Factors In uencing Social-Learning Experience in Nearby Pocket Parks On Campus Ground


 Nearby pockets on campus grounds have become necessary learning sustainable settings to improve the academic experience by promoting outdoor social and learning activities. However, many universities still focus mainly on formal indoor learning and lack outdoor education that meets modern academic outcomes. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify the factors affecting students' social-learning experience in nearby pocket parks on campus ground, focusing on the tropical regions. The current study employed a questionnaire survey conducted in three Malaysian universities to collect data from 408 participants. The results showed various types of influencing factors that affect the social-learning experience in nearby pockets on campus ground, including landscape elements and activities, environmental factors, and access to these spaces. The results also indicated that students' demographics, including gender, education status, and university, influenced the outdoor social-learning experience. The current study contributed information to the development of on-campus sustainable settings for integrating nearby pockets in social interaction and learning activities in order to improve the academic social-learning experience.


Introduction
Public spaces and parks are decisive components for human experience and daily life; they satisfy people's need for social interactions and everyday activities 1,2 . Recently, public open spaces and parks have become necessities that should be nearby and easy accessibility due to their role in people's quality of life 2,3,4 . They promote different activities amongst different socio-demographic groups of people, contributing to a wide range of health, environmental, aesthetic, socio-cultural, educational, and physical bene ts 2,5 . However, rapid global urbanisation and population growth affect negatively in providing large green spaces. The shrinkage of the natural environment and green spaces, which in turn, in uence the environment, climate, human health, social and cultural aspects 4,6,7 .
Pocket parks which appeared as low-cost, small scale nearby open spaces (less than 5000 square meter) that effectively promote various activities and bene ts for different users 8, 9,10 . Nearby pocket parks provide a worthwhile investment in fostering social interaction for urban communities. These small nearby parks are also considered safer and more secure than larger parks 9 . They contribute to sustainable urban development by enhancing natural components and natural energy 3,11 . Accordingly, Shahhoseini et al. 12 and Tabassum 9 mentioned that the current global urban authorities are xating their attention to create and maintain smaller parks rather than large parks. Recently, nearby pocket parks have also been included in enhancing speci c communities such as students and adolescent learners 13,14,15 . Nevertheless, these pockets must be designed with suitable characteristics and factors to obtain the desired bene ts 16,17 . Whereby factors affecting the nearby pocket parks users play a critical role in the success of these parks 18, 19 .
However, the existing evidence shows disagreement on the type of factors affecting pocket parks' users. Nordh and Ostby con rmed that natural components (plants and water), hard elements (benches), and activities are the most frequent factors affecting the nearby pocket parks' usage 20 . Hussein et al. discussed the sense elements, referring to the elements that stimulate the human ve senses, as types of the natural landscape and gardens elements 21 . Environmental factors such as temperature, rain, and shade were also mentioned as parameters of successful urban pocket parks 10,11,22 . Abd El-Aziz highlighted that nearby pocket parks also provide opportunities for cooperation amongst different parties in pockets' design, construction, and maintenance 23 . Furthermore, refreshment facilities (food and drink) and power outlets (connectivity) on-campus ground are critical for promoting students' participation 24,25 .
On the other hand, nearby open spaces and pocket park settings on campus ground play an essential role as social-learning settings in enhancing multilateral learners' social coherence and learning activities 26, 27,28 . Traditional learning in classrooms alone does not ful l modern social needs and the learning process 25,28 . Therefore, nearby pockets on-campus ground has provided a sociable learning space that positively correlates with the increased student social engagement and participation in formal and informal activities 28, 29,30 . Most of the universities worldwide are utilising nearby pockets for social activity, formal and informal learning. However, Malaysian universities focus mainly on formal indoor learning and lack absorption of informal and formal outdoor learning, which disservice the academic aspirations of modern teaching institutions 24,31 . Nearby outdoor learning spaces in the Malaysian campus ground remain neglected or unexplored 24,32,33 . Moreover, the research on nearby spaces on campus ground and their design parameters is still limited 31,34 . Therefore, there is a gap in understanding the factors affecting users' social-learning experience in nearby open spaces (pocket parks) on universities campus ground. The current study aimed to ll the knowledge gap by identifying the factors affecting students' sociallearning experience in nearby pocket parks on campus ground, especially in Malaysian and tropical countries.

