Earth students will learn principles of AI while taking their first steps into this exciting realm of computer science.

You can also bring the wondrous natural world into your classroom, no matter what subject you teach. See our planet from the perspective of sharks, leopards, Arctic foxes, and more in the Planet Earth III world inspired by inspired by the landmark series from BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit. Learn more and download Planet Earth III .

Additionally, learn how adaptation over time enables animals to survive in particular environments and in extreme conditions. With Frozen Planet II: Frozen South from Minecraft Education and BBC Earth, learners will develop an understanding of the impact that climate change is having on some of the animals living in Antarctica. Learn more and download Frozen Planet II: Frozen South .

Share Earth Day projects, reflections, and ideas with Flip

Flip , a free web and mobile app from Microsoft, provides an interactive platform enabling students to share and learn from one another's short videos. For Earth Day 2024, consider organizing a Flip activity where students can share their environmental projects, reflections on what they have learned, or ideas for promoting sustainability in their community. This method promotes peer learning, fosters community spirit, and encourages collective environmental responsibility. Promote interaction by suggesting students comment on each other's videos to foster a dialogue within the classroom.

Celebrate Earth Day 2024 with Flip using the Earth Day, environmental, and sustainability topics in the Make a Difference collection.

For Earth Day, get started with the Make a Difference collection from Flip. You’ll find Earth Day, environmental, sustainability topics to drive discussions and reflections for all grade levels. Topics in this collection inspire students to:

Create a short video to showcase an environmental project and the impact they hope it will have on the environment.
Reflect on one change they've made in their lifestyle to be more environmentally friendly. Share what inspired this change, how they implemented it, and the effects it has had on their daily life.
Present an idea for a new product, app, or community initiative that promotes sustainability or addresses an environmental issue. Explain the problem their idea solves, how it works, who it helps, and how it promotes environmental awareness and action.

There’s also a new Earth Day lens in Flip that students can use in their videos. Inspire your students to use this special lens to share their voice and make a pledge to the planet.

Encourage your students to use the special Earth Day lens in Flip to express their opinions and make a pledge to the planet.

Starting with Flip is straightforward and free. Simply establish a class, add a topic, and students can start creating video responses using engaging video tools designed to amplify every student's voice. Additionally, explore Flip’s extensive library of on-demand events , which can complement your students' interests or age group.

Harvesting the future with FarmBeats for Students

Explore the intersection of technology and agriculture, where advancements are creating intelligent ecosystems for crop management. Cutting-edge tools like sensors and AI are revolutionizing the way agricultural professionals understand and oversee their fields, leading to more informed, efficient, and sustainable practices in food production and resource management.

The FarmBeats for Students program uses a cost-effective kit based on micro:bit technology, complemented by free, extensive curriculum and engaging activities that can be accessed from any device with internet capabilities. This kit empowers students to collect real-time data on their plant projects and visualize the data directly in Microsoft MakeCode . This innovative program introduces students to the concepts of precision agriculture, a system that helps farmers use water, nutrients, and other resources wisely to grow healthier crops. Learn more about FarmBeats for Students and download the program overview .

Using FarmBeats for Students, students build a garden monitoring system and gain direct experience with topics like digital sensors, data analysis, and AI. These agriculture projects for students not only expose them to modern farming techniques, but also instill a respect for sustainable food production and environmental care.

Take engagement further by joining the FarmBeats Beat Hunger Challenge 2024 group on Flip. Through this challenge, participants aim to harness technology to transform students' ideas into practical solutions for improving agricultural products and services. This Earth Day, let's empower students to use their creativity and innovative thinking to address global food insecurity. Learn more and join the group on Flip .

Planting seeds of change on Earth Day

Maximize the impact of your Earth Day lessons by tapping into these innovative resources and environmental projects for students from Microsoft Education. Integrate cutting-edge technology with interactive, hands-on learning to ignite your students' passion for environmental stewardship. Encourage them to become informed, eco-conscious change-makers who are equipped to shape a better future.

