A paper regarding the evaluation of collaborative learning spaces in the Learning Commons at Kanazawa University has been published in the Japan Society for Educational Technology’s Journal, Vol. 35, Short Letter Special Issue. We would like to thank the reviewers for their guidance.

Masanori Yamada, Yohei Hashi, Fumie Kagawa, & Kosuke Okabe (2011). A study on the relationship between collaborative learning spaces in libraries and the affective aspects of learning, Japan Journal of Educational Technology, 35(suppl.), 53-56

In recent years, the construction of Learning Commons within university libraries has been increasing. Many university libraries now include collaborative learning spaces. This paper summarizes the results of a questionnaire survey conducted on the subjective effectiveness of these collaborative learning spaces for users’ learning. Specifically, we used correlation analysis to examine the relationship between the subjective effectiveness of the learning experience and the subjective effectiveness of the equipment provided in the library’s collaborative learning spaces, such as mobile whiteboards and versatile desk configurations. While the methodology is somewhat rough, I believe we must continue such evaluations for internal accountability, and we plan to conduct more advanced evaluations, including user-based assessments.

I have uploaded the paper to the server, so please feel free to use it as a reference if you are interested (the evaluation method is a bit rough). If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

The paper is available here (I intentionally did not include “Learning Commons” in the paper title).