Students’ Psychosocial Perception of Automobile Technology Learning Environment and Attitudinal Outcomes in North-eastern Nigeria Tertiary Institutions

AbstractStudents’ perception of their learning environment is a crucial factor in improving quality of learning. Several researches revealed that students’ perception of the learning environment has a significant impact on the students’ academic performance and attitude. This study investigated relationships between students’ perception of automobile technology learning environments and their attitude towards automobile technology in north-eastern tertiary institutions of Nigeria. The research design of the study was a correlational survey design and the sample comprised 474 students offering automobile technology as a course in the institutions. The data were collected using ATLEI and ATAQ and these were analyzed using descriptive statistics, simple correlation, and multiple correlation analysis. The findings revealed that the automobile technology learning environments remain traditional and students anxiety-dominated the learning environment in the north-eastern tertiary institutions of Nigeria. It was recommended that lecturers in the institutions of learning should be sensitized on the importance of students’ perception of learning environment and enhanced student-student and student-lecturer relationships in their institutions

Development and validation of automobile technology learning environment inventory in tertiary institutions of Nigeria

Researches confirmed that a strong correlation exists between students’ perceptions of psychosocial learning environment and their outcomes. Most of these researches were carried out in science education and just very few were conducted in the area of automobile technology, especially in tertiary institutions. This paper investigates students’ perceptions of automobile technology learning environment in tertiary institutions of Nigeria. The objectives of the paper include: (a) discussing the process of developing Automobile Technology Learning Environment Inventory (ATLEI) in order to, (b) determine students’ perceptions of their actual and preferred automobile technology learning environments, and (c) to determine whether differences exist between students’ perceptions of actual and preferred automobile technology learning environments. Factor analysis of the instrument provided strong evidence that the instrument is valid and reliable to measure students’ perceptions of automobile technology learning environments in tertiary institutions of Nigeria. The findings revealed that the automobile technology students preferred a more favourable and positive learning environment. Significantly, the findings of the study may provide insight on the students’ perceptions of learning environments and the feedback could be used in improving the quality of teaching and learning automobile technology in Nigeria