Climate studies: can students' perceptions of the ideal educational environment be of use for institutional planning and resource utilization?

As educational climate strongly affects student achievement, satisfaction and success, it is important to get regular feedback from students on how they experience the educational environment. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) Inventory was administered on the same day to all first-, second- and third-year students at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) and the students were requested to complete the questionnaire as they were actually experiencing the educational environment at CMCC, and then to say what they would have wanted, or preferred it to be like. Valid returns were received from 146 (95%) first-, 123 (82%) second- and 73 (48%) third-year students (n = 342). The results indicated that the DREEM Inventory used in the Ideal mode, together with the responses in the Actual mode, could be used effectively to determine the dissonance between what they had and what they would have liked to have. It was found that there was a strong similarity in the areas of the educational environment that the different groups of students indicated as falling short of their ideal. The results of this study provided a useful basis for strategic planning and resource utilization.