Material And Methods
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Study site
The current study utilised a quantitative survey to investigate students' attitudes to the key factors affecting their social learning on Malaysian campus pocket parks. Malaysia has 20 public universities and 38 private universities that have about 700,000 students' enrolment in different programs 35 . Creswell recommended selecting the study site based on site selection criteria to obtain accurate data and reduce external validity threats 36 . Therefore, the study area was selected based on selection criteria using a strati ed judgmental sample. These selection criteria included research universities in Kuala Lumpur (in Klang Valley), Malaysia and a sample from architecture and built environment schools (refer Figure 1). There are three research universities in Klang Valley, Malaysia, including Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The sample was selected from the nearby pocket spaces of the mentioned schools.
University of Malaya (UM) is a public research university located in southwest of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (refer Figure 2). The UM set on 900 acres (365 hectares) of natural parkland, hills, and valleys. The UM comprises 12 faculties, two academies, three centres, the main library, banking services, food courts, health services, and sports facilities which are distributed randomly. The Faculty of Built Environment at UM is located southwest of the campus, close to the lake. It is a one-block high building with many oors adjacent to a small pocket park with the size of about 160 square meter 37 .
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) is a public research university in Malaysia; its main campus is in Serdang, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, and next to the central capital city Putrajaya. The main campus of UPM covers over 1,000 hectares of land comprising 16 faculties, 16 centres, nine institutes, two schools, and one academy. UPM offers various facilities, including libraries, bookshops, banking services, food courts, and recreational and sporting facilities which are distributed randomly (refer Figure 2). The Faculty of Design and Architecture at UPM is located southeast of the main gate close to the Faculty of Engineering, three km away from the main library 38 . It is a courtyard building with three oors next to a small pocket park with the size less than 36 square meter. The courtyard pocket park is the central gathering area of the school with the size of about 100 square meter.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), also known as The National University of Malaysia, is a public research university in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, 30 km south of Kuala Lumpur (refer Figure 2). The main campus covers a green valley over 1,096 hectares of land, consists of 13 faculties, 16 research institutes, ten residential colleges, ten service centres, and two entities. The Department of Built

Study sample
The students of the Malaysian universities were the study population. The current study selected a strati ed judgmental sample from architecture and built environment schools of three research universities in Klang Valley, Malaysia (refer Figure 1). According to Taherdoost, the targeted sample should be relevant to the subject of study 40 . Sheriff and Abdullah also con rmed that the students of the research universities in Malaysia have quality knowledge on developing research work and surveys 41 . The three universities have more than 73,000 students enrolled in different programs. The sample size of the study was selected using the Simpli ed Formula of

