IT Services conducted our 2006-07 student technology survey in December 2006. We were pleased to receive completed surveys from 631 students, or nearly 75% of the student body. IT Services would like to extend our 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.
Highlights of the 2006 technology survey are listed below. You can also view a four-year comparison showing data from 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2006-07.
96% of students report that they have their own computer at Wabash. 5.2% have more than one computer.
71% of those computers are laptops (up from 63% last year).
91% of student computers run Microsoft Windows, and 10% run Apple Macintosh
94% of Wabash students own a cell phone, 56% have a digital camera, 77% have an iPod or other MP3 music player, and 64% have handheld or console gaming system.
98% of students check their Wabash email account at least daily (92% report "several times each day").
100% of students use Blackboard (56% in 3 or more classes), 91% use Facebook, and 35% use MySpace.
New to the 2006-07 technology survey, one question asked students to identify and rank their top five technology initiatives, from a list of twelve. Students chose expanding wireless network access to dorms and fraternities as the most important initiative, and provide low-cost commercial software to students as the second most important initiative. Other items in the top five were (#3) increase Internet bandwidth, (#4) increase the number of computers accessible 24 hours, day, and (#5) provide all students a College-issued laptop or tablet computer (#5). The complete rankings are available here.
Wabash students report strong satisfaction across the range of technology services. The following table shows student satisfaction (ranking of "excellent" or "good") in four primary areas. Results from the 2005-06 survey are included for comparison.
% Excellent or Good rating, by category 2005-06 2006-07 Computer Labs 92.2% 93.9% Web Site 70.1% 79.5% Network Services 73.3% 92.8% Overall Assessment 85.7% 94.5%
As the table shows, gains were made in each area. Most notable was the improved rating for network services, which is likely in response to the campus-wide email upgrade done in June 2006, expanded wireless networking, and increased Internet bandwidth installed in November 2006. The complete satisfaction ratings are available here.