Students’ perception of the learning environment at Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba

Purpose: The learning environment at Xavier University School of Medicine (XUSOM), Aruba has not been previously studied. Hence, the present study was carried out using the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) to obtain student perceptions about the learning environment and compare the same among different subgroups of respondents. Methods: The questionnaire was administered to undergraduate medical students in their first to fifth semester during the first two weeks of June 2013. The students’ perceptions were evaluated by noting their degree of agreement with a set of 50 statements using a Likert-type scale. The mean overall score and the scores of subcategory were calculated and compared among different respondents (P<0.05). Results: Seventy-three of the 86 students (84.9%) completed the questionnaire. The overall mean±SD score was 131.79±22.86 (maximum score 200). The mean±SD score for students’ perception of teaching/learning was 31.99±6.23 (maximum score, 48), while the score for students’ perceptions of teachers was 30.05±5.54 (maximum score, 44). The mean±SD scores for students’ academic self-perception, students’ perception of the atmosphere, and students’ social self-perception were 21.88±5.11 (maximum score, 32), 30.92±8.59 (maximum score, 48), and 16.96±4.71 (maximum score, 28), respectively. There were no differences in scores according to the respondents’ personal characteristics. Conclusion: The student responses about the learning environment at the institution were positive. We plan to obtain regular student feedback as the curriculum becomes progressively more student-centered and integrated.


tations in th
US.Recently, modifications have been made to the basic sciences MD program [2].The school has shifted to an inte grated organ systembased curriculum from the January 2013 semester.Normal human structure and function are taught during the first two semesters and abnormalities in structure and function during disease during the next two.Problem based learning (PBL) sessions, sessions on critical appraisal of the scientific literature, and early clinical exposure have been introduced.The assessment system was modified to include more formative assessment and assessment of attitudes and professionalism.Student feedback about the educational envi ronment using a standardized instrument has not been previ ously carried out in the institution.Hence, the present study was carried out to obtain student perceptions about the learn ing environment and to compare their perceptions according to demographic characteristics of the respondents using DR EEM.


METHODS

The DREEM questionnaire was administered to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth semester students of XUSOM during the first two weeks of June 2013.A semester is of 15 weeks duration, and the college admits students three times a year.Students are admitted to the Spring semester in January, to the Summer semester in May, and the Fall semester in Sep tember of each year.The questionnaire was

minister
d to the students during school working hours.The authors ex plained the aims and objectives of the study to the students and invited them to participate.Written informed consent was obtained from all of the respondents.Student perceptions about the educational environment were studied using the DREEM questionnaire described in a previous study [1].The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the institution through notification number XUSOM/IRB/2013/02.

Basic demographic information including the semester of study, gender, age, nationality, and occupation of the parents was noted.The students' perception about the educational en vironment was studied by noting their degree of agreement to a set of 50 statements using a Likerttype scale.The statements were grouped together under five categories: students' percep tion of teaching/learning, students' perception of teachers, stu dents' academic selfperception, students' perception of the atmosphere, and students' social selfperception.Certain state ments were negatively worded and their scores were reversed for further analysis.

The data from respondents who filled in more than two personal characteristics were included in the study.Those who filled in two or fewer characteristics were excluded from the study.There were two respondents in this category and their results were omitted.Hence, the total number of respon dents who successfully completed the study was 73 (out of a total of 75 respondents).The data was entered into SPSS ver.20 (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA) for further analysis.The to tal scores in different subcategories and the overall score was calculated.The scores of individual statements were also not ed.The normality of distribution of the scores was studied us ing a onesample KolmogorovSmirnov test.The average scores were calculated among different categories of respondents us ing appropriate statistical tests.A Pvalue less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.Free text comments were also invited from the respondents and tabulated.


RESULTS

Seventythree of the eightysix students (84.9%) completed the questionnaires.Table 1 shows the demographic character istics of the respondents.A large number of students were of US nationality.Certain respondents did not provide all the re quired demographic characteristics.The overall mean ± SD score was 131.79± 22.86 (maximum score, 200).The mean± SD score for students' perception of teaching/learning was 31.99±6.23

aximum s
ore, 48), while the score for students' per ceptions of teachers was 30.05 ± 5.54 (maximum score, 44).The mean ± SD scores for students' academic selfperceptions, students' perception of atmosphere, and students' social self perceptions were 21.88± 5.11 (maximum score, 32), 30.92± 8.59 (maximum score, 48), and 16.96 ± 4.71 (maximum score, 28), respectively.

Individual statements with mean scores less than 2.5 were noted as areas of concern and those less than 2 as those which would need improvement.Among these were 'The teaching is too teachercentered' and 'The teaching overemphasizes fac tual learning' which had mean scores of 1.78 and 1.57, respec tively.The statements were negative, and their scores had been reversed while calculating the final score.The statement 'I am The numbers ma not add up to 73, as certain respondents did not fill in all the required details.Tables 24 show the mean scores according to the nature of the curriculum, gender of the respondents, and their national ity.There were no significant differences in scores according to these characteristics.Among the free text comments, there was a request for access to course material and power point slides through the internet (at present they can be accessed only from the campus), a request for student transportation, and certain specific comments concerning teaching by specif ic teachers.These comments were made by only one respon dent each.


