Academic Technology
Customer Satisfaction Survey - Fall 2005 - Results
The Student Computing Cluster Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted November 7-21, 2005. The information below represents aggregate results from all responses to the survey questions. We also have responded to several specific comments and suggestions.
Satisfaction Questions
Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction with the following aspects of the Clusters on a four-point scale (4 = Lowest, 1 = Highest).
| Item | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Mean | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computers | 34% | 32% | 16% | 18% | 2.18 (n = 246) | |
| Printers | 32% | 21% | 19% | 28% | 2.42 (n = 242) | |
| Software | 37% | 36% | 14% | 13% | 2.02 (n = 241) | |
| Consultants | 36% | 27% | 14% | 23% | 2.27 (n = 237) |
For comparison, here are the mean scores for Fall 2004 and Fall 2005. Lower values represent higher satisfaction.
| Item | Fall 2004 | Fall 2005 |
|---|---|---|
| Computers | 2.04 (n = 218) | 2.18 (n = 246) |
| Printers | 2.42 (n = 218) | 2.42 (n = 242) |
| Software | 2.06 (n = 216) | 2.02 (n = 241) |
| Consultants | 2.38 (n = 212) | 2.27 (n = 237) |
We believe the lower rating of the computers has to do primarily with users expressing dissatisfaction with the number of computers available, not the quality of them. As discussed below, there were many comments that boiled down to users wanting more computers. This group of responses rated the computers at 2.72 (n = 39) compared with 2.08 (n = 207) for the responses that did not include this comment.
We are pleased to see the ratings of our staff have improved, and we will be striving to improve all of these ratings semester to semester.
Open Response Questions
The Fall 2005 survey also asked two open ended questions:
What resources or technologies would you like to have in the Clusters that are not available currently?
Additional comments:
We received responses to these questions on 108 out of the 250 total surveys. We grouped these comments into several categories.
The most common comment (n = 39) was in regard to having more computers available. This was particularly mentioned in regards to the Dimond Library Cluster (n = 23). For example, here's one comment:
more cluster computers in the library. build another room with hundreds of them.
While we have not had the funding to purchase additional computers, the closing of the Kingsbury 128 Cluster due to the Kingsbury renovations has allowed us to add more computers to the main floor of Dimond library in both the Reference area and in a new space in the Hubbard Reading Room. Both Academic Technology and Library staff collaborated to make this happen during the Winter Break. At this point, the computers are planned to remain in Dimond only until the Kingsbury project is complete, but we will be watching the use of all of the computers in Dimond closely.
The pay-to-print system received negative comments (n = 9) expressing a desire for free or lower cost printing. Background on the printing system is available. Users can review this information for an historical understanding of the reasons we currently charge. We also will be posting this information near each printing station.
Three negative comments made regarding Student Consultant staff. We also received 4 positive comments about them. The remaining comments covered a range of topics. We have listed some of them below for responses. If you left your e-mail address when taking the survey, you will receive a personal response to your questions and feedback.
Comments and Suggestions
Linux clusters should be more accessible to students outside of engineering/computer science.
At this point, we have 10 Linux systems available in the McConnell 104 Cluster. We relocated them there from Kingsbury, in part, to provide as much access as possible to these machines. McConnell is our only 24-hour space at this point so having the Linux machines, along with Windows and Mac OS X systems, there means that students can get to these machines 24 hours a day.
The Linux machines are currently receiving the lowest use per machine of any of our systems. If there is an increase of use that justifies having more systems available, we will consider that. Users needing development tools, X Windows, and a Unix environment can also take advantage of the BSD Unix system that underlies Mac OS X.
openoffice.org 2
We love OpenOffice.org! It's free, open source, and a great alternative to Microsoft Office. For technical reasons, we were unable to role out OpenOffice.org 2 during the Winter Break on the Windows systems. We are working to make it available during the Spring semester.
More cluster computers need to be available. I always need to do a paper and I can't becuase all of the cluster computers are taken. If all of them were cluster computers, the problem would be solved."
We have already talked about the addition of the Kingsbury machines to Dimond so let's look at why there are "non-cluster" computers in Dimond Library. The Library has a mission to both the students and to the general public. They have to make library resources such as the card catalog and electronic databases available to all patrons. The Library's status as a government documents repository, in fact, makes it an absolute requirement. There have to be computers that provide the general public, who do not have UNH computer accounts, access to these electronic resources. At this point, Library feels that the best way to meet this need is to have computers dedicated to web-only access that do not have all of the software available in the Clusters and that do not require users to have UNH accounts.
I think that students should have personal access to software in their classes. for example, in one of my hospitality management classes, we have to do projects using delphi which currently is only available in the computer clusters/
We agree. There are technical challenges, however, to make this happen. There already is a library of academic applications available to the campus community. See our list and see if the software you need is available. We also have been experimenting with technologies such as terminal services to extend services to students on their own machines. At this point, that work is still in a pilot stage, but if you are interested, talk to the instructor for your course and have that person contact us to discuss the options available.
coin machines that allow you to add money on your card using spare change and possibly copiers cause scanners suck
We have asked Printing Services to look into this possibility several times. So far, all of the options for systems that would accept coins for adding value on to Copy Cards have been very costly or unworkable. In the meantime, our best suggestion is to visit the MUB or McConnell Copy Centers. They can take any form of cash and Cat's Cache as means of purchasing of adding value to a Copy Card.
We have also looked at having a photocopier in the Clusters in the past. At that time, we did not see enough demand to justify the expenses, especially given the wide availability of copiers through Printing Service's CopyNet. If you feel that there should be copiers in the Clusters, please let us know, and we will use your input in future planning.
