Students’ perception on learning environment of Allied Health Sciences, Jaffna

Abstract

Background Learning capacity of university students is affected by several factors. Except some personal factors most of them can be modified to facilitate learning. Method A descriptive study was conducted among 144 students who are studying at Allied Health Sciences unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna to study their learning environment. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaire after obtaining the Ethical approval. Results More than half (52%) of the students stated that language is a barrier for their learning, but only 8% stated that their writing skill was poor. Writing in English was not problematic for the majority of the students. Among the students 43.6% stated more than half of their teachers were good role models for them, 30.3% stated more than half of their senior students were good role models for them and 60.8% of students stated more than half of their teachers were adequately prepared for teaching. Majority of them (98%) were utilizing resources in library and nearly 63% are using e-resources from computer laboratory. Three fourth (74%) of the students were accessing internet, most of them (82%) were utilizing their own internet fascilities. Majority of the students have email addresses (90%), even though only 40% of them checked emails at least once in a week. Conclusions Teachers and senior students should motivate the students by being role models for them. Use of academic supportive services among the students seems good. Faculty internet access availability should be expanded. Continuing the English language teaching throughout the course may help eliminate the language barriers of Allied Health Sciences students.