2014 Survey Report : Surveys : ... : ITS : University of Sussex

First year undergraduate survey 2014

IT Services invited all first year undergraduates to complete an online survey in December so we could hear your first experiences of using IT at Sussex.

563
responses

16%
response rate

22% in 2013

Headline results

Wi-fi is valued but you would like it to be even faster and more widespread
IT staff are helpful and well trained and there was a smoother start to the academic year
You feel printing costs are too high
Student computers are great but you would like more at peak times

Campus computers

Most of you are satisfied or very satisfied with the computers on the campus although many of you remarked on congestion at peak times. A number of you commented on problems using PDF files on student computers.

96%
POSITIVE

90% USING

2013 positive: 95% use: 92%

There are plenty of computers available (45)

But still congestion at peak times (28)

24/7 access is helpful (10)

PDF files keep crashing (6)

Computers are fast and easy to use (5)

Not clear where we can use computers (5)

Email

The email service is appreciated but many of you regard the webmail interface as old-fashioned and difficult to use. In particular, deleting email is difficult. You also had some suggestions for improving the email service included in the mobile app.

90%
POSITIVE

95% USING

2013 positive: 90% use: 98%

Webmail is hard to use (13)

Cannot work out how to delete email (6)

Too much forum spam (3)

Improve the email part of the mobile app (3)

Printing

There is more dissatisfaction with printing services compared to previous years. More of you commented on the cost of printing and there were a number of requests to make printing from laptops easier and enable you to use wi-fi printers in your room.

79%
POSITIVE

80% USING

2013 positive: 87% use: 81%

Printing should be cheaper (33)

Allow the use of personal wireless printers (6)

Make printing from laptops easier to use (5)

More printers are needed (5)

Shawcross Service Desk

Satisfaction with the main Service Desk is up slightly on last year and you remarked on the friendliness and competence of staff. Usage figures are lower than last year due to a smoother start to the year in which most of you were able to connect to networks without assistance. Several of you suggested an online chat facility or forum would be helpful.

96%
POSITIVE

51% USING

2013 positive: 94% use: 58%

Staff are friendly / knowledgeable (42)

Offer an online chat facility (4)

IT Services University of Sussex January 2014

This year, we specifically asked how you would prefer to communicate with us. Although most of you prefer email or face-to-face contact, a number of you suggested online chat, something we don't currently offer. Social media channels were not so popular.

Sample comments

Create a forum where aside from asking just the IT services questions, students can also expect to get answers from anyone on the forum (students, teachers, etc.).

Best thing is the face-to-face assistance! People are always available and pleased to help us with any problem we have.

IT services at Shawcross is very well set out and the staff are very friendly, and they actually know what they're doing.

Getting help

How would you like to communicate with ITS?

Email

83%

In person

60%

Facebook

12%

Online chat

32%

Telephone

20%

Twitter

The help desk for laptops and mobile devices is well-regarded, but you would like additional support:

It would be helpful to have possibilities to repair minor damages on laptops, computers and smartphones.

Maybe expand past just connecting to Sussex wifi, I would have thought it would be more comprehensive.

Information

Where do you go for information about IT?

ITS booklets

53%

59% in 2013

Welcome sessions

47%

40% in 2013

ITS web pages

43%

47% in 2013

Word of mouth

41%

52% in 2013

You think student computers are reliable and well provisioned with software:

PCs are powerful and can run intensive software like Photoshop smoothly.

The speed of the Macs in Silverstone is excellent and I love that there are so many great programs installed.

Only one program (Adobe Reader) was singled out as problematic by several of you:

Computers crash when loading up PDFs.

The windows computers at IT services sometimes do not respond when we read PDF files.

Student computers are well-used and appreciated. The fact that many are available 24/7 is welcome but you think more computers are needed, especially to cover peak times.

Lots of computers available on campus for people who do not live on campus and do not bring a laptop.

I like that there are computer clusters in a lot of places although there could always be more!

I would suggest that there would be more Mac computers available in the Library and in Shawcross as many people use them and in busy hours it's hard to find one.

Computer rooms

Where do you use computers on the campus?

