2010 IUE IT User Satisfaction Survey - Text Comments
This text file includes responses to the final question of the survey: Are there additional comments you would like to make about Information Technologies?
Responses are grouped by sample: Faculty, Staff, and Students. Identifying references in this document have been replaced with [IRD], Identifying Reference Deleted.
Faculty | Staff | Students
In recent months, availability and reliability of printing (i.e., through network printer server) seems to be lower than usual.
There need to be some improvements in terms of how we manage our IT services in relation to adjunct faculty and how we orient them to these services.
We need more functionality with the web version of Outlook.
Need faster office computers - 2 yr cycle rather than 3 yr.
cookie cutter web site, looks like every other website--hard to find things, many dead or useless links, too many links to get to hidden services
Wireless connections often do not support the number of computers in large classes. While reported many times, it continues to be an issue.
I would like to reiterate (as I have in past years) that the East campus needs to improve upon assisting students with their personal laptops. I have had children a IUPUI, WSU, and OSU who all have IT services for the students and to assist them with software, etc.
I appreciate the prompt and curteous service from the IU East help desk.
I'm grateful for the services!
upgrade technology in the classrooms at Tom Raper Hall. Create system for instuctor's to have websites accessible to students that allow interactive- hyperlink- document postings.
The technology people at IUE are friendly and efficient. My complaints are with the equipment (problems with SMART board) and lack of permanent tech. in all classrooms.
The computer lab in TR 102 where I held my [IRD] class fall 2009 was never functional. The data projector showed bright maroon and was never fixed (in spite of my requests), so the teacher workstation was never usable, and I had to have a mobile cart each week. The seating was arranged, so that no students faced the teacher or front screen at any time. This caused class climate issues. This lab needs repair. TR 226 works much better. I tried to implement a 1-1 computing environment fall 2009 by asking students to bring their laptops to class ([IRD] in TR 310 and TR 326). Wireless connections were slow and spotty. One student would be able to connect; his neighbor would not. When everyone logged on, the connection slowed down (no more than 15 at a time). The system for logging on to the campus wireless network is cumbersome and unreliable. I am satisfied with IT on campus except for these glitches--which are major and need to be addressed if we expect to have students develop digital literacy and explore online resources in our classrooms.
My biggest complaint concerns computers in the smart rooms not being updated often enough or not being able to recognize standard media formats. I like to embed videos, flash, and other media into powerpoint presentations, and it is always aggravating to have something work perfectly on my office machine or on my laptop or desktop, only to have the computer in the smart room not know how to read it.
I also think that the iuware site should be pushed at students more often. I have started telling students about it at the start of the semester, as most of them have never heard of it!
We need more assistance for students on the ground. And the CTL on our campus is not staffed with folks qualified to be instructional design consultants. The CTL currently focuses too much on simply teaching how to use the latest technology as opposed to how to choose the best technologies that improve student learning outcomes.
We need more smart classrooms for 35 plus students! Need CONSISTENCY between equipmenet in various classrooms. Sound is not always functioning in classrooms (esp. TR 110 and ML 124). Multiple sound settings checked, none appear on 'mute,' but sound often doesn't work). Instructors cannot rely on sound working in those classrooms. It is a crap shoot (and frankly, we make out better with dice) ;-)
Doing a great job!
I rated the student labs lower because there don't seem to be enough of them. Malfunctions in the smart classrooms are common. The Help Desk is excellent during normal working hours; early evening has not been as good. OneStart is an unwieldy system. OnCourse has been getting better.
Projector/computer media carts are troublesome... ethernet cable & power cable too short...
carts are a "rats nest" of tangled wires... look unprofessional and need to be re-wired (wireless internet would be great) Log-on procedure should be the same as any other campus computer.
Please keep the "smart" classrooms functional. Too often I have tried to use speakers, projectors, internet, etc. only to discover that things simply are not working, missing, or functioning improperly. Very frustrating to teaching.
CTL does as well as it can with its very small staff, but there seems to be a focus on technology first, pedagogy second. Ought this not to be the reverse?
[IRD] needs helps. It takes months and months for a website to be built and made functional. I have been repeatedly told by [IRD] that he is only one person, that his directives and priorities are constantly being re-organized by his supervisors, and that he simply does not have time to get all of his work done. In an age when so much of our work relies on creating and maintaining a gregarious on line presence, we must be sure we have sufficient personnel to drive the quality and competence we need and want. Currently, I am repeatedly being told we are understaffed in area. Please do what can be done to expand web design support.
