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The Student System Project team, in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies, administered a survey in the fall of 2007 of approximately 2,100 students to capture student perception of the current student system, ISIS, and to better understand student use of technical resources at U.Va. as they relate to use of ISIS. The survey results will be used to track changes in students’ perceptions as the University moves from the current system to the new student information system, which will include improved self-service features.
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Overview of Findings
Perceptions of ISIS
- Over 40% of respondents have a favorable impression of ISIS.
- When asked to identify the top five difficulties students experience in registering for courses online, results strongly suggest that primary difficulties have very little to do with technology but are due largely to the number of class offerings options and to enrollment processes.
Student Use of Technical Resources
- Student respondents display a sound confidence in their general personal computing skills and ability to navigate technology in widespread use at U.Va.
- Overwhelmingly, students state that they would be responsive to electronic communications informing them of required actions on their part.
Student Use of ITC Help Desk
- Almost all respondents only contacted ITC Help Desk once or twice for problems within a given term.
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Detailed Findings |
Demographic Breakdown of Respondents
- 25% of respondents identified themselves as 1st-year students; 11% as 2nd-year; 10.5% as 3rd-year; 15.5% as 4th-year. Approximately 40% of the respondents identified themselves as grad/professional students.
Perceptions of ISIS
- Students rely primarily on ISIS Online (45%) and the search engine at Virginia.edu (27.8%) to find information about completing their business with the University.
- While students use the student system online to conduct a variety of their business with the University, they use it primarily to 1) register for classes (21.1%), 2), view their class schedule (21%), and 3) request or view their transcripts (15.5%).
- 74% of respondents said that they can complete course registration (not including drop/add) either quickly or somewhat quickly.
- 70% of respondents stated they could complete drop/add quickly or somewhat quickly.
- The top five difficulties students experience in registering for courses online are 1) course is full (17%), 2) schedule times (13.5%), 3) instructor permission (13%), 4) wait list (12.5%), and 5) unclear course description (10.9%).
Student Use of Technical Resources
- 73% of respondents use a web-based email application. 25% use a stand-alone application.
- 65% of respondents described themselves as either skilled or highly skilled in using email. 14% said they are not skilled at all.
- 66% of respondents described themselves as either skilled or highly skilled in using spreadsheet applications. 27% said they are somewhat skilled and 6% said they are not at all skilled.
- 75% of respondents said they were either not at all skilled or somewhat skilled in using database applications. 18% said they are skilled and 6% said they are highly skilled.
- 89.5% of respondents described themselves as being either comfortable or very comfortable (61%) using a PC.
- 73% of respondents said they use either Windows Vista (20%) or XP as their operating system. Another 3.5% run Windows on Mac. 17.5% run Mac OS.
- Students split their use of the major web browsers almost evenly: 41.5% use Firefox primarily, while 46% use Internet Explorer.
- 92.8% of respondents said they would be either somewhat likely or very likely to respond to an electronic communication by going online to conduct the transaction.
- 22.5% stated that they use the MyUVa portal at least monthly. Students use the portal for a variety of reasons, including activating their computer id (19.1%), adding money to their Cavalier Advantage accounts (10.6%), and signing up for a meal plan (10.6%). “None of the above” choices, however, accounted for 24% of the responses to this question, indicating that students rely on this resource for more than merely transactional interactions. 45% of respondents stated that they have never used the MyUVa portal.
Student Use of ITC Help Desk
- When it comes to seeking help with a computer question, students prefer human interaction, either live or by email. Only 13% prefer to seek help using self-service features or an FAQ. 29% seek help in person, 23% call the help desk, and 27% prefer to send an email. Students had the option to choose multiple responses for this question.
- During Spring term 2007:
- 31% of respondents said they contacted ITC Help Desk for help with connecting to the network, but almost all of them did so only once or twice during the term.
- 15.3% did so for hardware-related problems
- 8% did so for Home Directory password problems.
- 6.7% for ISIS Password assistance
- 5.7% for Netbadge Password assistance
- 15% for perceived software problems
- 3.4% for Toolkit Password assistance
- During the Fall term 2007:
- 28.4% for network connectivity
- 8% for hardware-related problems
- 9.7% for Home Directory password problems
- 6.5% for ISIS Password assistance
- 5.5% for Netbadge Password assistance
- 9.7% for perceived software problems
- 2% for Toolkit Password assistance
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