Laboratory Learning Objectives Measurement: Relationships Between Student Evaluation Scores and Perceived Learning

Contribution: This article provides evidence that perceived learning has a relationship and influences the way students evaluate laboratory experiments, facilities, and demonstrators. Background: Debate continues on the capability and/or reliability of students to evaluate teaching and/or learning. Understanding such relationships can help educators decode evaluation data to develop more effective teaching experiences. Research Question: Does a relationship exist between student evaluation scores and perceived learning? Methodology: Perceived learning across the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains was measured using the Laboratory Learning Objectives Measurement (LLOM) tool at an Australian (344 students) and Serbian (181 students) university. A multilevel statistical analysis was conducted. Findings: Statistically significant relationships were found between student evaluation scores and perceived learning across the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains with some differences found between the two universities. This provides evidence that perceived learning plays a role in influencing student evaluation scores. Students perceived an improvement of learning across all three domains confirming the multifaceted benefits of the laboratory for engineering education.