Don’t just stop there—amplify their success. Transform your classroom's achievements into shining examples for the world to see. Share the vibrant stories of your students' Earth Day projects across social platforms and within your educational community. Celebrate and document their journey, challenges, and breakthroughs to inspire a wave of positive change among educators and students alike. Let's make Earth Day 2024 not just a day of awareness, but a starting point for lasting change.

Gearing up for Computer Science Education Week

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Computer Science Education Week! All year round, but especially December 4–10, 2023, we aim to inspire students to engage in computer science with opportunities to learn about AI, advocate for equity in digital careers, and become responsible coders.

Join the global Hour of Code movement

From December 4–10, 2023, schools around the world will join the Hour of Code movement as part of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). With just one hour of coding—whether during CSEdWeek or anytime throughout the year—anyone can learn the basics of coding. And this year’s Hour of Code may be the biggest yet, thanks to a new AI-focused tutorial from Minecraft Education called Minecraft Hour of Code: Generation AI.

Join us at ISTELive ‘22!

Mark your calendars! ISTELive, a conference that brings educators, leaders, and industry reps together, returns June 26-29 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and we at Microsoft can’t wait to connect with our global community.

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Veteran Wins Supreme Court Appeal Over Education Benefits (2)

By Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson , Lydia Wheeler and Michael Shapiro

The US Supreme Court sided with a veteran seeking to take advantage of education benefits available in separate GI bills.

The justices, in a 7-2 ruling on Tuesday, said James Rudisill can use benefits accrued under the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Rudisill served in the Army three separate times between 2000 and 2011.

Writing for the majority, Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson said Rudisill can use both benefits in any order up to the aggregate 48-month cap under federal law.

Both benefits can’t be used at the same time, so the Department of Veterans Affairs said Rudisill was only eligible for the length of his unused Montgomery benefits.

Jackson said federal law allows individuals with Montgomery benefits who would prefer to swap them for Post-9/11 benefits to “coordinate” the entitlements. But when veterans already have separate entitlements and simply use one after the other, they’re not coordinating anything, she said.

The high court reversed the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has exclusive jurisdiction over veterans’ claims.

Justice Clarence Thomas said in a dissenting opinion the court’s decision requires Rudisill to make some election to switch from his Montgomery to Post-9/11 benefits, but the statute’s corresponding limits do not apply because it would reduce the amount of available benefits.

“In my view, the Court ignores the statutory mechanism that Congress created in favor of an interpretation that reaches a desired outcome,” he said in the dissent joined by Justice Samuel Alito.

Newman Dissent Prevails

The decision wasn’t just a victory for Rudisill. It also vindicated the view of Circuit Judge Pauline Newman who wrote a dissent from the Federal Circuit’s December 2022 majority opinion .

Newman has since been sidelined by her colleagues on the court, due to concerns over her mental health and her refusal to submit to neurological testing. She’s challenged the suspension from hearing cases in a suit pending at the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Supreme Court opinion adopted not only Newman’s view that Rudisill should win, but also her interpretation of the benefits statute, according to her lawyer Greg Dolin of the New Civil Liberties Alliance.

“Today’s decision once again illustrates how in command of the law and her faculties Judge Newman is, and how much her Federal Circuit colleagues, were they to stop the unwarranted hounding of Judge Newman, can continue to benefit from her input,” Dolin said in an emailed statement.

The case is Rudisill v. McDonough, U.S., No. 22-888.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson in Washington at [email protected] ; Lydia Wheeler in Washington at [email protected] ; Michael Shapiro at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at [email protected] ; John Crawley at [email protected]

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IMAGES

The Importance of an Effective Learning Environment and How to Create One
Top 5 Learning Environment Design Trends to Refresh Your Spaces
Shaping a Positive Learning Environment
How to Create a Student-Centered Environment
Classroom Design for an Optimized Learning Space
Creating a Learning Environment in Your Classroom

