INFLUENCES OF INFORMAL COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE LEARNING OUTCOMES OF STUDENTS

Collaborative learning has recently become widely accepted as an effective and beneficial learning strategy. In response to this, architects and designers have shifted the way they design learning environments in such ways that not only provide opportunity for collaboration, but also encourage it. The purpose of this research is to investigate these new informal collaborative spaces that are rapidly growing in popularity in institutes of higher education. The research team investigated influence the informal collaborative learning environment has on its occupants. The team analyzed these influences and came to a conclusion on how exactly the studied environments are impacting student learning outcomes. The research team used qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how the informal learning environments promote collaboration and assist students in successfully learning the subject matter being introduced in their formal classroom. These research methods included review of published literature, precedents, and observed informal learning environments where collaborative project work is conducted. Based on their research findings, these researchers developed surveys instrument and distributed it to higher-education students within the age range of 18-28. The team also interviewed various students working collaboratively in the informal learning environments. Observations were conducted in multiple locations to see if the team's findings from the interviews and surveys correlate with what could be observed. In this paper, these research team share their findings of this research project.