COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
| Pages | 46-53 |
| Published date | 01 February 1975 |
| Date | 01 February 1975 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009732 |
| Author | W.G. WARREN,J.A. REES |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 2 OCTOBER, 1975
COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
W.G. WARREN AND J.A. REES
This report arises out of considerations to "merge" different institutions of higher educa-
tion,
and from preliminary work on techniques for objective assessment of "learning en-
vironments". Analyses and comparison of results obtained from an administration of the
College and University Environment Scales to College of Advanced Education and Univer-
sity samples are presented and discussed in terms of traditional roles and expectations of
those institutions. The evidence that emerges points to a genuine difference in the learning
environments of the two types of institutions. For example, second year C.A.E. teacher
trainees scored significantly higher than their university counterparts on Practicality and
Community factors. On the other hand University trainees scored significantly higher on
the Awareness and Scholarship dimensions.
INTRODUCTION
The range of education institutions available to tertiary students is
rapidly increasing in scope and number. While authorities recognise and
advocate differences between these institutions, they also acknowledge
some overlap in the nature of
courses
offered and in the nature of students
enrolled.1 For the purposes of avoiding unnecessary overlap, maintaining
desirable differences and possibly even for guiding students whose
vocational studies could be accommodated in more than one type of in-
stitution (e.g. teachers), an objective assessment of the nature of learning
environments provided by different institutions is desirable.
In the United States various attempts at this type of assessment have
been made and three major approaches can be discerned.2 The first is
based on measurable, objective characteristics like number and nature of
students and operating budgets.3 The second utilises student perceptions.
The composite opinion of a certain number of students is taken as in-
dicative of institutional pressure or of
an
"environmental press". The third
approach is based on student self-reports, where individual students report
on their own involvement in aspects of the environment. These ap-
proaches, or a combination of them5, have been used to provide detailed
information on the nature of the learning environments developed in, and
prevailing in, different tertiary educational institutions.
The present study had a two-fold aim. The main concern was to consider
MR. WARREN is currently a Lecturer in Philosophy with the Department of Education,
University of Newcastle. A graduate of that university, Mr. Warren has previously published
articles in Psychology and Philosophy.
JOHN REES lectures in Education at Newcastle Teachers College. Once a teacher with the
New South Wales Department of Education, he is also a graduate of the University of New-
castle.
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