VIDEO

[The Story] The importance of environment in education
पर्यावरणीय शिक्षा (Environmental Education) किसे कहते हैं? ||पर्यावरण शिक्षा का अर्थ, परिभाषा ||B.ED
#ESDfor2030 Conference Session 11
How Adequate is Environmental Education in Our School Curriculum?
Equity in Education: creating a level playing field for all children
पर्यावरण शिक्षा Environment education/Meaning/ Objective/ teaching methods and pedagogy in Hindi

COMMENTS

Learning environment
Learning environment. Learning environments are educational approaches, cultures, and physical settings for all types of learners and activities. The term learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context, or physical setting in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive ...
Learning Environment Definition
Learn what learning environment means and how it relates to the physical, cultural, and social aspects of students' learning. Explore the factors that influence learning environments, such as school policies, governance structures, and educational settings, and the effects of learning environments on student engagement, motivation, and well-being.
What are the key elements of a positive learning environment
The learning environment comprises the psychological, social, cultural and physical setting in which learning occurs and has an influence on student motivation and success. The purpose of the present study was to explore qualitatively, from the perspectives of both students and faculty, the key elements of the learning environment that ...
Learning Environments
Learn about the term learning environment, which includes learning resources, technology, teaching methods, modes of learning, and societal and global contexts. Explore key resources, recent highlights, and showcase examples from EDUCAUSE Library on this topic.
Education
Learn about the evolution of education from prehistoric and ancient times to the present, and the various philosophies and theories that have influenced educational systems. Explore the different aspects and fields of education, such as teaching methods, curriculum, and assessment.
A.2 What is a learning environment?
A learning environment is the diverse physical and cultural settings in which students learn, and it includes the characteristics, goals, activities, assessment and culture of a course or program. This chapter explains the components of an effective learning environment and how they can be influenced by teachers and learners in a digital age.
Educational Environment
Explore various aspects of educational environment, such as personal learning and working environments, scholarly information delivery, emotions and learning, classroom climate, and educational quality management. Find chapters from books and articles from journals on ScienceDirect Topics.
Learning Environment
Learning environment is a term widely used in educational and instructional psychology to capture the idea that learning always occurs in a social and physical context. Generally speaking, a learning environment can be considered as a particular place where individuals can learn by using a variety of information resources and tools that are designed and allocated in the pursuit of learning ...
Effective Learning Environments (ELE)
The OECD's work on Effective Learning Environments (ELE) aims to improve how learning environments can most efficiently support the pedagogies, curriculum, assessment and organisational forms necessary to develop students' capacities for the 21st century. The Learning Environments Evaluation Programme (LEEP) was launched in 2013 to develop ...
The Architecture of Ideal Learning Environments
March 2, 2018. To get a sense of the best practices in contemporary school design, we interviewed four of the top K-12 architecture firms in the U.S.: Fanning Howey, Corgan, Perkins+Will, and Huckabee. Collectively, the companies bill hundreds of millions of dollars in work annually, and have built or renovated thousands of schools throughout ...
ABC of learning and teaching: Educational environment
Learning depends on several factors, but a crucial step is the engagement of the learner. This is affected by their motivation and perception of relevance. These, in turn, can be affected by learners' previous experiences and preferred learning styles and by the context and environment in which the learning is taking place.
Educational environment
Learning depends on several factors, but a crucial step is the engagement of the learner. This is affected by their motivation and perception of relevance. These, in turn, can be affected by learners' previous experiences and preferred learning styles and by the context and environment in which the learning is taking place.
PDF Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments
The OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) provides insights into how education systems are responding by providing the first internationally comparative perspective on the conditions of teaching and learning. TALIS draws on the OECD's 2005 review of teacher policy, which identified important gaps in
Learning Environment
A good learning environment is a physical or virtual space that supports the process of acquiring, developing, and applying knowledge. The main characteristics of a good learning environment are ...
3 Types of Learning Environments
Learn how physical, psychological, and emotional factors can influence a learning environment and how to create a positive one for students. Find out how to optimize your learning environment at home and in the classroom with tips and examples from WGU.
Six Ways to Build More Equitable Learning Environments