DISCUSSION

This study provides an overview of the learning environ ment at our institution.The participation of the third semester students was low.Participants did not answer all of the ques tions related to demographics.This may be because they were apprehensive about being identified in a school with a small student body.The mean overall scor

was 131.79,
and there was little variation in the overall score or the subscores accord ing to the demographic characteristics of respondents.

Our study was conducted only among students during the basic science years, as the clinical years of training are under taken in various hospitals in the US, as is the case in most Ca ribbean medical schools.The area of concern noted in our study was the fact that the respondents regarded teaching as being too teachercentered and overemphasizing factu l learn ing.XUSOM is at present changing over to an integrated, stu dentcentered curriculum, and PBL sessions and student ac tivities have been introduced.Small group learning is empha sized, and we believe this will address the problem.The feed back has also been shared with faculty members to bring about modifications in their behavior.The students' perception that teachers are authoritarian and that they ridicule the students has been noted in many previous studies in other countries [36].

Recently, the school has also been shifting from a discipline based to an integrated, organ systembased curriculum.Previ ously the school had a fixed timetable throughout the semes ter.Considering the need for curriculum integration and oth http://jeehp.orgJ Educ Eval Health Prof 2013, 10: 8 • http://dx.doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.8 er issues, faculty me bers have been meeting every fortnight to finalize the following two week's timetable.Initially, there were some problems in communicating this in time to the students, which may have accounted for the low score for the statement 'This school is well timetabled.' The reversed score for the statement 'I seldom feel lonely' and the scores for 'I am rarely bored on this course' and 'There is a good support sys tem for students who get stressed' were low.At present there is no central housing facility in the institution, and the school helps students with renting houses.Therefore, students and faculty members may feel isolated.The school is in the process of shifting to a new campus with housing for both faculty and students, which may reduce the problem.The school has re cently hired a clinical psychologist to help students who feel stressed.Students have a faculty advisor who advises them on different aspects of their studies and general life, but this per son is not specifically trained in counseling.

Students access course material through a system called 'Class Notes, ' which can, however, only be accessed from the campus.We are considering providing access to all course material through an online platform.In the new campus, hous ing accommodations for a few students have been provided, and transportation from the school to the housing area is be ing provided.
The strength of this study is the high response rate and the use of a validated instrument, DREEM, to measure student perceptions.Our results may have implications for other med ical schools: Many 'offshore' medical schools in the Caribbean admit students mainly from the US and Canada to the MD program [7].The first four or five semesters of the program are conducted n the Caribbean, and the clinical rotations are done in the US.The findings of our study about teaching be ing too teachercentered and about student difficulties in cop ing with a demanding course of study would also be true for other schools.The issues of perceived problems in student support and counseling may also be true of other schools.In the Caribbean, many schools do not have residential facilities for students and faculty, which results in students' having to arrange their own accommodations and being scattered throu ghout the island, which may be partly responsible for the feel ing of loneliness.

Many schools all over the world teach the basic sciences in an integrated manner with early clinical exposure [8,9].The major teachinglearning method in many schools continues to be lectures supplemented by problembased learning ses sions, small group learning, and other studentcentered ap proaches.Curriculum integration in many schools is at the level of the organ system nd often is difficult to achieve.Stu dents, especially in the early years of study, have difficulty in coping with a demanding course of study, and support facili ties in many schools need to be improved.Thus, the findings of our study could inspire educators in other geographic areas to study the strengths and weaknesses of the learning environ ment in their schools and gather information which could be used to improve the situation.

This study had limitations.Student perception of the learn ing environment was studied using DREEM, and the informa tion was not compared with that obtained from other sources.The response rate of the third semester students was low.Cer tain respondents did not complete all the required demogra phic characteristics.Hence, comparison, especially according to the nationality of espondents and occupation of parents, may not be representative of the student population.

In conclusion, the student response about the learning envi ronment at the institution was positive.We are confident the scores will improve as the curriculum and support systems develop.With the introduction of problembased learning, small group sessions and activities, learning will become more studentcentered and students will assume greater responsi bility for their own learni g.We plan to obtain regular student feedback as the curriculum becomes progressively more stu dentcentered and integrated.ORCID: P. Ravi Shankar: http://orcid.org/0000000161055636; Arun K Dubey: http://orcid.org/0000000274702932;Ramanan Balasubramanium: http://orcid.org/0000000231115383



Educ Eval Health Prof 2013, 10: 8 • http://dx.doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.8

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Table 1 .
1
Demographic characteristics of student respondents
CharacteristicNo. (%) a)Semester of studyFirst14 (19.2)Second12 (16.4)Third15 (20.5)Fourth18 (24.7)Fifth11 (15.1)GenderMale35 (47.9)Female32 (43.8)Age (yr)< 204 (5.5)20-2544 (60.3)25-3010 (13.7)> 306 (8.2)NationalityUS32 (43.8