Verbal questionnaire and procedure
The verbal questionnaire consisted of three parts, including; a) participants' demographic characteristics (participant variable); b) participants' social-learning experience on-campus ground (dependent variable); c) factors affecting participants in nearby pocket parks on-campus ground (independent variable). The content of the questionnaire was developed after an intensive literature review on the original studies published in indexed journals 2,14,15,19,24,34,43,44 . The demographic characteristics included age (continuous), gender (1= male and 2= female); ethnicity (1= Malay, 2= Chinese, 3= Indian, and 4= others); education level (Bachelor, Master, PhD, and others).
The outdoor social-learning experience included seven closed-ended questions, four regarding participants' outdoor social interaction and three regarding learning experience in the nearby pocket parks. The social interaction statements measured participants' social activity on campus, including socialisation (chatting and communication), social recreation, social refreshment (group eating and drinking), and other social activities. The learning experience statements measured the participants' informal group study, individual study, and formal learning activity. The scale of this part was a three-point ratio scale, including 1= never use them, 2= < 30 minutes daily, and 3= ≥ 1 hour daily. The average daily time of physical activities in outdoor space should be between 30 and 60 minutes per day to obtain various health and social bene ts 14,15 .
The factors affecting participants in nearby pocket parks included design and image, elements (softscape, hardscape, and sensing elements) and activities, environmental factors (temperature, rain and humidity, wind, sunlight, and shade), access (accessibility and proximity), pocket management (management and maintenance and safety, and security), facilities (connectivity, refreshment, and resources), participation, sociability, and noise level. A 5-point Likert scale was used to assess the factors affecting the participants' use of nearby pocket parks on-campus groups ranged from (1= no effect) to (5= major effect) 36, 44,45 . The connectivity factor referred to the internet access services and power outlets for laptops 25 . The participation factor referred to users, responsible authorities, and private sectors in the pocket park's design, maintenance, and creation 23 . Meanwhile, the resources factor referred to the availability or access to the material such as books, workplace, and board 25 . The questionnaire survey was self-administered during weekdays between April and July 2019 in the morning (10.00 am to 11.00 am) and afternoon (12.00 pm to 3.00 pm). 408 questionnaire forms were included in the current study; 12 were uncompleted and disincluded in the analysis. On average, the participants answered 15 questionnaires in one day, and each participant took about 10 minutes to complete.

Validity and reliability of the questionnaire
The questionnaire content was reviewed by a committee of six experts for content validity (readability, clarity, and comprehensiveness) and approving the study protocol. The experts were three associate professors and three PhD lecturers from department of architecture, landscaping, and urban design from the Faculty of Design and Architecture at UPM. The content validity was checked using the Content Validity Index for Items (I-CVI) on the individual items of the questionnaire. The Content Validity Index (CVI) results were higher than 0.80 for the three parts of the questionnaires. These results indicated that the six experts agreed that the questionnaire items were relevant and valid for the survey 46 . A pilot test was then conducted on 24 participants to check the time, the clarity, the language, and the reliability of the questionnaire prior to the data collection stage. The pilot study showed that the respondents took about 10 minutes to answer the questionnaire, and none of the participants commented on the clarity or language issues of the survey. Internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha was conducted on the questionnaire for reliability. The Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency reliability value was 0.82 (> 0.70) for the questionnaire tool. Therefore, the pilot test and the internal consistency reliability showed that the questionnaire was indeed precise and reliable. All the participants have given informed consent before completing the survey or any related procedures.

Data analysis process
The current study employed frequency and descriptive statistics to analyse the participants' demographic characteristics (participant variables) and social and learning activities on-campus ground (dependent variables). Descriptive statistics were also utilised to analyse the factors affecting users' activity in nearby pocket parks on-campus ground (independent variables). Besides, bivariate analysis of Pearson's correlation was utilised to investigate the bivariate correlation between the study's variables. In addition, multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the multivariate relationships between the overall social-learning experience (dependent variable), the demographic characteristics (participant variable), and the in uencing factors in nearby pocket parks (independent variable). The p-value of < 0.05 was taken as signi cant. Data of the study were analysed using a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 23, an ideal comprehensive analytical computer tool to analyse social studies data.

Participants' demographic characteristic
Overall, 408 students took part in the survey.  Table  1). In addition, most of the participants were from UKM (n= 158, 38.1%), followed by 36.1% (n= 150) from UPM, and 24.1% (n= 100) from UM. The participants' demographic characteristics are presented in Table 1.

