THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT IN MARKETING EDUCATION: A SCALE

This paper deals with the educational context, specifically with classroom learning. The authors’ goal was to develop a multifactor scale to measure classroom environment. Such scale can measure several factors that affect the teaching-learning process and that instructors should take into consideration when planning, performing, and assessing their work. The scale consists of four factors appraising the instructor-created, learning and performance climates, as well as classroom equipment (an external factor usually imposed on the instructor that may influence the classroom environment). Reliability was tested by Cronbach’s alpha, construct validity was verified through factor analysis with principal component extraction and varimax rotation, and concurrent validity was assessed with Kendall's coefficient of concordance. The scale was used in five different universities (three public and two private) in three countries (Spain, France, and the United States) with undergraduate and graduate students. The main conclusion to be drawn from this research is that the multifactor scale that is designed to measure the classroom environment is an instrument with the appropriate validity and reliability to be used in research about the teaching-learning process in the new educational paradigm. Thus, instructors will benefit from a measuring instrument of their educational context that can serve as a compass in the new path towards the European Higher Education Area.