Using a Student-Generated Survey to Inform Planning For a User-focused Learning Commons

A master’s comprehensive University is planning a learning commons to support undergraduate learning. The planning process included a literature review, site visits to commons, consultations with experts in the field, discussions with campus specialists, and surveys of patrons. The literature reports two primary forms of data gathering for learning commons: interview/observation and purposive surveys. This report describes the findings of a survey conducted to determine students’ perceptions of services relevant in learning commons. The findings indicated that the students wanted help with their information processing needs.