2007 UW-Madison

 

Faculty/Staff Computing Survey Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report Completed: August 2007

Prepared by: Brian Rust

rust@doit.wisc.edu

Division of Information Technology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

 

 

 

Contents

 

 

 

I.          Introduction and Methodology

 

II.         Summary of Results

 

III.               Detailed Results

                                                                                                Questions

            Computer and Internet Use                                           1   - 12

            Computer Security                                                        13 - 16

            Wireless                                                                       17 - 18

            Advice and Training                                                      19 - 22

            Demographics                                                  23 - 26

 

 

 

 

 


I.  Introduction and Methodology

 

The 2007 UW-Madison Faculty/Staff Computing Survey was developed and implemented by the Division of Information Technology Communications Group.  The primary purpose of the survey was to gauge usage and satisfaction of technology products and services available to faculty and staff on the UW-Madison campus. The information will be used to determine future decisions regarding products and services offered.

 

For the 2007 survey, a random sample of 1200 UW-Madison faculty, academic staff and classified staff were selected.  They were sent an email invitation to participate in the survey.  The survey was administered via WebSurvey@UW for the first time this year. After the initial mailing, the non-respondents were sent two follow-up email reminders.  There was no incentive offered.  Of the 1200 survey recipients, 349 responded resulting in a response rate of about 29%.

 

 

II.  Summary of Results

 

   Almost 60% use a laptop (29% in 2006); 49% use a cell phone (20%), 37%

    use portable storage (22%), and 19% use an MP3 player (5%). Use of  

    Palm Pilots and PDAs continues to be negligible.

 

   Most popular functions performed with these devices were email (98%),

    data storage (81%), calendar/scheduling (64%), cell calls (49%), music

    (35%), streaming video (26%), instant messaging (19%), wikis (9%), and

    Voice Over IP/VoIP (4%).

 

   When at home or away from their office, 32% connect via DSL, 24% cable modem 

    (combined in 2006 these were 54%), 13% campus dial pool (23%), 9% commercial

    modem (14%), 9% wireless (down from 22%), and 9% “do not access” (9%).

 

   Half the respondents do not know what WiscVPN is.

 

    About 70 percent were “satisfied” to “very satisfied” with home/off-campus Internet

     access.    

 

    More than a third said their home/off-campus internet access is slower than that on

     campus.

 

    About 90% are very satisfied to satisfied with the performance of their

     direct campus net connection.

    

    Over 90% of faculty and staff say they use My UW-Madison web portal; 58%    

     do administrative computing; 26% use streaming music or video;

     16% Instant Messaging; 15% research applications over the Internet; 10% use Blogs, Wikis or VoIP.

 

   Most popular DoIT-provided services are My UW (94%), Help Desk (85%), WiscMail

    (83%), and the Tech Store/Showroom (73%). The Tech Store had the highest mean     

    satisfaction score (4.1 on a 1-5 scale). My UW was next at 4.0.

 

   Over 86% say they never intentionally share their passwords.

 

   Mean satisfaction continues to be above 3.5 on a 1-5 scale for almost all DoIT

     services.

 

 

 

III.  Detailed results.

 

Computer and Internet Use

1. Which of the following do you use? (check all that apply)

The largest increase in use was cell phones. Laptop ownership also took another big jump in the past year, while desktop ownership remained strong. Note: some device names have changed slightly from year to year.

 

Nov 2001

Nov 2002

Dec 2003

Jan 2005

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

Desktop/Fixed machine

85%

88%

92%

94%

94%

94%

Laptop/Portable computer

25%

29%

35%

36%

29%

57%

Portable storage device

--

--

13%

18%

22%

37%

Cell phone

44%

23%

26%

24%

20%

49%

Handheld Internet device (smart phone, etc.)

15%

20%

24%

22%

18%

11%

MP3 player

--

--

--

--

5%

19%

 

 

 

2. What functions or activities do you perform with these products? (check all that apply)

 

Over 98% said they use email, then data storage (81%), Calendaring/ Scheduling (64%), Cell Phone calls (49%), Music (35%), Streaming Video (26%), IM (19%), Wiki/Blog (9%), and VoIP calls (4%).

