Using the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure to understand the allied health undergraduate student journey Eric Chua, Benjamin Soon, May Lim

Background

Allied Health Degrees in Singapore straitstimes.com SIT: Only publicly funded Singaporean university with allied health degree programs

Popular Choice of Study straitstimes.com 3 May 2016

Cohort Sizes n=221 n=281 Participants of this study

Study Objectives Track cohort changes in student perceptions of learning environment, as different cohorts undertake a given Year of Study Track longitudinal changes in student perceptions of learning environment, as each cohort progress in their program of study Identify learner factors that correlate with perceptions of learning environment

Study Protocol Instruments Baseline End of Year Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Kolb Learning Style Inventory    VARK Demographic DREEM Growth Mindset Focus Group

Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure Genn (2001) in AMEE Guide No.23 clearly established the importance of educational climate DREEM was developed using input from 80 international medical educators (Roff et al 1997) Has been used a lot to measure educational environments (Chan et al 2018; 106 studies, 87% from Europe, Asia and Australasia; 78% in medicine, dentistry) And recently, with other tools to identify associations with learner factors (e.g. Tempski et al. 2015, with resilience) However, not many longitudinal studies, exploring correlation with learner factors, and comparison across disciplines

Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure The DREEM contains 50 statements relating to a range of topics directly relevant to education climate Using a 5 point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree The 50-item DREEM has a maximum score of 200 indicating the ideal educational environment The following is an approximate guide to interpreting the overall score: 0-50 Very Poor 51-100 Plenty of Problems 101-150 More Positive than Negative 151-200 Excellent Interpret a score of 100 as an environment which is viewed with considerable ambivalence by the students and as such needs to be improved

Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure Five subscales: Students’ perceptions of learning (e.g. I am encouraged to participate in teaching sessions, The teaching encourages me to be an active learner) Students’ perceptions of course teachers (e.g. The teachers are knowledgeable, The teachers are authoritarian) Students’ academic self perceptions (e.g. I feel I am being well prepared for my profession, My problem solving skills are being well developed here) Students’ perceptions of atmosphere (e.g. The course is well timetabled, I find the experience disappointing) Students’ social self perception (e.g. I have good friends in this course, I am too tired to enjoy this course

Objective 1: Year 1 – Experience of AY16 vs AY17 cohorts

Overall & Subscale Scores Score Interpretation Excellent More Positive than Negative Plenty of Problems AY16 (n=162) AY17 (n=245) All p > 0.05 (independent t-tests) Pioneer cohort usually given more attention, good that we are doing fairly well despite the larger cohort

Average Score for Individual Qs Item Scores Average Score for Individual Qs Top 5 High Score Rating 15. I have good friends on this course Agree – Strongly Agree 2. The teachers are knowledgeable 31. I have learnt a lot about empathy in my profession 39. The teachers get angry in teaching sessions Disagree – Strongly Disagree 45. Much of what I have to learn seems relevant to a career in healthcare r = 0.97 Top 5 Low Score Rating 4. I am too tired to enjoy the course Uncertain – Agree 27. I am able to memorise all I need Uncertain – Disagree 12. This course is well timetabled 25. The teaching over emphasizes factual learning 42. The enjoyment outweighs the stress of the course

Objective 2: Longitudinal follow-up – AY16 cohort, Year 1 vs 2 experience

Overall & Subscale Scores ** ** More Positive than Negative PT not in as Year 2 not collected; NS only Year 1 ** p < 0.01 Paired t-tests (n=112)

Average Score for Individual Qs Item Scores Average Score for Individual Qs Top 5 High Score Rating 15. I have good friends on this course Agree – Strongly Agree 2. The teachers are knowledgeable 31. I have learnt a lot about empathy in my profession 45. Much of what I have to learn seems relevant to a career in healthcare 39. The teachers get angry in teaching sessions Disagree – Strongly Disagree r = 0.94 Top 5 Low Score Rating 42. The enjoyment outweighs the stress of the course Uncertain – Agree 25. The teaching over emphasizes factual learning 12. This course is well timetabled Uncertain – Disagree 27. I am able to memorise all I need 4. I am too tired to enjoy the course

Objective 3: Correlation of environment perceptions with learner factors

DREEM and Growth Mindset * # # p = 0.06 * p = 0.01 Linear regression (n=219) Stronger growth mindset was associated with better perceptions of the learning environment

Summary – Programs The first and second cohorts both perceived their learning environment for Year 1 as ‘more positive than negative’; no significant drop in student perceptions despite ~30% increase in enrolment The first cohort reported a slight increase in perception of learning, and a slight drop in social self perceptions as they progressed from Year 1 to 2 Item scores were strongly correlated across cohort and year, highlighting some common concerns Stronger growth mindset was associated with better perceptions of the learning environment

Discussion Students’ voice - a standardised tool like DREEM can be used as part of overall program evaluation and monitoring; Indicates ‘symptoms’ for further investigation, and improvement Learner factors such as growth mindset associated with perception of learning environment; perhaps targets for interventions?

Thank You Appreciate questions and comments!