Findings from Fall 2001 UM.CourseTools Survey Michelle Bejian, UM Media Union Findings from UM.CourseTools Satisfaction Survey Fall 2001

Findings from Fall 2001 UM.CourseTools SurveyMichelle Bejian, UM Media Union

Findings from UM.CourseTools Satisfaction Survey

Fall 2001


Introduction

• 2,000 UMCT users responded to surveys– 1,137 undergraduate students– 653 graduate students– 15 instructors, 41 GSIs– 162 faculty

• Two surveys created in UM.Lessons– links posted from My Courses, My

Workspace, News & Info, and faculty email

• 12% response rate– given over 20,000 registered users


Overall findings

• Students/faculty both fairly satisfied– Mean satisfaction 4 of 5

• Students want more…– UMCT sites for their courses– Direct communication with class through

UMCT

• Faculty want more…– efficiencies in class and site administration– time to learn about features they don’t use


Some findings on faculty

• Faculty satisfaction is associated with– time-on-task– usefulness of online help– ability to find answers to CourseTools

questions– improved student-instructor interaction


Some findings on students• Student satisfaction is associated with

– Length of use– Frequency of use– Usefulness of online help– Keeping informed about the class– Availability of class resources– Frequency of problems using CourseTools


Length of use

05

10152025303540

< 1 semester1 semester

2-3 semesters3-4 semesters> 4 semesters

Percent

StudentsFaculty


Number of students in class

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

< 20 20-80 80-140 140-200 > 200

Percent

Faculty


Frequency of use

05

101520253035404550

1-2x/sem 4-5x/sem 6-8x/sem Everyclass

Daily

Percent

StudentsFaculty


Feature use - Schedule

• 25% don’t use it• Some reasons

why:– 11%: doesn’t

meet a course need or fit teaching style

– 9%: didn’t know about it

– 5%: doesn’t do what I want

05

10152025303540



Percent


Feature use - Announcements


why:– 5%: doesn’t meet

a course need or fit teaching style


05

10152025303540



Percent


Feature use - Assignments


why:– 19%: doesn’t fit

my teaching style or meet a course need


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35



Percent


Feature use - Resources

• 5% don’t use it• Most used feature• Not used because:


– 1%: too difficult– 1%: too slow– 1%: doesn’t fit my

teaching style or meet a course need

05

10152025303540



Percent


Feature use - Participant Profiles

• 45% don’t use• Least used feature• Some reasons why:


– 20%: doesn’t fit my teaching style or meet a course need

0

5

10

15

20

25



Percent


Feature use - Discussion

• 41% don’t use it• Second least used• Some reasons

why:– 30%: doesn’t fit

my teaching style or meet a course need

– 5% too difficult

0

5

10

15

20

25

30



Percent


Feature use - Help

• 21% don’t use it• Some reasons why:


– 4%: doesn’t fit my teaching style or meet a course need


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35



Percent


Support for teaching goals

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Hurts a lotHurts a littleNo differenceHelps a little

Helps a lot

Student-instructorinteractionStudent-student interaction

Feedback loop

Diverse learning

Time on task

Clear expectations

Active learning

Getting to know students


Help use & help-seeking behavior

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Ask AffiliateAsk colleagueAsk GSI/ProfOnline help

Email supportCall support

Go to site

Percent

StudentsFaculty


Major things faculty like best• Convenient place to post everything• Easy interface, standard across courses• Record of student coursework• No need to learn to maintain a website• No need to carry paper around• Saves time and money on copies,

coursepacks• “No excuse” for students not getting work

done


Major things faculty like least• Time-intensive to set up • Inflexible site look and organization• Hard to find answers in online help• Bugs in registering students for site access• Difficult to grade and set up schedule• Difficult to connect courses/sections• Slow access off-campus• Hard to transfer materials across semesters• Cumbersome, buried features


Major things faculty want to do• Set up email groups and automatic emails• Put Resources in any order• Keep electronic gradebook• Fast multimedia support for video files• More student content and group work• Anonymous feedback box or surveys• Access for users outside the University• Batch actions like uploading Resources or

grades


Major things students like best• Convenient, easy, user-friendly,

accessible, fun graphics for holidays• Electronic resources save time, paper,

and money• Personalized display of courses• Turning in assignments online• Getting lecture notes before class• Many course websites in one place


Major things students like least• Not all their faculty use it• Web address hard to remember• Slow access off-campus• Can’t easily find updated content• Limited printing, formatting problems• Login and timeout problems• Assignments, Discussion difficult to use• Faculty don’t use it uniformly


Major things students want to do • Get email when site is updated• Access all their courses• Chat, instant messaging, easy access to

email students and faculty• Link to electronic reserve materials• Discussion area students create and

control• Submit assignments online• View sites for courses they’re not enrolled

in


Limitations

• Representative quality of sample unclear– Response rate relatively low– majority of faculty respondents new users

• Qualitative responses not sorted by frequencies

• Need to mine further for details– Break apart “doesn’t meet a course need or

fit my teaching style”


Discussion of next steps

• Prioritize – user interface development– usability or user needs evaluation– training and support

• Continuing evaluation of satisfaction– using this data as a benchmark– Data available on UM.WorkTools site

Documents

Findings from Fall 2001 UM.CourseTools Survey Michelle Bejian, UM Media Union Findings from UM.CourseTools Satisfaction Survey Fall 2001