Higher education learning and teaching methods have changed while most educational buildings are still rather traditional. Yet, there is an increasing interest in whether we can educate today's higher education students in yesterday's buildings. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by studying the learning space choices of higher education students in relation to their learning activities, personal characteristics and other considerations that may play a role in choosing particular learning spaces. A diary research method was adopted, in which 52 business management students of a Dutch University of Applied Sciences participated. They reported which learning activities they worked on during a week, where and why there. The diary format builds on the literature from various disciplines and was used in combination with a questionnaire and interviews. The findings show significant correlations between the students’ learning space choices and their learning activities, their personal characteristics and their individual preferences. Because of the shift from a teacher-led approach to a student-led approach, higher education institutions need to provide more informal learning spaces in open areas and quiet learning spaces for individuals and small groups.@en

This paper aims to address higher education students' learning space preferences. The study is based on a survey that involved 697 business management students of a Dutch University of Applied Sciences. The research focuses on preferred learning spaces for individual study activities, which require concentration, and preferred learning spaces for collaborative study activities with peers, which require communication. The results show that students consider their physical learning environment to be relevant and assume that learning spaces contribute to the outcome of their study activities. In contrast to the literature, the findings reveal that learning space preferences of students cannot substantially be attributed to behavioral aspects, such as their individual preference for privacy, interaction, and autonomy, nor to aspects of the physical environment related to the perceived relevance of comfort, aesthetics, ICT facilities, and layout. Student characteristics, such as gender, age, study year, or living situation, have a significant, but limited influence on the learning space preferences of students. Students mainly prefer learning spaces related to their learning activities. Students prefer learning space at home for individual activities. For collaborative study activities with peers, they prefer learning space at the university. Public spaces are not popular for study activities. Overall, students particularly prefer quiet learning spaces with the possibility to retreat as an individual or as a small group. Apparently, learning space preferences are more related to perceived effectiveness rather than to experience value.

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