Development and Validation of an Instrument for Assessing the Psychosocial Environment of Computer-Assisted Learning Classrooms

Abstract

The present study filled a gap in past learning environment research in that it involved the development and validation of a new instrument tailor-made specifically for use in computer-assisted learning (CAL) classrooms. The new instrument assesses student perceptions of the levels of gender equity, investigation, innovation, and resource adequacy. Use of this instrument with a sample of 671 students from the second year of high school in Singapore revealed that each scale displayed satisfactory factorial validity, internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and predictive validity, and differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. The use of the new instrument in an evaluation of an innovation in CAL showed that, compared with control students, CAL students perceived their classes as having greater gender equity, investigation, innovation, and resource adequacy.