An exploration of learning environments used by students in a first year university course

Designs, develops and implements an online survey to identify physical learning environments and resources students use when studying an online course.. This research involved the design, development and implementation of an online survey instrument to identify the physical learning environments and resources students use when studying an online course. It was found, through a review of the literature, that there was no appropriate instrument available for this purpose. It was also found that the term physical learning environment actually is not well defined in the literature. These two factors have been addressed in this research. The results obtained from the survey found that students used a mixture of physical learning resources such as textbooks, and online resources such as email and online submission of assessment items. However, none of these resources were used all the time. It was also established that the majority of students preferred to learn at home using either online or paper-based resource material. The results also showed that the library both as a resource and as a learning environment was not being used to its full potential.