Abstract
ObjectivesThis paper seeks to determine the perception of Medical, Nursing and Midwifery students about their educational environment and compare their perceptions in terms of disciplines, demographic attributes and academic level. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, Medical, Nursing and Midwifery students in Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran, were selected using stratified random sampling method (N=378). They completed the standard Persian version of Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze data. ResultsThe mean score of DREEM was 106 ± 24.6. The mean scores in five domains of DREEM questionnaire including students’ perception of learning, perception of teachers, scientific abilities, students’ perception of educational environment and students’ perception of social conditions were 23±8, 23.4±6, 18±5.5, 25.5±7.7 and 15.8±4, respectively. In the first four domains (p=0.000, F=27.35), (p=0.000, F=9.9), (p=0.000, F=18.5), (p=0.000, t=18.7) and for total scores (p=0.000, F=22.77), the three disciplines were significantly different. Also, there was a significant difference between mean total score (p=0.021, t=2.3) and scores of students’ perception of learning (p=0.008, t=2.65) and social conditions (p=0.022, t=2.3) with respect to gender. ConclusionsAccording to these results, students tend to have a positive attitude towards their educational environment. The findings of this study are useful to identify areas in need of improvement by employing more specialized tools and planning for improvement.
Highlights
An ideal and positive educational environment prepares students for professional life in the future
The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) is an evaluative tool frequently used for the assessment of educational environments at Universities of Medical Sciences in various cultural settings, as shown by former studies.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
The above questionnaire has been widely used by different institutes for various purposes such as interfaculty and inter-student comparison,[18] assessment of students’ perception of an ideal educational environment,[19] comparison of ideal educational environment with existing environments and improvement of the educational environment.[17]
Summary
An ideal and positive educational environment prepares students for professional life in the future. Roff and colleagues (1997) in the Delphi international panel at the University of Dundee, Scotland[12,13,14], is used to diagnose curriculum problems, introduce efficient changes and compare real environment with a desired environment, which can provide valuable information for educational managers.[15,16] The above questionnaire has been widely used by different institutes for various purposes such as interfaculty and inter-student comparison,[18] assessment of students’ perception of an ideal educational environment,[19] comparison of ideal educational environment with existing environments and improvement of the educational environment.[17] A growing number of studies have explored this subject around the world.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11] Some Iranian studies have investigated educational environment in state-run universities.[21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28] little attention has been paid to the educational environment in Islamic Azad University (IAU) as the main private organization offering medical training in Iran. Students are compared in terms of demographic attributes and academic level
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