 

3. Are there any IT functions or activities you would like to do that are

    not available to you?

    Responses to this open-ended question varied widely, with “nothing” as

    the most popular.

 

 

4. When you are at home or off-campus, what is your primary method of accessing the Internet? (check one)

Commercial Broadband (split between DSL and Cable modem) was once again the favorite for off-campus service (56% overall). Dial-in use continued to decline. Surprisingly, wireless use declined from the previous year, possibly due to the question being asked in a slightly different way from 2006.

 

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

Commercial Broadband (DSL or cable modem)

54%

32% DSL

24% Cable

Campus dial-in modem pool

23%

13%

Wireless

22%

9%

Dial-in Modem using a commercial Internet service provider (e.g., AOL, TDS, etc.)

14%

9%

I do not connect to the Internet at home or away from UW-Madison

9%

9%

 

5. When you connect to the Internet from home or off-campus, do you use WiscVPN to access campus resources? (check all that apply)

             About 29% said no. Almost half said they do not know what WiscVPN is.

6. How satisfied are you with your primary method of Internet access from home or off-campus?

            70% said they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” Only 13% reported   “dissatisfied” to “very dissatisfied.” Mean score on a 1-5 scale (with 5 being         “very satisfied”) was 3.79.

7. Compared to your UW-Madison direct network connection, your home/off-campus Internet access is …?

            9% said “faster” to “much faster;” 64% said “slower” to “much slower.”

8. Is there anything you can do with your Internet access from home or off-campus that you can’t do at work?

            Almost all respondents said “no.”

9. Overall, how satisfied are you with the performance of your direct campus network connection?

            90% said “very satisfied” to “satisfied.” Only 1.4% said “dissatisfied” to “very    dissatisfied.” See table comparison with previous years:

Nov 2002

Dec 2003

Jan 2005

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

3.6

4.5 (n=25)

3.9 (n=93)

4.3 (n=293)

4.37 (n=353)

 

10. Which of the following Internet services do you use at the UW? (check all that apply)

            Here is a comparison of answers from previous years.

 

Dec 2003

Jan 2005

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

My UW-Madison (Web Portal)

 --

 --

 --

 93%

Administrative computing (e.g., student records, Shared Financial System, payroll, etc.)

 --

 --

 --

 59%

Streaming music or video

 25%

 35%

 36%

 26%

Instant messaging (e.g., AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc.)

 27%

 26%

 22%

 16%

Research Applications over the Internet (e.g. Internet2)

 --

 --

 --

 15%

Blog, Wiki, VoIP

 --

 --

 --

 10%

Podcasting or video podcasting

 --

 --

 4%

 6%

Video conferencing (one-to-one with workstation camera)

 2%

 4%

 5%

 5%

11. What information technology services should the UW provide that are now unavailable? 

Answers varied widely to this open-ended question.

 

12.  Using the scale provided, please rate your satisfaction with these DoIT services.      

Comparison table a. -- Which of the following DoIT services have you used?

 

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

Tech Store Showroom
(Product info, demos, and recommendations)

29%

73%

Tech Store Sales
(Online catalog, walk-in, or phone)

33%

Help Desk
(Help Online, walk-in or phone)

51%

85%

Desktop Support
(Installation and repair)

16%*

43%

WiscCal
(Calendar and scheduling)

24%

47%

WiscMail
(University email ending in @wisc.edu, etc.)

85%

83%

My UW-Madison
(Web Portal)

72%

94%

Bucky Backup
(data backup service)

6%

14%

Learn@UW

15%

26%

WebSurvey@UW

7%

25%

My WebSpace

11%

28%

IT Training

12%

36%

DATN
(Digital Academic TV Network)

5%

10%

Research Channel

--

7%

* Referred to as Desktop Support in 2006.

 

Comparison table b. -- Mean satisfaction scores, including previous years.

