Students' Evaluation of Teaching, Approaches to Learning, and Academic Achievement
- 27 March 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research
- Vol. 51 (2), 185-204
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00313830701191654
Abstract
Students' evaluation and perception of the learning environment are considered to be important predictors of students' approaches to learning. These variables may also account for variance in academic outcome, such as in examination grades, but previous research has rarely included a comparison between all of these variables. This article investigates the factor structure of an inventory measuring evaluation‐perception of the learning environment. These factors were compared with scores on the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students, and with the examination grades of 248 undergraduate psychology students. Exploratory factor analysis produced a measurement model comprising five evaluation‐perception factors (workload, presentation, perspective‐integration, lecturer, and effect). Structural equation modelling gave moderate supported to a model in which evaluation‐perception predicted students' approaches to learning, which subsequently predicted examination grades. Hence, evaluation‐perception affected examination grades indirectly, via “approaches to learning”. Additionally, the factor “workload‐demands” contributed independently, as a predictor of examination grades, together with “surface” and “strategic” approaches to learning. These results, finally, gave a basis for recommendations for curriculum design and lecturing.Keywords
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- The relationship between personality, approach to learning and academic performancePersonality and Individual Differences, 2004
- Personality and approaches to learning as predictors of academic achievementEuropean Journal of Personality, 2003
- Validation of a Norwegian Version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST): Application of structural equation modellingScandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 2001
- Patterns of response to an approaches to studying inventory across contrasting groups and contextsEuropean Journal of Psychology of Education, 2000
- Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternativesStructural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 1999
- Influences upon Students’ Perceptions of WorkloadEducational Psychology, 1998
- Comparative fit indexes in structural models.Psychological Bulletin, 1990
- Approaches to learning, evaluations of teaching, and preferences for contrasting academic environmentsHigher Education, 1990
- Approaches to studying and course perceptions: The case of the disappearing relationshipStudies in Higher Education, 1989
- ON QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING: IV—EFFECTS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION AND EXTRINSIC TEST ANXIETY ON PROCESS AND OUTCOMEBritish Journal of Educational Psychology, 1977