UCARE: Undergraduate Creative Activities & Research Experiences
UCARE Research Products
Date of this Version
Spring 4-15-2019
Document Type
Poster
Citation
Poster presentation, UCARE Research Fair, Spring 2020, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
The goal of this exploratory study was to apply post-occupancy evaluation techniques to understand how informal learning spaces at UNL are utilized by students. Results will be used to improve future space design across college campuses to better accommodate student learning. Data for this mixed-methods study was collected during the Fall 2018 semester. Preliminary findings have shown different usage patterns between genders. The Stacks - which are confined, quiet study spaces interspersed throughout the collections - were often used by males, while the Mezzanine－a larger, open space－was primarily occupied by females. Other findings have shown a distinction between how students use the spaces and how the library designated them. Many spaces that were originally intended for collaboration, such as the aforementioned Mezzanine, are actually used for quiet study. The final study was presented at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research at Kennesaw State University in April 2019. These research findings are to be compiled in a comprehensive study of other informal spaces on campus done in previous and concurrent research studies.
Comments
Copyright 2020 by the authors.