SCUP
Learning Resources
Report

Using Alumni Surveys to Assess the Impacts of Active Learning Spaces on Development of Collaboration Skills

Journal Cover
Published December 19, 2019
By Jeffrey Ashley, PhD, Thomas Jefferson University
Planning Types: Campus Planning

Institutions referenced in this resource:
Thomas Jefferson University

This is a SCUP Fellow Research Project Final Report. The SCUP Fellows program is designed to strengthen higher education leaders who seek to carry out new research that contributes to SCUP’s knowledge base of integrated planning. Learn more.

There is a growing interest in examining the relationship between active learning spaces and development of soft skills. The overall goal of this research was to evaluate the gains, if any, in the collaboration skill development of students who experienced part of their undergraduate or graduate learning within active learning spaces at Thomas Jefferson University, and to attempt to pinpoint the factors contributing to that.

To meet the goal, the researcher designed a study to assess perceived impact of use of active learning spaces, targeting alumni. Although many such studies rely on reflections from current students during or shortly after their use of learning spaces, the unique contribution of this research is that it gathered impact perceptions of learning spaces from persons after they experienced collaborative work activities in their career settings beyond academia.

Author:

Jeffrey Ashley, PhD


Director of the Center for Teaching Innovation and Nexus Learning
Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University)
2018–2019 SCUP Fellow

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