Educational environment measurement, how is it affected by educational strategy in a Saudi medical school? A multivariate analysis

ObjectivesThis study was an attempt to measure and compare the educational environment of two parallel curricular streams in the University of Dammam. It examined the effect of the type of curriculum, year of study and gender on students’ perception of their educational environment.MethodsThe Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) tool was selected for this purpose. It was administered to 573 (Male 241, female 332) students by the researcher and collected at the same setting. The statistical analysis included (i) Descriptive statistics (ii) Effects of single variables (iii) Multivariate and regression analysis. The researcher used Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal–Wallis test for determining the effects of single variables with respect to two groups and three groups respectively. In order to determine the combined effect of the gender, year of study and method of teaching the researcher used Spearman rank correlation and Multiple linear regression.ResultsDREEM score was 106/200. The curriculum had the greatest impact on students’ perception of their educational environment as compared to year of study and gender. PBL stream had higher student satisfaction. Female students were more satisfied in the PBL stream and were less satisfied in the traditional one. Lack of counseling services was prominent in all.ConclusionsThe overall educational environment is on the positive side with room for improvement. PBL students, females and junior students were more satisfied about the educational environment than their counterparts.