Psychometric Properties of the European Portuguese Version of the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES)

Abstract

Over the last few decades, distance education and distance learning have assumed a relevant role in education paradigms. To evaluate the perception and preferences of the psychosocial online learning environment by Portuguese post-secondary higher education, the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES) was applied in a Portuguese context. This article describes the adaptation and validation of DELES to be used in distance and hybrid education psychosocial learning environments in Portugal. The results suggested five scales rather than the six of the original DELES. The Internal consistency values were all good or excellent. However, a second-order principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that the scales might also be scored and used as a unidimensional measure. Beyond investigating the DELES-Pt “actual” form concerning students’ perceptions of the learning environment, we also studied psychometric features of the DELES-Pt “preferred” form regarding students’ preferred learning environment. The results were like those achieved with the actual form in other investigations. When both forms were compared, a significant discrepancy was observed between students’ perceptions and preferences. The implications of these findings for applied settings are discussed. DELES-Pt forms demonstrated adequate reliability and validity; however, further studies with the DELES-Pt are needed to compare with our data.