We have closed our 2005 student technology survey. We were pleased to receive completed surveys from 611 students, or approximately 75% of the student body (up from 461 students in 2004). My sincere thanks to all of the students who took the time to take the survey, and to the fraternity presidents, RAs, the Sphinx Club, and everyone else who helped promote and encourage participation in the survey.
The winner of the Sony PSP gaming system, selected by random computer drawing, is Paul Cameron. Congratulations, Paul!
Complete survey results will be posted to our web site (www.wabash.edu/technology) later this month, but you may be interested in some preliminary results:
94.1% of students report that they have their own computer at Wabash.
51.4% of those computers are laptops (this is the first year that the number of laptops exceeded the number of desktops).
94.8% of student computers run Microsoft Windows, 4.7% Apple Macintosh, and 0.5% Linux.
49.5% of students have a digital camera, 40.4% an iPod or other MP3 music player, and 25.2% have a scanner.
98.2% of students check their Wabash email account at least daily (90.3% report "several times each day").
99.3% of students used a computer lab this year. The Library PC Lab led the way, with 94.3% of students using that lab. Other heavily used facilities are the Lilly Reference area (79%), Armory Lab (72.5%) and the Media Center (62.1%).
54% of students think there are not enough computers in the Armory Lab. 34% think we need more computers in the Media Center, and 23% think we need more in the Lilly PC Lab.
56.7% of students have their home page set to the Wabash home page, and 21.1% the Webmail login page.
85% of students visit the Wabash web site daily. 88% use Blackboard at least once a week.
82.9% of students own a cell phone.
47.7% of students have their Wabash phone number programmed to ring into their room. Only 9.2% of students check their voice mail daily, while 60.5% report they never check their Wabash voice mail.
93.1% of students use an instant messenger service. AOL Instant Messenger was the most popular, with 89.3% of students using that service.
13.8% of students keep an on-line journal or blog.
To reach students within one day with an important message, 96% of students reported they could be reached in time via Wabash email address; 64.2% via personal cell phone number; and 49.8% via instant messenger. Only 17.5% reported they could be reached in time via Wabash phone number, and 7.6% via Wabash voice mail.
The survey included several open-ended "comment" questions; in all, students provided 436 written comments. While it will take some time to process all comments, some recurring requests include:
Thanks again to all who participated.