One serious drawback to current policy has been the withdrawal of faculty administrative privileges. Even under ideal conditions there is a loss in productivity of both faculty and staff. I have shared my concern with faculty from other campuses and routinely reply, "That would be intolerable on our campus." IT has not done a good job of communicating the rationale for this decision. Is there one? I recall this was a unilateral decision and does not reflect well on the "support" aspect of IT's mission.
The people are great, very helpful, patient.
IU East LAN is incredibly slow !
Boot-up times for office systems take minutes.
(Apparently too much security overhead.)
Oncourse has matured somewhat, but is still "OLD SCHOOL."
LAN & WEB - generally too much oversight, not enough insight.
Please remove the IT clutter from classrooms: Only one TV/VCR set per classroom (not 2 or 3); keep cable in a conduit, not glued to floor with duct tape; make professional instruction signs (ask technical writing faculty for help if needed). Do not scribble instructions on board, do not half-assed signs full of incorrectly spelled words and incomplete sentences.
Excellent staff. Helpdesk is awesome.
It is a shame that I do not have the same capabilities at the Connersville site as I do on the Richmond campus.
Faculty |Staff | Students
[IRD] at the Help Desk is fantastic! Always helpful and very pleasant. I like the timely resolution of problems and issues--they usually come fairly quickly.
voice mail for phone. We have one line that lights up to notify us of voicemail. We need a beeping sound on other two lines. That is they way it used to be.
improve wireless coverage between buidings
voice mail on phones a bit limited since I have no visual indication when I have voice mail.
Maintaining web site with Contribute is too limiting. Have great difficulty with simple layout issues like spacing between lines.
One does not realize the overall thoroughness and professional response received by IUE IT department until you experience the tech support/service from other institutions. There is no comparison. Trust me, we at IUE are spoiled.
I am new to the campus this year. Some things I have not used yet. I do feel that IUE needs to update the capabilities to use more laptops in the classrooms. We need more power outlets and MUCH better wireless service.
Our IT department is awesome!
Re: phone service. Frequently voice mail messages don't make it to our office "in-box" for as many as 24 hours.
Re:fax machine. Many, many students come to our offices to request use of a fax machine. To my knowledge, there are none on campus for student use. This is a service that should be provided.
I would like to see more userfriendly explainations of the reports in IUIE. Currently when you look in the details section the report is explained using programming jargon.
Sometimes I am told that programs are installed on classroom computers and when I get there they are not.
The IT staff at IU East are very dedicated and knowledgeable. I continue to be impressed with their response to IT issues and their expertise over a wide range of topics.
Faculty | Staff | Students
The Library website is hard to use from home like the IUCAT and such you now have to have a login which us students do not have making it really rough to do our hmwk from home.
Everything on the IU East campus has been pretty good, there is only one request, I can speak for everyone when I say we need printer access in the Graf Center in Springwood. Most students have to go to another building just to print. We really need to have this access so people that have classes in Springwood do not have to go clear to another building just to print. Besides that I am over-all very happy with your services.
I'm a returning student, over 20 years behind on computer communications, and no contact with the internet. I walked into a technology environment that was overwhelming! I realize that I'm a small minority, but it would have been nice to have single area for tutorials, clearly marked. I do not do well in public for very long, so using the computer lab and assistants has not worked for me. I'm still fumbling through many details of what is there and where to find it.
Sometimes using the wireless network on campus my VPN will disconnect me from time to time
I would like to see Dragon Naturally Speaking offered on IUWare or similar voice to text software. Issues with the web site would be that some information is hard to find, or scattered around (not all just some) though I cannot give a specififc problem at the moment, I can say that I have spent more time looking for things in the past due to navigation.
There are still gliches in the Oncourse system. It will shut down randomly and many things do not work, like things teachers post. That may be because of the teacher though. I do not like how it erases everything if you accidently hit the back buttom. It needs an autosave button. I also wish OneStart and the Library home page were easier to navigate. It can be very confusing at times.
There is an increase in the amount of technology that students bring to class. This includes cell phones and laptops. Therefore, it is important to me as a student to have access to a nearby plug in. It would be easier to have more plug ins around the school.
IT staff have always been very helpful.
I have been well pleased with the IT department they are always willing to help and are very knowledgeable.
The It guys have been a great help to me. They are so knowledgeable about computers and virusis's. Theyr'e awesome.
