Information Technology Services User Satisfaction Survey 2006



Information Technology Services User Satisfaction Survey 2007

Indiana University - Bloomington

Open Text Responses (Edited)

Indiana University Center for Survey Research

This text file includes responses to the final question of the UITS survey: Are there any additional comments you would like to make about University Information Technology Services?

Identifying references have been removed from this document and replaced with [IRD]. Case IDs have also been removed from this document. Responses are grouped by sample: Faculty, Staff, Graduate Students, and Undergraduate students.

Faculty

The biggest problem I have is knowning where to go to find an answer to question. I can rarely navigate to the same place twice.

The teaching classrooms need to have microphones. HPER 13, in particular; It is hard for me to speak loud enough in such a long room. I have checked one out, and that worked well but it would be most convenient if they were just built into all the class rooms. Thanks for your consideration. Other than that, I have yet to make use of all the many wonderful features that Uits has. But thanks for the continual upgrades.

The Oncourse CL system needs to be made cleaner and less cumbersome for students to use, especially those using it at a distance. I can't tell you how many problems I've had with using it as a distance ed tool. My IU students are resigned to it, but don't like it. My non-IU students keep asking me why we don't use another, more user friendly system and they, quite honestly, loathe it. Instead of moving toward greater transparency, where the system becomes more intuitive in its design, Oncourse seems to become more clumsy, with far too many screens for students to click through to get to where they need to be. I find the system fatiguing to work in--something I never thought I'd say, after over a decade of web-based instruction, about the technology.

Obviously I do not make a great deal of use of UITS services. In terms of computer technology support, I rely on HPER Technology Services rather than UITS directly. I am very satisfied with HPER Technology Services.

The recent upgrade to MDSS is timely, needed, and appreciated. Communication about the upgrade process and subsequent problems (with sftp, for example) was not very good. Direct email answers to my inquiries was very good. I would like to see more transparency in the way that MDSS operates, in terms of the services it provides and does not provide, the problems it experiences, etc. Many units such as mine rely completely on MDSS, yet we don't have a clear idea of exactly how the data is protected, whether there is a disaster plan in place, whether any modeling of potential threats has ever been done along with procedures for recovery, etc.

Several of our researchers need to transfer large amounts of data very quickly. I am told that the current campus infrastructure does not allow fast enough transfers between the massive data storage system and their personal servers.

This survey was very long. A progress bar or an estimate of how long it was going to take is called for. I nearly quit before I got to the research computing section. I do not teach and am not a student, so several sections were not applicable.

7-Zip File Manager provided by IU is not able to unzip the files (.hqx) from the DNA sequencing facility (Biology) and I had to buy WinZip to be able to do that. Perhaps some improvement could be done on that program.

The only real complaint is the FIS system. I don't use it in my new position, but when I used it the prior three years it was the most outdated, slow system. It looks and behaves like something out of the '80's. I know that security is needed but that SafeCard nonsense is ridiculous. [IRD]

This survey was way too #@$%* long !

Here's an incomplete list of areas where UITS needs to concentrate more effort: - Moving to a Google Search appliance for web search was a very good thing. The people who

configured it apparently know very little about it, or purposefully configured it in such a way to return useless results. Searching directly on yields more accurate results about IU pages. - The name space for UITS related websites is a complete disaster. iu.edu, indiana.edu, uits.iu.edu, uits.indiana.edu, etc. UITS sub-groups have their own websites, sometimes hosted as . The name space needs to be consistent. When these groups migrate their pages/links, they need to work and not be broken. - The webmaster(s) that create the "standard" UITS web page layout must still be stuck in a 640x480 mentality. For example, the font size at does not scale appropriately for different screen sizes. The red on yellow/white is a terrible contrast. - The Knowledge Base has lots of useful information and it is nice to see that UITS sub-groups are starting to link to specific relevant entries. However, doing generic top-level searches directly from can yield far too many results. Use the keyword 'wireless mac' as an example, which returns 3 pages of results. This is too overwhelming for most end-users

users really should have an option to choose their email user-name FOR FREE

The major problem I have is with the IUwebmail during peak use hours. Noon and 5 pm. During these times, it is almost impossible to quickly access my email account and I cannot send attachments that contain data from other labs because of the long lag time.

