1March 2011

Students’ Learning at the

IC: Study Findings

Gabi Wong, Information Commons Coordinator

HKUST Library

March 2011 2

March 2011 3

IC Space, Facilities and Service support students’ learning

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Outline1. HKUST Library IC : Facts and

Figures2. The Learning Activities Study3. A few puzzle pieces

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IC at 201073 PCs, 1 Mac;

Multitude of Software

Group Spaces and Rooms

Printers, Scanners, Projectors,

Smart Board

Help Desk service and Workshops

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Workstations Traffic

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The Study

Proposal and

Planning

Spring

2010

Collected data

Fall 2010

Analyzing data

Spring

2011

Aims to find out how students interact with the IC for learning

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Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Focus Group

Workstations

Login/Logout

Questionnaires

Space Survey

Software Use (100

anonymous users)

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Some Findings

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1. How long do students use the IC

workstations?

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Longer sessions as the semester progressed

Sept Oct Nov Dec

0.73

0.991.00

1.20

0.87

1.021.08 1.17

UG

PG (Hours)

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2. How do they use the space

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Group Sizes and Space2.34 2.84

2.43 3.75Ave

rage G

roup S

izes

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3. What do they do at the IC Workstations?

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Major Activities: Web, MS and AcrobatWeb

Browsers;

85.39%

Instant Messen-

ger; 0.57%

Remote Connec-

tion; 0.18%

Microsoft and

Acrobat; 12.79%

Programming; 0.18%Graphics; 0.07%Media Players; 0.29%Printing; 0.34%Others; 0.19%

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Web: Social and Study

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4. How do students multi-task?

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Multitasking Session A

Lib

rary

Roo

m

Boo

king

Google

search

Google Dictiona

ryWord

Powerpoin

t

Em

ail E

xce

lEmai

l

Word

Powerpoin

t 5 mins

30 mins

5 mins

2 mins30 s

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Multitasking Session B

Reuters

ExcelEmail

Acrobat

Email

Course site

Google

Social Netwo

rk

Excel

Google

Online music

ExcelEmail

Wikipedia

Course sites

Google

search

Google docs

Email

Wikipedia

YouTube

55 mins

65 mins

27 mins

7 mins

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5. Is learning limited to course work?

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Purposes visiting IC

18%

21% 1%

55%

4%

1%

Course Work

Student Clubs

Personal Development

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Session time

Group

sizes a

nd

Space

Web

Activ

ities

UG: 3/4 of logins

Multi-tasking

Course work + personal development

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IC Space, Facilities and Service support students’ learning