I would suggest keeping the student information commons/computer labs open to at least midnight in order to better serve student needs. I have an evening course that ends at 8:15 p.m., after which I usually access course related materials in the computer lab adjacent to my classroom. I always feel rushed by the security guard on staff because he is usually in a hurry to lock up the computer lab. The lab is supposed to close at 9 p.m., but I have been rushed out as early as 8:45 p.m. I think that the computer labs should be open to at least midnight. I am familiar with the computer labs at nearby Earlham College, and there are labs on the Earlham campus that are accessible 24/7 via student I.D. reader. I think that IUE should look into implementing a system such as this. I also think that the IUE webpage could be organized better. There are times when I have to google a specific topic and follow the google link into the specific topic page within the IUE website, because the topic is virtually inaccessible from the Onestart or Oncourse portion of the IUE website. The IUE website is exceptionally good in comparison to other IU websites and I think that it is even superior to the IU Bloomington website, but there is information that is buried deep inside the IUE website and better accessed via a external google search, which does not make very much sense.
The IT people that I have dealt with are been very helpful and did not make me feel less than adequate because I didn't understand the technology.
I think that we have a great IT department for the most part. Some of the people that work on computers need to keep learning about them so they can help the student body better.
I attend IUE online only and I love the online classes and the way they was structured.
The new library web page is awful. I'm not sure who done it but it is more confusing.
:) Thanks for your service!
One Start and On Course need to be more user freindly and not so complicated to naviigate.
I would like to see the computer labs available to the weekend students, such as myself. We pay the same fees and we haven't had the same access during classes.
the wireless servers worked fine and were always available until Fall09. I think a new system was put into place, but after that, connectivity is very spotty (even when sitting across the hall from a router box, especially in upper Whitewater). Not many people are well-informed on the mechanics of Macintosh computers, and especially with Oncourse, it feels like I have to jump through hoops to get my OS to be accapted. This is sepcially frustrating with formatting issues and copy-pasting into Oncourse. It's very frustrating when the Oncourse system goes down, and it seems to happen frequently. It never goes long without being fixed, but there are some bugs that need to be worked out.
It has been rumored that Ivy Tech is not going to get their wireless service re-connected. I think this is a very bad idea. If you raised our tuition it would be better.
Most of my classes are in the basment of Hayes Hall. I have to have internet connection in order to go along with lecture, and my internet connection will only last approx 5 minutes before I have to restart it. That can get very annoying on a regular day, but if I am taking an exam, it is downright frustrating for myself and the professor. That is the only complaint that I have about the IT system at IUE. Please, please, make the wireless connection better at IUE!
The last few rooms in Whitewater Hall (towards the end nearest the parking lot) has real unstable wireless connection. A student can connect sometimes, but the connection is really unstable and it is not uncommon to not connect at all.
The IT staff are very knowledgeable and very supportive however the lab computers are very slow and probably need updated or cleaned up. Also for various classes, instructors need to use technology that all computers can access. Example, I have a MAC and I had a hard time downloading podcast because of the format used, IT informed me that I could flip the podcast to access them, but also told me that instructors were supposed to be using some other format. This extra step takes up valuable time for someone who is limited on time and just wants to download and go.
The new wireless connection network, IU Secure, seems sketchy and difficult to connect to. I very rarely connect to the Internet the first time regardless of where I am on campus. I usually have to disconnect and reconnect multiple times to get a good connection. This is very frustrating, especially considering that many of my classes use this technology.
Need more routers in basement of Hayes Hall so all students are able to connect and stay connected to the internet.
There have been issues with oncourse, it shuts down and is connected with IU Bloomington, is there any chance that it could be run from IU East?
Our classes use laptops alot in our classes. If you have a problem and go to the IT services there is just one person to help you and if 2-3 people are there it can take a long time. They do not always know how to communicate with people who are not computer literate.
The speed of connection in the computer labs is very slow
We have had connection problems in our classroom when the whole class needs to be on the laptops
Until recently the students who have class on the weekends were unable to access the computer labs. I would hope that this change with become permanent for the future weekend students.
Every time I have called the help desk; they have been very knowledgeable in assisting me and answering my questions. I have also been extremely satisfied with Oncourse. I have taken on-line courses and have been very happy and have had no problems.
I feel that the website is very user friendly with the exception of the online library. I am not satisfied with the online library, and I use other research sites to complete research.