Creating Community in the Virtual Study Hall: Lessons from Spring 2021

Abstract

The undergraduate learning commons (Terrapin Learning Commons – TLC) at the University of Maryland, College Park serves as a key study space and site for student engagement in the Libraries. In an effort to reach out to students and meet their needs when university activities were restricted to a virtual environment, the TLC began offering virtual study sessions through Zoom. While feedback on these events was positive, the attendance was relatively low. As a result, the TLC partnered with Casey Hughes, a Research & Teaching Fellow and MLIS graduate student, in Spring 2021 to revamp the virtual study session program and shift the focus to student organizations. This poster presents a model for how to assess and learn from less-than-successful projects, while describing the program, detailing key changes made in the Spring 2021 semester, discussing challenges faced, and offer important takeaways moving forward for future virtual programming possibilities.