Social learning activities and pocket parks' in uencing factors
The frequency and descriptive analysis of the students' social interaction in the nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground showed that most of the participants never used the on-campus pocket parks for socialisation (59.8%, n= 244), social recreation (58.3%, n= 238), and other social activities (52.9%, n= 216). About 79% (n= 322) of the participants' used the nearby pocket parks with less than 30 minutes per day for social refreshments (eating or drinking activity with others) (refer Table 1 and Table 2). However, less than 10% of the participants used the on-campus pocket parks one hour or more per day for socialisation (3.2%, n= 13), social recreation (8.3%, n= 34), or other social activities (9.6%, n= 39). Furthermore, most participants never used the on-campus pocket parks for informal group study (66.9%, n= 273) and formal learning (60.5%, n= 247). Meanwhile, less than 8% of them practised informal group study (2.9%, n= 12) and formal learning (7.6%, n= 31) in the nearby pocket parks for one hour or more, daily. In addition, about half of the participants (48%, n= 196) never used the on-campus pocket parks for individual informal study, and only 12.7% of them used these spaces for one hour or more daily. These results indicated that most participants either do not use the nearby pocket parks in the Malaysian universities or use them for less than 30 minutes per day for various social and learning activities.
The descriptive statistics of the factors affecting students in the nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground showed that the highest mean score was registered for the shade factor (4.14 ± 0.815). Followed by mean scores of rain and humidity ( Pearson's correlation was used to test the bivariate relationship between individual (social and learning) activities and each factor of nearby pocket parks and demographic variables, as shown in Table 2 and Table 3. Pearson's correlation showed a signi cant correlation between various social activities on-campus ground and design and image, element and activity, environmental factors (except wind), access, pocket management, facilities (except refreshment), sociability, participation, and noise level (p < 0.05, refer Table 2). It also showed a signi cant correlation between various learning activities on-campus ground and hardscape elements, activities, environmental factors (except sunlight and wind), proximity, connectivity, sociability, participation, and noise level (p < 0.05, refer Table 3). Most importantly, temperature, rain and humidity, shade, and sociability factors affected all types of social activities. Temperature and shade were also the factors in uencing all learning activities.
Furthermore, there was a signi cant association between social activities on-campus ground and most demographic characteristics of participants, including ethnicity, education status, and university (p< 0.05, refer Table 2). Pearson's correlation also showed a signi cant association between on-campus learning activities and participants' demographic variables (p< 0.05, refer Table 3). These results indicated that different factors could affect the students' social and learning activities in nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground, including site, environmental, and demographic characteristics.      Table 4). Secondly, the combined signi cant values of the factors affecting the students' activity in nearby pocket parks were included in the multiple regression analysis to predict outdoor social-learning experience, as shown in Model 2 ( Table 4) Table 4). These results indicated that students who lacked social-learning experience on Malaysian campus grounds were affected by elements and activities, environmental factors, and access to nearby pocket parks. However, a signi cant positive association between noise level factor and social-learning experience (β = 0.143, P< 0.01) indicated that students who lacked social-learning experience in nearby pocket parks were positively affected by the noise level.
Model 2 also signi cantly correlated students' gender, education status, university and outdoor social-learning experience on-campus grounds (P< 0.01). This result indicated that students from different demographic backgrounds (including gender, education status, and university) have different levels of social-learning experience in nearby open spaces. In summary, elements and activities (including softscape, hardscape, sense elements, and activities), environmental factors (including temperature, rain and humidity, sunlight, and shade), access (including accessibility and proximity), gender, education status, and university were signi cant predictors of sociallearning experience in nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground.