1. Engage students, families, and communities as full partners. While there's no real order to these recommendations, engaging students, families, and communities as partners in schooling and decision making is foundational, because they know their context best. Their experiences should lead conversations on what changes and improvements are ...
10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment
9. Learning habits are constantly modeled. Cognitive, meta-cognitive, and behavioral 'good stuff' is constantly modeled. Curiosity, persistence, flexibility, priority, creativity, collaboration, revision, and even the classic Habits of Mind are all great places to start.
Shaping the future learning environments with smart elements
In a smart learning environment, a fundamental shift is needed towards a more personalized, social, open, dynamic, emergent, and knowledge-pull model for learning, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all, centralized, static, top-down, and knowledge-push models of traditional learning solutions (Chatti et al., 2010). To achieving this goal, new ...
Learning environments' influence on students' learning experience in an
In this study, learning environment was conceived as the "social, physical, psychological, and pedagogical contexts in which learning occurs and which affect student achievement and attitudes" (Learning Environments Research 2019) and which allow an organic understanding of the students' learning experience in higher education. ...
Improving students' learning environment by DREEM: an educational
Background Students' perception of the educational setting is an important source for improving and applying changes to the educational environment. In this study, we reassessed undergraduate students' perception of the educational environment at two colleges of RUMS-Iran in the academic years of 2011 and 2016. Methods In the present prospective study, the DREEM inventory consisted of ...
What are the key elements of a positive learning environment
The learning environment comprises the psychological, social, cultural and physical setting in which learning occurs and has an influence on student motivation and success. The purpose of the present study was to explore qualitatively, from the perspectives of both students and faculty, the key elements of the learning environment that supported and hindered student learning. We recruited a ...
Learning environment (definition, types and examples)
A learning environment is a place where learners feel comfortable, encouraged and inspired by their surroundings. Alternative terms are learning space, educational setting, school environment, etc. The type of learning taking place and other variables determine the type of environment. For example, formal studies may take place in an ...
What Is An Educational Environment
An educational environment refers to the physical, psychological, and social setting in which learning takes place. It encompasses the classroom, school, and broader community, as well as the interactions between students, teachers, and other stakeholders. The educational environment plays a crucial role in shaping students' learning ...
UCL retains top global ranking for education and architecture & built
UCL has retained the number one spot in two subjects for the second consecutive year: Education, with the IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, now holding the top spot for 11 years running, and Architecture & Built Environment, recognising the academic excellence of The Bartlett, UCL's Faculty of the Built Environment.
The Growing Importance of Environmental Health in Medical Education
The World Health Organization has categorized climate change as the most significant threat to human health in the 21st century, highlighting its increasing relevance for students pursuing medical ...
Portsmouth Site Expands Hands-on Learning Program for Students
PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) Portsmouth Site recently expanded its hands-on learning program by adding Waverly City Schools, now making the initiative part of all four public school districts in Pike County. The program, called STEAM Ahead, encompasses science, technology ...
How to celebrate Earth Day 2024 with your students
Craft a passion for the planet with Minecraft Education. Environmental literacy is a crucial skill in today's world. For Earth Day, help build your students' environmental awareness one block at a time with activities for all ages from Minecraft Education. Explore all these standards-based climate and sustainability lessons while helping ...
Tampa Prep reaches construction milestone on $20M building
Apr 17, 2024. Tampa Preparatory School is making progress on its approximately $20 million science building. School faculty, students and donors celebrated the building's topping out on Tuesday by ...
Veteran Wins Supreme Court Appeal Over Education Benefits (2)
The US Supreme Court sided with a veteran seeking to take advantage of educational benefits available in separate GI bills. The justices, in a 7-2 ruling on Tuesday, said James Rudisill can use educational benefits accrued under the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Rudisill served in the Army three separate times between 2000 and ...
PDF AGENDA SOLID WASTE ADVISORY TASK-FORCE (SWAT) Community Room Sam J
Sam J. Racadio Library & Environmental Learning Center . 7863 Central Ave., Highland, CA 92346 . Wednesday, April 17, 2024 . 1:30 PM . This agenda contains a brief description of each item of business t o be considered at today's meeting. In accordance with the Brown

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