To get more student input (in addition to the interviews I conducted), I distributed a modified version of the My Class Inventory (MCI) via surveymonkey to my students. MCI asks questions that indicate five factors: satisfaction, friction, competitiveness, difficulty, and cohesion. The most interesting finding from my survey for me was that all responses showed a 1, the lowest possible answer for friction, even in classes that I would definitely have described as having some friction. Also interesting was that the satisfaction in the two classes that I felt had the best class atmosphere was lower than for the other classes.
Similarly to my interview findings, the majority (92%) of students didn't believe the atmosphere in the class had any impact on their grade. After analyzing data on my classes' grades and discipline, and reviewing research on the topic, I'm certain that class environment does affect achievement, so I find it surprising that so few students believe the two are connected, and I wonder what the implications of that are.
While it is interesting to see some student responses to these questions, I don't know how much they really tell me. For one thing, more than 60% of respondents finished my class with an "A," meaning that the most academic students were overrepresented in the responses. Also, I didn't receive any responses from my class with the most discipline problems, worst grades, and worst class climate, and only 13 responses total.
I think it would be interesting to conduct the full version of the my class inventory next year, in hopes of more conclusive responses, and to be able to compare student's views on the class climate with my own.
Similarly to my interview findings, the majority (92%) of students didn't believe the atmosphere in the class had any impact on their grade. After analyzing data on my classes' grades and discipline, and reviewing research on the topic, I'm certain that class environment does affect achievement, so I find it surprising that so few students believe the two are connected, and I wonder what the implications of that are.
While it is interesting to see some student responses to these questions, I don't know how much they really tell me. For one thing, more than 60% of respondents finished my class with an "A," meaning that the most academic students were overrepresented in the responses. Also, I didn't receive any responses from my class with the most discipline problems, worst grades, and worst class climate, and only 13 responses total.
I think it would be interesting to conduct the full version of the my class inventory next year, in hopes of more conclusive responses, and to be able to compare student's views on the class climate with my own.
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