Session 5 - 4 Dec (Finale)

How time flies....

We have reached the last day of the module MEd858 Classroom Learning Environment. As we traced back the learning journey... we realized that we have learned not only the content and classroom learning perception assessment instruments, but also experienced what a truly engaging classroom environment should be.

I find that I am a 'header and point' person who likes to write things in headers and point form. Perhaps, that is why I had faced hiccups as I started writing the blog and had problems expressing my thoughts well and earlier relied on content to 'cover' my weak area. Having a no-so-good command of the English Language had sort of handicapped my thought expressions and previously led to misunderstandings with people unknowingly.

I was deeply impressed with the blog entries that my fellow course mates have written. I really aspired to have that amount of flair for the language. Kudos to all of my course mates to have made the journey in MEd 858. For some who have minimal or no experience with Blogger, Blogskin, Wetpaint, Google Docs, I salute you for making the first step of learning. The rest of the blog would be describing the other details that I can remember of the course (people and content) and take-aways. READ ON.

Instructor - Dr Quek

Dr Quek has 'walked her talk' and has shown to us what a servant leader should be. What I meant by servant leader is one who is able to lead by example and serve others in ways that were truly unexpected. In 'small' things such as making sure that the 'learners - us' are well-fed, she ensured that there would be finger-food around and water bottles to quench our thirst. As I read the blogs written by my course mates, I would agree that most of us felt overwhelmed by her hospitality and kindness shown.

Group Members - The '2' Chongs - Chong Min and Wee Chong

Chong Min - An assuming and quiet co-worker who does his background work diligently. It's a humbling experience to work along someone who is experienced is willing to offer insights to why and what we are doing certain things. He has done things at amazing speed and I was amazed at how he could finish working the write-ups in a very short time frame. His focus is superb.

Wee Chong - A questioner who asks pertinent questions at the right time. Willingness to work the extra mile to get work done. Saw his email sent @ 5 am reminded me of my HOD who emailed at 4 am also. Perhaps most HODs wake up earlier than others to finish their extra pile of administrative work.

Take-away Lessons

Engaging Classroom Learning Environment

Having hands-on learning experience in a learner-centred environment has seriously awaken me to the concept of using ready Web 2.0 websites to engage the students. Students can work collaboratively and individual. Working in teams can engage not only their affective domains but also psychosocial domains as they work on a project on their computers. As the students commence on finding the information that they need, they also need to select and evaluate the information as being accurate or useful and thus trigger their cognitive domains as well.

Assessing student's perception of Learning Environments

In this module, we have been exposed to various assessment instruments such as WIHIC, QTI, CLES and the modified versions and when to modify and how to modify. The guidelines to the modification process according to the target audience, language ability and age range are useful for me to decide which ones I should use in my our classrooms. It would be good to share these precious learning points with my fellow school colleagues and help them to grow more professionally. My school has asked teachers to use a modified version of a student questionnaire entitled 'High Performing Classroom' to assess the students' perception of their learning environment. However, the follow-up actions can be further improved. I strongly believe that students should be given a 'voice' to provide constructive feedback to the teachers. After learning about the Moos's scheme of Relationship, Personal and System Maintenance and System Change, I think that certain scales can be added on for further improvement.

The further elaborations would be written in the final reflection report. I need a break now. ZzzZZ

Session 4 - 2 Dec

Today, we explore the following items:-

1. Web 2.0 websites

- e.g. Ning, Flicker, Blogger, YouTube

2. Question:

- How to create a more learner-centred environment?

3. Journal article

on 'The Classroom Social Environment and Changes in Adolescents' Motivation and Engagement During Middle School' by Ryan, a. & Patrickk, H.

4. How to identify gaps after the administration and assessment of learning environment?

- Modified WIHIC used in a study on the effectiveness of Classroom Performance System (CPS) in improving student participation.

- 5 scales (Student Cohesiveness, Teacher Support, Involvement, Equity, Material support), Material support scale was added on due to the scope of the research.

- Scales need not be constrained by instruments used.

- Various instrument scales can be used to draft the questionnaire.

- Alpha reliability above 0.7 means that it is accurate.

- Statistics results will help to see if there is any improvement needed.- Assessment of LE is meant to improve the LE.

4. Improvement Process

- LE with problems in either overall dimensions or certain dimensions

- To conduct interview or to have focus group discussion

- Next, is to design the intervention plan & track the process

- If the LE is favorable then case is closed, if not the external agencies will be involved.

