Validation of a new scale Evaluating the Personal, Interpersonal and Contextual dimensions of growth through learning – the EPIC scale. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Obsuth, Ingrid; Brown, Ruth Harriet; Armstrong, Ruth
• Is Part Of: Studies in educational evaluation. Volume 74(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: Learning Together -- Transformative learning -- Measure Development -- Psychometric properties; LT Learning Together -- EPIC scale The Evaluating of Personal, Interpersonal and Contextual dimensions scale; Curriculum evaluation -- Periodicals; Educational tests and measurements -- Periodicals; Programmes d'études -- Evaluation -- Périodiques; Tests et mesures en éducation -- Périodiques; 375.006
• DOI: 10.1016/j.stueduc.2022.101154
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-491X

Abstract

Abstract: Learning Together (LT) is a co-educational programme that brings prison- and university-based students together to study in ways that encourage growth via transformative learning. Interviews with participating students identified six core factors that they believed LT fosters: self-efficacy, interpersonal-efficacy, self-esteem, perspective-taking, future orientation, and social cohesion. The current study aimed to validate a new scale Evaluating the Personal, Interpersonal, and Contextual dimensions of growth through LT (the EPIC scale) to assesses all of them concurrently. University students (N = 852) completed the EPIC scale, the questionnaires from which it was adapted, and additional measures to ascertain construct, convergent and discriminant validity. Analyses identified seven-factors, where self-efficacy parsed into 'Perseverance' and 'Drive'. Each of the factors showed relations with the original and related measures. The EPIC scale is a psychometrically sound assessment tool that may be reliably used to track the personal development of students across their participation in learning programmes, including LT. Highlights: The EPIC scale is a valid and reliable assessment tool. The EPIC scale consists of seven factors. Each factor of the EPIC scale reliably tracks a different aspect of students growth. The EPIC scale was developed through theoretical and empirical inquiry.