Library

82%

85% in 2013

Shawcross

33%

41% in 2013

Northfield

(social centre)

16%

17% in 2013

York House

13%

13% in 2013

Pevensey I

13%

12% in 2013

Richmond

7% in 2013

Internet

How satisfied are you with the internet connections on the campus?

Wi-fi

51%
POSITIVE

98% USING

2013 positive: 48% use: 99%

Wired

77%
POSITIVE

75% USING

2013 positive: 68% use: 87%

Internet connection is too slow (120)

Connections are unreliable (77)

Improve coverage across the campus (61)

Make it easier to get set up (37)

Enable consoles, printers & other devices to connect (25)

Provide better help and guidance (7)

You also had a lot of positive comments about internet access, confirming that this is a key service.

Wi-fi is fast / widely available (36)

Wired connections are fast / reliable (27)

The considerable investment over the last twelve months to improve the speed and capacity of internet connections resulted in only a modest increase in student satisfaction.

Several of you remarked on the incompatibility of consoles and other devices with Sussex networks:

Perhaps the introduction of a separate wifi system for residential areas which doesn't have such severe encryption. Seems a bit ridiculous that me and many of my friends can't connect games consoles to the net.

Allow personal printers to connect to the
wi-fi.

Typical remarks on internet connections:

Wi-fi is good in most places around campus.

The wi-fi around campus is generally pretty reliable and useful when I'm on the move.

Please make the wi-fi more widely accessible across campus and for it to be faster.

When the wi-fi is working properly it is still extremely slow. I live in Northfield and everyone is complaining of the same issues.

Make connection to the wi-fi easier.

The wi-fi is sometimes very slow or doesn't work. I end up not using it sometimes and running off of my phone 4g which uses my allowance a lot.

The reliability of the internet could be improved. It often cuts out or won't connect.

Mobile

Phone usage

What type of mobile phone do you use?

iPhone

54%

Android

36%

Windows Phone

BlackBerry

Sussex Mobile

95%
POSITIVE

77% USING

2013 positive: 83% use: 83%

Comments on the Sussex Mobile phone app:

The mobile app is organised, reliable and an essential part of my academic life at Sussex.

The Sussex Mobile app, while fantastic, is very buggy. Sometimes refuses to load at all or loads incorrectly.

Improve the usability of the Sussex Mobile app.

The Sussex mobile app could be advertised more.

99.3%
use a mobile phone

Learning and information

Laptops

Do you take a laptop or tablet to lectures?

48%

21%

Lecture capture

Having lecture capture on at least one module

88%

78% in 2013

There were several remarks about the availability of lecture recordings:

Have more recorded lectures.

Less than half of history lectures are recorded, and I can't see a reason for this.

You mentioned Study Direct forum posts a number of times:

The forum posts for my course are clogging up my inbox making it hard to see important emails.

Equipment

Type

What sort of computer equipment do you use?

Windows 8 laptop

43%

29% in 2013

Windows 7 laptop

28%

43% in 2013

Mac

33%

34% in 2013

iPad

19%

16% in 2013

Games console

13%

13% in 2013

A number of you mentioned the laptop lending service introduced in the Library:

The Chromebooks in the Library - laptop lending is a very cool idea.

Provide more computers and laptops to borrow in the Library.

It would be nice to be able to borrow equipment for longer.

Top Tens

The best thing about IT Services

		Comments
1	Support from IT staff	110
2	Campus wi-fi	90
3	Student computers/software	68
4	Sussex Mobile phone app	35
5	24/7 access to services	23
6	Online information & help	17
7	Wired internet connection	16
8	Printing services	14
9	Study Direct and Sussex Direct	13
10	Reliability of services	13

Would most like to improve

		Comments
1	Internet speed	120
2	Stability/reliability of wi-fi connections	77
3	Wi-fi coverage around the campus	61
4	Make it easier to connect devices	37
5	Printing should be cheaper	31
6	Make more computers available	31
7	Allow consoles/printers to connect	25
8	Improve email/webmail service	22
9	More help & training	13
10	Improve the mobile app	11

See our survey page to find further analysis of the comments and information about what we are doing to address the points raised in this year's survey.

Updated on 13 February 2015