5. Question asked: Pre and Post versus Preferred and Actual Form in research

- achievement tests and attitude tests versus perception assessments.

6. SPSS using course mates' preferred and actual perceptions of the instructor.

- How to calculate Mean, Standard Deviation, Reliability (Cronbach's Alpha) and Paired-sample t-test.

Reflections:

The Web 2.0 has a richer content and interface for the user to interact with the ideas and concept in web pages. As a frequent Net surfer, I have come across some of these websites but have not really compared the technology used across various platforms. Dr Quek directed us to use the docs.google.com was a good move as we were given the opportunity to do PPT presentation online, which was different from the conventional way. As my group mates and I started exploring the functions in the docs.google.com, we were amazed at how 'powerful' the online platform can be. Dr Quek brought up the idea that students can do their projects anywhere as long as there is Internet access is very true!

Wee Chong asked a pertinent question on pre and post test versus preferred and actual perception results. As some of us have been actively doing school-based action research, most of the results that we have acquired are either achievement tests (pre and post) or attitude inventory tests, therefore, Wee Chong's question was very thought-provoking. His question has provided greater reexamination of what we have been researching in our schools and how we could have modified the research to suit our needs and obtain results that could lead to further improvements.

As we continued on to the next portion on what to do after the assessment tools have been administered, the key concept if checking the reliability results was explicitly pointed out. Subsequently, we started doing the WIHIC preferred and actual form and then compiled our results in a common Excel spreadsheet. There were some technical problems in copying and pasting from Excel to SPSS and we spent quite alot of time trying to figure the whole thing. The testing for reliability for each scale is a tedious and time-consuming task. As a results I had tried so hard to troubleshoot the Excel data formula and SPSS that I did not pay much attention to the assignment coming up on Thursday. I ONLY know that each table only has three different rows for each scale for Mean, Standard Deviation and Reliability and paired-T-Test.

Reflection 2 on article: Science Learning Environments: Assessment, Effects and Determinants by Barry Fraser

This article describes mainly the:-

• history of studying learning environments,
• approaches to studying educational environments,
• instruments for assessing classroom environments,
• important developments with learning environment instruments,
• associations between student outcomes and environment,
• recent trends and desirable future directions.

Approaches - The use of students' and teachers' perceptions as contrasted with external observer's direct observation and systematic coding of classroom communication and events (Brophy & Good, 1986). Murray (1938) introduced the term alpha press to describe the environment as assessed by a detached observer and the term beta press to describe the environment as perceived by people in the environment. Other approaches include naturalistic inquiry, ethnography, case study or interpretative research. Students are perceived as having the ability to make judgements about classrooms because they have encountered many different learning environments and have enough time in class to form accurate impressions. When teachers are inconsistent in their day-to-day behaviour, they usually project a consistent image of the long standing attributes of classroom environment.

History - Herbert Walberg and Rudolf Moos developed two different instruments. Walberg developed the Learning Environment Inventory (LEI) as part of the research and evaluative activities of Harvard Project Physics. Moos started developing the first of his social climate scales, and resulted in the development of the Classroom Environment Scale (CES). Earlier works included the ideas from Kurt Lewin (1936) work on field theory where he found that behaviour is considered to be a function of both the person and the environment. Murray (1938) followed Lewin's approach by proposing a needs-press model which allows the representation of person and the environment. The main components are personal needs and environmental press.

Instruments for assessing classroom environment - LEI, CES, ICEQ, MCI, CUCEI, QTI, SLEI, CLES and WIHIC.

The instrument's scales are categorised according to Moos's (1974) scheme for classifying human environments. Three basic types are 'Relationship Dimensions', 'Personal Development Dimensions', 'System Maintenance and System Change Dimensions'

Relationship Dimensions identify the nature and intensity of personal relationships within the environment and assess the extent to which people are involved in the environment and the support and help in each other.

Personal Development Dimensions assess basic directions along which personal growth and self-enhancement tend to occur.

System Maintenance and System Change Dimensions assess whether the environment is orderly, clear in expectations, maintains control and is responsive to change.

Reflection: From the reading, it is clear that researchers have played an important role in either starting the research and modifying the research ideas and adding value to the scales or items to the surveys. From Moos's scheme, I can now see the relevance of each dimension and how each instrument fits into the dimensions of things. With this clarify, in the future, if there is any issue or problem which needs to be investigated, the validated instrument can be carefully selected based on this broad guideline using Moos's scheme.