Development of the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES) for Higher Education
Research Characteristics
The design, development and validation of the DELES was guided by consistency with learning environments research literature, consistency with previously-developed learning environment instruments, and characteristics of the relevance to distance education learning environments.
Measurement of Perception
Psychosocial learning environments can be measured in three ways:
- Actual environment, which asks respondents questions about the learning environment as they perceive it is.
- Preferred environment, which focuses on the ideal learning environment preferred by students.
- Instructor's perception of the environment, which can be compared to those of the students.
Preferred and Instructor versions in learning environment survey instruments are variations on the Actual version. A statement in an Actual version of a survey might read, "activities are carefully planned in this class," whereas the same statement in the Preferred version might read, "activities should be carefully planned..." Likewise, the Instructor's version might read, "I carefully plan activities…" The development and validation component of this study used an Actual survey that has been modified into the Preferred or Instructor version.
Psychosocial Dimensions
Moos (1974) conceptualised three overarching dimensions characterising and discriminating among subunits within social organizations. These dimensions refer to scales, the final unit into which survey items are clustered. These dimensions are as follows:
- Relationship Dimensions - assess "the extent to which individuals are involved in the environment and the extent to which they tend to support and help each other" (Moos, 1974, p. 19). In short, these are personal relationships between inhabitants in a given environment. Examples of these dimensions include involvement, affiliation, support, assistance and peer cohesion (Fraser, 1998a; Moos, 1974).
- Personal Development Dimensions - assesses "the opportunity afforded by the environment for self-enhancement and the development of self-esteem" (Moos, 1974, p. 19). This is the extent to which personal growth and development can occur. Examples in tertiary educational settings include autonomy, independence, intellectuality, academic achievement, and competition (Moos, 1974).
- System Maintenance & System Change Dimensions - assesses the "extent to which the environment is orderly, clear in expectations, maintains control and is responsive to change" (Fraser, 1998a, p. 9). In short, this is order, organization, clarity and control of the environment (Moos, 1974). Given the international potential of this study and the resultant measurement instrument, it is noted here that Moos (1974) suggests this dimension could be applicable to cross-cultural comparison.
These three long-standing psychosocial dimensions serve as the framework through which the DELES has been developed. The relationship between these dimensions in terms of distance education and the scales found in the DELES is outlined in detail in the following section.