Discussion
The current study aimed to identify the factors in uencing students' social-learning experience in nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground. The results of multiple regression analysis suggested that various types of landscape elements (softscape, hardscape, sense elements) and activities, environmental factors (temperature, rain and humidity, sunlight, and shade), access (accessibility and proximity), and noise level were the most in uential factors in the social-learning experience in nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground (refer Figure 4). This nding contributed to the existing results reported by Ibrahim and Fadzil 25 . They con rmed that outdoor spaces in or close to an educational institution should provide various elements and activities to enhance the students' usage. Besides, the result reported by Kim and Lee con rmed that outdoor learning spaces on-campus ground designed with proper components and elements could contribute to shared places for social learning 47 .
However, the result of the current study showed that most of the students lack various social and learning activities in nearby pocket parks of on-campus ground. This nding was consistent with Malaysia's evidence, highlighting that Malaysian universities focus mainly on formal indoor learning and lack of outdoor and informal learning 24,31 . This may be due to the existing condition of the nearby open spaces in the Malaysian universities, which lacks the proper design attributes, especially the environmental and hardscape elements 25,31,33 . Most of the students who lack daily social and learning activities were affected negatively by the different factors of pocket parks in Malaysian universities, except the noise level factor. The noise factor positively affected the outdoor social-learning experience, this might be due to low noise level in the existing on-campus pocket parks. Yet, the students need to engage in outdoor activities in the nearby pocket parks to reap the social, physical, and health bene ts 14,25 . Therefore, would improve the current condition of nearby pocket parks on Malaysian campus ground in terms of elements and activities, environmental factors, and easy access which contribute to promoting the students' social-learning experience.
The bivariate analysis of the current study showed that individual social and learning activities on-campus ground were in uenced by a wide range of design, social and environmental factors. Design and image, elements and activities, environmental factors, access, pocket parks management, facilities, participation, sociability, and noise level were affecting the students' social interaction on-campus ground.
Students' outdoor learning activities were also in uenced by the hardscape elements and activities, environmental factors, proximity, noise level, connectivity, participation, and sociability (refer Figure 4). Sociability and environmental factors (including temperature, rain and humidity, and shade) showed a critical effect on all types of social interaction. Temperature and shading also signi cantly affected the formal and informal learning activities in nearby open spaces on Malaysian campus ground. These ndings contributed to the existing literature which con rmed that environmental factors such as temperature, rain, and shading play a critical role in using nearby open spaces, especially in hot and tropical climates 11,23 . Similarly, existing studies also mentioned that successful pocket parks should be designed with a variety of softscape, hardscapes, activities, easy access, maintenance, safety, and sociability 19,41,48,49 .
The multivariate analysis ndings showed that students' gender, education status, and university were also predictors of students' sociallearning experience in nearby open spaces in Malaysian universities (refer Figure 4). In terms of individual activities, the bivariate analysis showed that students' social interaction and formal learning activities were signi cant associated with their ethnicity, education status, and university. At the same time, the informal learning experience was signi cantly related to different demographics (including gender, ethnicity, education status, and university). These ndings indicated that students from different backgrounds have different levels of  14,15,19 . Thirdly, the current study only included four demographic characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, education status, and university. The evidence from the existing studies con rmed that users' factors such as age, income level, and occupation also in uence their activities and use of nearby open space 10,49,50,51 . However, it was not possible within the current study to include more items as the additional items could increase the burden on the respondents. Therefore, the current study recommended a further study that investigates a comprehensive relationship between pocket parks and users' usage, activities, and demographic variables, mainly because the nearby pocket parks are integral for the students' academic life.
Despite the limitations mentioned above, the current study contributed to the theoretical framework of designing responsive on-campus pocket parks that contribute to sustainable campuses and enhance the outdoor experiences of the academic community in Malaysia and tropical regions. This study highlighted the signi cant factors that are affecting the on-campus social-learning experience. University development committee should provide an interactive natural environment such as nearby pocket parks to enhance the students' social interaction and engage with nature for a healthy, sustainable academic life.

Conclusion
Nearby pocket parks are urban landscape settings that provide a low-cost, small-scale, nearby open space, contribute many social, health, sustainable, and well-being bene ts for the nearby communities. Recently, outdoor social learning settings, including nearby open spaces and pocket parks, have become equally important as formal learning spaces to improve the social learning experience and achieve learning outcomes. The current study suggested that pocket parks designed with proper characteristics, including softscape, hardscape, sense elements, activities, easy proximate access, shading elements, sunlight, and protection from high temperature, rain and humidity, are essential to enhance the students' social-learning experience on tropical campuses. The students' social learning participation level in nearby pocket parks might vary based on their demographic variables, including gender, ethnicity, education status, and university.
Successful on-campus pocket parks that are designed with good design aspects respond better to the campus context and meet the academic community's needs for social interaction, learning activities, and multiple bene ts. Therefore, the current study brie y highlighted the signi cant factors in on-campus pocket parks and their role in enhancement nearby urban academic communities. Figure 1 The selection process of the strati ed judgmental sample of the study.   Factors in uencing the social-learning experience in pocket parks of Malaysian universities.