STUDENT EVALUATION OF CLINICAL EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

separately at each item pertaining to instructor and Preceptor / Resource RN to determine student
perceptions of these two important figures in the learning environment. In the future, it may be
more practical to consider reorganizing the items within the Communication / Feedback and
Learning Support scales to create two new scales: Instructor Facilitation scale and Preceptor /
Nursing Staff Facilitation scale. These two scales would reflect both the relationship and the
personal development dimensions of Moos’s dimensions of educational environments (Moos,
1979). The inventory would contain the same items and the same number of scales, but scale
scores may be more immediately useful to faculty and administrators of schools after
reorganization. Future investigations should determine the benefit of reorganization, based on
both student data and conversations with nursing faculty and administrators about which scale
divisions would result in the most useful information.
Related Research Issues
The current investigation has pointed to the potential difference in academic levels of
students in terms of their perceptions of the clinical education environment. It may be of benefit
to further investigate whether there is indeed a difference in how students perceive their learning
environments based on academic level. Perhaps students expect different learning experiences
or different degrees of learning support than are being provided. Further investigation of this
issue may result in identification of issues that must be addressed in order to maximize student
learning in the clinical setting.
Another area for study related to the current investigation involves the relationship of
student perceptions of the clinical education environment to student learning outcomes. Student
perceptions of the learning environment have been shown to be related to student learning
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