I think a seperate designated server area (correct term?) should be set aside for faculty and Staff use ONLY so that student use of the IUwebmail system does not impede Faculty and Staff use.

Wish I knew more about what is offered.

UITS staff are amazing!

to broad the covering of wireless service

Overall the technology I have used has functioned well.

Please improve (or scrap) Oncourse CL. Also, IUCAT is improving but is there any way to further improve the interface? I still have to go through multiple authorization screens to access the database.

Electronic access to the library is absolutely fantastic.

Since I have many good experiences with UITS and such bad ones with CITO, perhaps UITS can take over CITO completely? It's really odd that I have to rely on CITO for some stuff and UITS for others. They should be all one unit.

The format of some of the questions on this survey were was incomprehensible, hence I could not respond. In general UITS has been helpful. Telephone support is up and down depending upon who answers the phone.

Although personally, I have had great help each time I contacted UITS personnel, I have responded to most of these survey questions in reference to the project I am working with this year: Indiana Reading Academy Project. In the fall semester we registered over 600 teachers across Indiana to participate in an online 2-semester course in conjunction with a partnership with the IDOE and Reading First. It was a nightmare getting teachers accepted into the itaccounts system. Even though we had spoken to people at UITS, they still did not understand what was going on and the teachers' feedback was similar in that they were not being helped in the steps to follow to get an itaccounts or any of a variety of their tech difficulties. Granted, many of these teachers were stretched to their technological-max point, however, there were so many problems such as teachers who had been in the IU system before but did not have a password--or know their password. We need to get together next summer and work this out so that everyone is on the same page. Due to the difficulties in itaccounts, 130 teachers dropped the course! There has to be a better way to handle this (from both sides). [IRD]

I could use more space in my e-mail inbox. Even with auto-archiving, I do not have enough room. I have phoned UITS about this and been told I have the maximum size allowed.

Oncourse CL is in need of signnificant improvement. The interface is confusing and the usability is poor. I am an expert in usability, and have observed numerous problems and complaints about CL. The worst part of CL is the Discussion tool (part of Message Center). It is awful, and impairs our distance students who MUST have a good discussion tool. The interface to the discussion tool is literally baffling to DOCTORAL and MASTERS students in order to do simple things such as find a post, edit it (impossible), or make an attachment to a post. The Oncourse CL discussion tool was so bad that students preferred to use Discus Pro in my class last summer. The discussion tool actually has a serious bug. Sometimes the bottom part of the display fails to show, and so you don't know what to do. If you click refresh, then it will "suddenly" appear. But why do you need to click refresh to make it work at all? But in general the discussion tool is simply awful. Simply awful. Really bad. Not OK. Hello? Fix it!!! The CL interface is very difficult and next to impossible to use in 800x600 resolution on laptops with small screens. You really need a 17-inch or higher display in 1024x768 to read and navigate CL. The real problem is the windows-within-windows concept that forces awkward layouts and excessive scrolling within small windows -- Onestart is similarly impaired. Those programmers with their 21-inch monitors probably don't notice. But the thousands of users who have smaller display devices that must be run in lower resolutions in order to simply READ the screen are screwed. Make Oncourse work on my cell phone, and then you'll get it right--it needs to scale up and down for different size displays. For a humorous, embarrassing and sad example of the problems created by this interface design, see: [IRD] On a positive note, the ability to form projects in CL is excellent. This has been very helpful for creating research groups.

Have some refresher sessions for faculty who have been here a while but have not been in the loop about newer developments, rather thank workshops that teach only the cutting edge technologies.

Maybe more classes to teach us how to use Internet resources such as Cute writer and software of this sort. Thank you and have a great weekend coming up.

I've stopped bragging about IU's IT to my colleagues at other universities, in large part because they just don't believe things are as good as I say. And I continually discover new things and improvements that make my life easier and my work more productive and effective. Are there areas for improvement? Sure, but they seem to be addressed routinely, so my concerns rarely go unaddressed. Keep up the great work!

