Journal of Education Technology in Health Sciences 2021;8(3):111–116 Content available at: https://www.ipinnovative.com/open-access-journals Journal of Education Technology in Health Sciences Journal homepage: http://www.jeths.net/ Original Research Article Perception of 1 st MBBS students about educational environment through ‘DREEM’ questionnaire Atul R Rukadikar 1, *, Charushila Rukadikar 2 , Nitesh Jaiswal 3 1 Dept. of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 2 Dept. of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 3 Dept. of Microbiology, Zydus Medical College and Hospital, Dahod, Gujarat, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 14-06-2021 Accepted 21-12-2021 Available online 13-01-2022 Keywords: DREEM questionnaire Educational environment Students perception ABSTRACT Background: In an undergraduate (UG) medical education program, the educational environment is a critical factor of effective outcomes. Because it is a proven approach for this assessment in medical schools, the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) was employed in this study. Aim and Objectives: 1. To assess the student’s perception of the educational environment using the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire among 1st-year undergraduate medical students. 2. To identify the strengths and weaknesses in student’s educational environment. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among first-year medical students. To obtain student perceptions of the educational environment, a widely accepted DREEM questionnaire was employed. The DREEM questionnaire is divided into five sections, each of which has 50 statements that are rated on a five-point Likert scale (0–4). The questionnaire was distributed to consented individuals (n=150) after receiving ethical approval. The filled questions were collected and statistically evaluated. The data were presented as mean and standard deviation, frequency, and percentages. The responses were analyzed and interpreted using McAleer and Roff’s practical recommendations. Results: There was a 100% response rate. The average DREEM score was 124.9 ± 50 (62.46%). Among the five DREEM dimensions, students’ perceptions of learning received the highest score (65.63%), while students’ perceptions of the environment received the lowest (59.31 %).Statements “I have good friends in this college”, “My social life is good” and “I am confident about passing this year” scored ≥ 3 of 4 points. Conclusion: “A more positive than negative perception,” according to the total mean DREEM score. Student confidence, social life, instructor knowledge, encouragement to participate in a teaching session, teacher preparedness, and having excellent friends on campus received the most positive answers. However, there is space for development in areas where there is a lack of expertise, such as student ennui and creative teaching. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprint@ipinnovative.com 1. Introduction The "educational environment," which encompasses everything that takes place in the classroom, department, faculty, or university, is crucial to the success of undergraduate medical education. 1,2 The educational * Corresponding author. E-mail address: atulruks@gmail.com (A. R. Rukadikar). environment has an impact on medical students’ motivation, satisfaction, and ability to study well. The learning experience at a medical institute has the potential to impact students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices for the rest of their lives. The focus of medical education is changing from the teacher to the student, with the teacher’s role being to facilitate learning by providing content and a pleasant https://doi.org/10.18231/j.jeths.2021.022 2454-4396/© 2021 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 111