JENNA JOSLIN, KAILEE KRENZER, MICHAEL YERRY, TAYLOR LODEN, REBECCA ROSE, & MELBA HORTON GENDER PREFERENCE ON THE USE OF THE UNG CUMMING CAMPUS LEARNING COMMON

ABSTRACT At the University of North Georgia, Cumming Campus, the Learning Common is a versatile place that serves as e-library where students, regardless of gender, conduct academic-related activities such as researching, conducting meetings, internet surfing, reading, as well as other things that serve them best. Previous studies have conflicting results as to the difference in male and female preferences. This study aims to know whether male and female students at UNG, Cumming Campus differ in their purpose for the use of the Learning Common. It is hypothesized that the same number of male and female UNG students use the Learning Common of the Cumming Campus for academic purposes. To conduct the investigation, survey forms were printed out and placed in the middle section of the Learning Common for two weeks to give easy access for both male and female students to fill-out. The questions in the survey were geared toward students’ use of the Learning Common that can be answered in Yes or No while indicating their gender. Results showed that there is no significant difference between male and female students' preference in using the Learning Common for academic purposes and therefore the hypothesis is supported. Undoubtedly, this implies that that the Learning Common is serving the needs of both male and female students for either aca demic- or non-academic- related purposes.

INTRODUCTION At the University of North Georgia, Cumming Campus, the Learning Common is a versatile place that serves as e- library where students, regardless of gender, conduct academic-related activities such as researching, conducting meetings, internet surfing, reading, as well as other things that serve them best. Previous studies have conflicting results as to the difference in male and female preferences (Gray, 1992; Green, 1995; Carothers and Reis, 2013). This study aims to know whether male and female students at UNG, Cumming Campus differ in their purpose for the use of the Learning Common. It is hypothesized that the same number of male and female UNG students use the Learning Common of the Cumming Campus for academic purposes.

METHODOLOGY To conduct the investigation, survey forms were printed out and placed in the middle section of the Learning Common for two weeks to give easy access for both male and female students to fill-out. The questions in the survey were geared toward students’ use of the Learning Common that can be answered in Yes or No while indicating their gender.

RESULTS As shown in Fig. 1. more female students use the Learning Common to eat (70%), read (80%), and conduct meetings (30%) while more male students use it for surfing the internet (60%). However, both genders have equal percentage of using the Learning Common to wait for their classes (86%). Although some of the numbers are different, it is not statistically significant (p>0.05). Fig. 1. Percentage number of male and female students using the Learning Common of the UNG Cumming Campus for various activities (n=16; ± standard error).

RESULTS Fig. 2. Percentage of male and female students who answered Yes or No whether they are gravitated to the Learning Common because of the activities that they are doing (n=16; ± standard error). Almost the same percentage of both male (100%) and female students (94%) (p>0.05) felt like they are gravitated to the Learning Common because of the activities that they are doing (Fig. 2).

RESULTS Fig. 2. Percentage of male and female students who answered Yes or No whether the Learning Common should just be used for reading and research and that all other form of socialization should be done outside the Learning Common (n=16; ± standard error). Figure 3 shows that generally, higher percentages of male (86%) and female (63%) students thought that the Learning Common should be used not only for reading and research but also for socialization and other activities compared to those male (14%) and female (27%) student who thought otherwise. Difference of the calculated values is not statistically significant (p>0.05).

DISCUSSIONS This supports the hypothesis indicating that there is no significant difference in male and female usage of the UNG Cumming Campus learning commons for academic purposes. The activity that both genders shared for using the Learning Common is basically socializing while waiting for their classes. Although the difference in the values obtained when comparing the preferred activities for male and female students is not statistically significant, it is still worth knowing that a difference is observed in gender preference for the use of the Learning Common in terms of the specific academic-related activity but both male and female agree to socialize in the same area of the Cumming campus. Undoubtedly, this implies that that the Learning Common is serving the needs of both male and female students for either academic- or non- academic- related purposes.

CITATIONS Bobbi J. Carothers, Harry T. Reis. Men and women are from Earth: Examining the latent structure of gender.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2013; 104 (2): 385 Gray, J. (1992). Men are from Mars, women are from Venus: A practical guide for improving communication and getting what you want in your relationships. New York: Harper Collins. Green, K. S. (1995). Blue versus periwinkle: Color identification and gender. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 80 (1), Library [Def. 1]. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved January 2, 2013, from