 

Nov 2002

Dec 2003

Jan 2005

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

Tech Store Showroom
(Product info, demos, and recommendations)

3.8

4.0 (n=83)

3.8 (n=291)

3.9 (n=302)

4.1 (n=252)

Tech Store Sales
(Online catalog, walk-in, or phone)

4.0 (n=338)

Help Desk
(Help Online, walk-in or phone)

3.9

4.2 (n=64)

3.7 (n=151)

4.1 (n=417)

4.0 (n=294)

Desktop Support
(Installation and repair)

4.0 (n=185)

3.9 (n=148)

WiscCal
(Calendar and scheduling)

--

3.5

3.5 (n=156)

3.6 (n=176)

3.5 (n=160)

WiscMail
(University email ending in @wisc.edu, etc.)

--

4.2

4.1 (n=492)

4.2 (n=458)

3.9 (n=289)

My UW-Madison
(Web Portal)

--

3.6

3.9 (n=361)

4.0 (n=379)

4.0 (n=325)

Bucky Backup
(data backup service)

--

4.5

3.8 (n=51)

3.6 (n=57)

3.3 (n=45)

Learn@UW

--

--

--

3.5 (n=91)

3.4 (n=88)

WebSurvey@UW

--

--

--

3.6 (n=49)

3.6 (n=83)

My WebSpace

--

--

--

3.7 (n=79)

3.7 (n=95)

Training

--

--

--

3.8 (n=163)

3.7 (n=122)

DATN
(Digital Academic TV Network)

--

--

--

3.5 (n=43)

3.5 (n=33)

Research Channel

--

--

--

--

3.4 (n=23)

 

Computer Security

13. To what extent do you keep your NetID and other University passwords private?

            I never intentionally share a password    86%

            I occasionally share a password                        9%

            If I share a password, I change it promptly        3%

            It depends; some I share, some I don’t  2%

 

 

14.  How often do you back up your important data?

           

            Daily                                        31%

            Never                                       27%

            Weekly                                    17%

            Every six months or so  14%

            Monthly                                    12%

 

15. When was the last time you updated or patched your computer software?

            Last week                                39%

            Never                                       27%

            Last month                               24%

            Last year                                  10%

 

 

16.  Do you run a firewall on your computer?

           

            Yes                  58%

            I don’t know    33%

            No                   8%

 

 

Wireless

 

17.  Do you use the campus wireless network?

           

            No       64%  (52% said no in 2006)

            Yes      36%

 

18.  What problems, if any, do you have using the campus wireless network? (check all that apply)

           

            I don’t have any problems using wireless           57%

            Weak signal                                                      26%

            Can’t get wireless access where I need it           21%

            Problems getting a connection               14%

 

 

Advice and Training

 

19.  When you need to learn the features of a new product or service, where do you

       turn for assistance? (check all that apply)

 

 

Jan 2006

Jan 2007

Colleague/Friend

18%

58%

DepartmentIT Staff

26%

55%

DoIT Help Desk/DoIT Staff

--

21%

DoIT training staff

--

8%

Google/Internet

--

7%

 

 

20.  Are you interested in taking any computing skills courses in the coming year?

 

            Not sure           36%

            Yes                  32%

            No                   32%

 

21.  In what computing topics or areas would you like to have training? (check all that apply)

 

            Online, self-paced         44%

            Web design                  36%

            Spreadsheets                36%

            Databases                    36%

            Graphics                       36%

            Presentations                30%

            UW tools                     22%

            MS Office 07               22%

            Web forms                   16%

            Video                           15%

            Course Mgt. System

              (Learn@UW) 13%

 

 

22.  Which of the following statements apply to you regarding the Research

       Channel? (check all that apply)

 

            Haven’t heard of it                    87%

            Haven’t submitted content;

              and don’t plan to                    11%

            Have viewed programming        4%

            Plan to submit content               1%

            Have submitted content 1%

 

Demographics

23.  What is your primary role at the University?

 

            36% Admin

            21% Research

            14% Teach/Instruction

 

24.  What is your classification?

 

            35% Classified

            33% Non-instr. Academic Staff

            11% Tenured faculty

            6% Instr. Academic Staff

            4% Non-tenured faculty

 

25.  What is your department?

 

            19% Medicine

            16% L&S

            10% CALS

            9% Grad Sch

            6% Engr.

            6% DoIT …

 

26. Regarding the IT products and services that are available to you, please list any suggestions for improvement, new product or service, or let us know if you have a complaint.

 

            Responses to this open-ended question varied widely.