Faculty Emphases on Alternative Course-Specific Learning Outcomes in Holland’s Model Environments: The Role of Environmental Consistency

Abstract

This study examines variability in the extent to which faculty members in the disciplinary-based academic environments of Holland's theory emphasize different student learning outcomes in their classes and whether such differences are comparable for those in ''consistent'' versus ''inconsistent'' environments. The findings show wide variation in the extent to which faculty members in four of the academic environments of Holland's theory emphasize the alternative student learning outcomes and that such differences vary based on the level of consistency or inconsistency in the environmental profiles of the environments. The implications of these findings for future research using Holland's theory to understand longitudinal patterns of change and stability in the attitudes, interests, and abilities of college students as well as variability in the patterns of professional attitudes and behaviors of college faculty are discussed. Attention is also devoted to the policy development and practical implications of these findings for academic advisors, career counselors, and other college and university leaders.

Differential Patterns of Change and Stability in Student Learning Outcomes in Holland’s Academic Environments: The Role of Environmental Consistency

“…The current findings supporting the role of environmental consistency in differentiating among the learning outcomes of students in Consistent versus Inconsistent academic environments share much in common with those on faculty emphases on the same set of learning outcomes reported by Smart et al (2009b) that differences among faculty in the four Consistent academic environments of Holland's theory are more in alignment with the primary assumptions of the theory than those of their colleagues in the four Inconsistent environments. The collective findings of these two studies lend credence to the earlier findings and conclusions of Astin (1993) and Umbach and Wawrzynski (2005) that the teaching objectives emphasized and pedagogical approaches used by faculty are a vital component in the ultimate learning and engagement of their students.…”

“…Smart and Thompson (2001) examined the conditional effect of environmental identity on the extent to which faculty in the respective academic environments emphasized the development of alternative student competencies in their classes, and their findings did not support the premise that differences among faculty in the respective environments were more acute or pronounced for environments with high as opposed to low levels of environmental identity. Smart et al (2009b) examined the conditional effect of environmental consistency on the extent to which faculty in the academic environments in Holland's theory emphasized the development of alternative student competencies in their classes, and their findings demonstrated wide variability in the emphases that faculty placed on alternative student learning outcomes based on the extent to which the profiles of the environments were consistent or inconsistent. In essence, their findings for Consistent academic environments were more in accord with predictions derived from Holland's theory than were those for Inconsistent environments.…”

Are the Effects of Student–Faculty Interaction Dependent on Academic Major? An Examination Using Multilevel Modeling

“…To illuminate the unknown portion, future research should incorporate additional department-level variables into the HLM models such as gender and racial composition of faculty members, student-faculty ratio, and faculty attitudes and values. Recent studies of Smart and his associates (Smart 2010;Smart et al 2009) also suggest that level of environmental consistency (i.e., consistent versus inconsistent academic environments) should be an important discipline-level variable for future research using Holland's theory. Use of three-level HLM-where students are nested within academic majors, which in turn are nested within institutions-may be another useful method to investigate the effects of student-faculty interaction in a more comprehensive perspective.…”

The Impact of Academic Discipline on Student’s Engagement in Online Learning: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

“…On the contrary, the successful use of LMS depends on the integration between LMS and the subject (including teaching material and learning objective). Research also suggests that different courses emphasize different learning outcomes by providing discipline-specific learning environments [29,30]. For example, teachers from soft fields tend to focus on facilitating and developing students' ability to discuss alternative and critical perspectives [31].…”