Students’ expectations towards their course mates in the academic environment

Abstract

The social environment of a university, which is comprised of students, teaching staff and parents, play an essential role in the educational process. Students' decisions, learning and attainment could be considerably affected by relationships with their coursemates in particular. The present research therefore aims to examine students' expectations towards their coursemates in the academic environment in Latvia. The research surveyed 979 students at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (2016-2018). The research has found that for students, the study process involves not only learning but also common events with their coursemates as well as informal relationships. Comparing the role of coursemates and the informal influence of parents and teaching staff, the respondents preferred the involvement of their coursemates. Larger differences in opinion were found for the informal role of teaching staff in learning. Of the respondents, 47% expected teaching staff to be friends, while 29% slightly agreed that the teaching staff had to be authorities and knowledgeable specialists, which indicated that it was important for some students to disassociate formal relationships from informal ones between students and teaching staff. The dispersion of opinions that could be observed for some variables might be explained by the specifics of the programmes the students represented. Statistically significant differences in opinion were found between bioscience and engineering students in relation to the attitude of teaching staff to students, parental support and coursemate support in learning (p<0.05)-the bioscience students more often favoured informal relationship aspects.

Assessing the Physical Space for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education-A Study of a Lecture Theatre Complex at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

“…The key attributes were categorized under three key dimensions as proposed by Licite and Janmere (2019), namely: the layout and size of study rooms; ergonomics and technologies; and the informal environment and comfort. These were later modified to suit the local context and the new categories were: ergonomics, technology and environment and ambiance.…”

“…The teaching and learning environment is as equally important as the definitions of what quality entails. Licite and Janmere (2019) identify the quality of the physical environment of an educational institution as playing a critical role in affecting the learning process, determining physical and mental self-feeling and motivation and contributing to emotional and behavioural responses. However, within the higher education space, the discussion and writings about quality have focused mainly on content and little attention has been given to exploring the teaching and learning environment.…”

“…However, within the higher education space, the discussion and writings about quality have focused mainly on content and little attention has been given to exploring the teaching and learning environment. While a few studies have looked at it from the students' perspective (Licite & Janmere, 2019), there is no available information on the perspectives of the teachers, or in this case, lecturers, much less, at the tertiary level and the developing country setting where educational facilities are often scarce and overstretched (Fomba et al, 2022).…”