Students' perceptions of psychosocial dimensions of the learning environment in online and blended courses.

摘要

In emerging learning environments, the perceptions of the students to the psychosocial dimensions present or absent in the environment are key to a student's cognitive and affective outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare students' perceptions of the psychosocial dimensions of the learning environment in online and blended courses at a public four-year research university. The Person-Environment Fit theory and the Constructivist theories along with aspects of social ecology provided the conceptual framework for this study. Person-Environment fit theory suggests that behavior, motivation, and mental health can be influenced by the characteristics individuals bring to their environment and those characteristics already present in the environment. The College and University Classroom Environment Inventory was utilized in this study to measure participants' perceptions of the actual learning environment based on seven psychosocial dimensions of Satisfaction, Task Orientation, Innovation, Individualization, Student Cohesiveness, Individualization and Personalization.;Data were collected from 65 students enrolled in a blended learning environment and 25 students enrolled in an online learning environment. Participants in blended and online learning environments completed a survey consisting of a set of seven statements for each psychosocial dimension of the environment. Participants responded by agreeing or disagreeing as to whether or not the statements described their actual learning environment. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used in the quantitative analysis of the data.