Computers are always dusty and dirty. More care needs to be applied to cleaning them on the regular.
We do clean the exterior, and sometimes interior, of all of the computers each break. We will check to see if we need to increase this schedule. We do know that the computers that were in the Kingsbury Cluster were filthy at the end of the Fall semester. We have never had that problem in the past, and we assume that the demolition and construction work in the building created a lot more dust in the air than normal. Hopefully, for both the computers and our users, this was a one-time situation!
color printer
and
Color print is a must!
We received several mentions of color printing. We are not sure of why. We have color laser printing in all of the main Cluster locations - McConnell, MUB, and Dimond. You just need to select the color printer queue instead of the regular one when sending your print job. Maybe we just need to advertise it more! If so, then this is a start.
blackboard is way too slow!!!
We received 6 complaints about the performance and availability of the Blackboard system. That is not something that we, Academic Computing Systems, control, but we have passed the feedback on to our sister department that does manage Blackboard. We can report that a major issue that we responsible for much of the poor performance of the Single Sign-on and Blackboard system during the Fall semester was identified and fixed during the semester. We noticed the problems and subsequent improvement ourselves!
additional cluster laptops in the library
Not many people take advantage of the laptops that can be checked out from the Reserve Desk in Dimond, but we know that those of you who do use this service like it a lot. The Library purchases these laptops, and Academic Computing Systems sets them up to work like the regular Cluster machines. The Library did replace their entire fleet of loaner laptops during the Fall semester. There are now 12 new Dell laptops available. This is a definite improvement because the previous machines were much slower and had also dwindled in number due to many hardware failures.
you guys are great!! maybe you could crank up the AC?
First, thank you!
In regards to the air conditioning, or heating, or any other comfort factor in the Clusters, please let the Consultants know if you are uncomfortable. We have had some on going problems with the air handling systems in the Clusters. They are not under our direct control, but we do work with Facilities to try to make the rooms as comfortable as possible.
personalized desktops
and
It would be nice if settings for things, particularly IE/Firefox, could be saved so that I don't have to click the ""remember password?"" yes/no box every time for every site and those stupid security warnings boxes, too.
We have tried to make the computers in the Clusters as configurable as possible, but we do have two big limiting factors. First, we have to make the computers functional for everyone. This means that we do need to restrict access to application and operating system settings that could be used to make the computers not work properly. Second, there are few options on the Windows machines to let us have a totally personalized environment. On the Mac OS X and Linux systems, your CIS Unix home directory becomes your home directory on the Cluster machine. This means that any personal settings you choose do get saved and remembered from session to session. You can change the desktop background, for example, and it will be what you selected the next time you login, even on a different machine.
The Windows systems do not support these capabilities except through a technology known as Roaming Profiles which has not provide reliable and is generally not used in college and university computer labs. We have tried to allow for some customization of the Windows environment, but we do know that it is limited at this point.
I would like to see the computer clusters and Woodsides and Gables improved. These computers are so old and so slow.
We received several comments about the computers in the apartment complexes. The computers in the Gables and Woodside community buildings are purchased by the UNH Housing department. Housing contracts with Academic Computing Systems to maintain these computers and to run them like the Clusters. The Dell computers in these two locations are at least 5 years old at this point. For the machines that we purchase for the Clusters, we turn them over on a 3-year cycle, for comparison, but we have no direct control over the purchasing or replacement of these systems. We will be passing this feedback on to Housing in efforts to get these computers replaced.
The ability to send print jobs remotely to the MUB and McConnell clusters would be nice.
This already exists! You can print easily from any computer on campus to the printers in the Clusters. It is even possible from off campus, if you use the UNH VPN service to establish a secure connection the UNH's network first.
The instructions on how to print to the SCC printers are on our website. Here's the direct link.
itunes
Got it. Really. It is installed on both the Mac and Windows systems.
games (e.i. frecell)
No, sorry! The computers in the Student Computing Clusters are primarily for academic work. We do not make make games available on the machines nor do our policies allow for recreational game playing.
Consultants are useful resources and always friendly and available.
We are glad you think so! This is how we want them to be viewed. They are there to be a resource and to assist in whatever ways they can when you are using the Clusters.
I think we need more space on our personal drives. I often have to save CAD programs onto my drive for temporary work, and this takes up all of my personal space and prevents me from getting emails.
We do not directly control the quotas on the CIS Unix accounts, but we were very pleased when they were doubled during the Fall semester to 100 M as a base. We know that as work with graphics, audio, video, CAD, and other technologies increases there will be a need for saving more and more large files. There are mechanisms in place for users of the CIS Unix systems to request increases in disk quotas. Also, instructors can request increases for all students in a course.
i would like to see more desktops using window instead of those apple machine. It seem that no one really ever use it so the school is just wasting their money with those machine.
It is true that the Windows machines get more use than the Mac OS X systems. Our own login statistics show that. We have been watching this carefully over the last several semesters. The Mac OS X machines can do somethings the Windows ones cannot, especially in the ares of graphics, audio, and video editing. We also have many users who do prefer the Mac machines of the 8946 unique users of the Clusters during the Fall semester, over 3500 of them used the Mac OS X systems, and 12% of these only used the Macs. We also have been watching the use per machine, and we see that the use of the Macs has increased by 9% in terms of logins per machines compared to the Fall 2004 semester while we are seeing an 8% decline in the same stat for the Windows machines. We will continue to adjust the ratio of machines based on the use we are seeing including putting machines in locations where they will get the most use.
Our thanks go to all of our users who took the time to provide this feedback. You can always feel free to let us know what you are thinking. The next round of this customer survey will be conducted during the Spring 2006 semester.