I experience difficulty providing a solid evaluation or feedback because I am not aware of all that IT provides to professors in the school of education. Sometimes there are things that the school of education staff provide that may limite my interaction with IT directly. It would be nice to know how off campus access to files on the U:drive would be possible. These sorts of questions are probably easy to answer, though, I have not pursued the answers.

The print quota for faculty at STC's is unreasonably low considering the demands of teaching and research, which require printing at the main library and other campus locations at times.

I wish there were an easy way to download basic software/upgrades on my office computer without having to contact my CITO representative.

very impressive institution in terms of technology services. Would be nice to have a six wall CAVE in Bloomington with 4K projectors.

The computer Support Services are a godsend. Thank you!

It would be nice to be able to submit pink enrollment verification rosters online.

I might be useful for UITS to poll faculty on issues such as voice mail or OnCourse to determine desired features instead of going to a new system and telling the faculty that this is what they will now use. The first version of new oncourse was not useful, yet UITS told us all that we had to go with it (and then opt out). The new voice mail, although probably powerful, is another good example. Who conceived of this?? The most commonly used options are at the end of a long list of possible options (I know them now), and it takes more options to simply listen to a voice mail and delete it than it did before. Bottom line, get input before telling the campus to change, and then solicit input and consider it after making a major change.

As indicated above, the one real problem that I have encountered is the new oncourse system. Last I tried, there were still serious problems for example with the gradebook and it's also extremely user-unfriendly. I even took a class and still have trouble managing some functions. The old system was just perfectly fine. Any chance we can go back to some of the old features? (Sorry to be so defaitist.)

Please increase our server size for email folders. Please increase the timeout period for reminders while using Outlook Web Access. The setting is for every 10 minutes or so and unless something is forthcoming it is very disruptive and slows home-based web access. Great job intergrating voicemail with email. I love this feature.

I strongly dislike the new voicemail system.

The continuous changes in Oncourse are very annoying. I prefer to have a system which is not perfect, but I can handle. We found very difficult to have access to the computer facilities for calculation. Although the staffs are very helpful, the system is not useful. Our jobs spend a significant time in the queue to be purge at the end of the month before they even started. This happen so many times that we decide to get our own computers for calculations.

telephone advice very variable in both content and particularly in tone. Some advisors very good at thinking through possibilities. others both both abrupt and too inclined to give up, or go for some crude solution.

I was out of the country (in China) recently and my password was corrupted. I could not get my password reset by phone through UITS help. The support person [IRD] was rude and not very helpful. I do not believe he is suited for online help work. I even had my administrative assistant on the line trying to help. The result was that I was not able to check my e-mail at all from March 8-18 and missed several important work-related messages. I was very disappointed with our services at this time. This was an unusual experience in an otherwise very helpful service experience.

I don't know much about computers, but I do know the most important thing of all: 5-6789.

In the past year, I've called that number only about 4 times, but every time it was because I had a major problem. And EVERY time, the consultant rose to the challenge. Sometimes, the answer came quickly, but sometimes there was long trial-and-error-and coax, but every time I felt that the consultant on the phone would give full effort to find a solution. The consultant always found the solution, but, you know, I appreciate the effort as much as I appreciate the solution.

Thank you very, very much.

Please provide more convenient access to the massive data storage from Windows computers.

Memory allowed for Outlook certainly inadequate.

Download speed (for large databases, e.g., 2gb and more) seems to be lacking compared to other universities. (e.g., it takes over an hour to download about 2gb of data here, while it would take 7-8 minutes at my previous institution, even though both universities are in the Internet2 group, and so is the data source).

Someone needs to check the computers in the classrooms more often. I have frequently encountered minor problems with these computers at the start of the day. Otherwise, terrific job!

I have called into 855-6789 (during the day) with an OnCourse question and have received a different response each time I call or have a student call (with the same question). There needs to be consistent help given each time.

Portable carts are very unreliable. However, the technical support personnel are very competent and responsive.

There should be surveys specific to oncourse. I believe there is a large group that dislike oncourse cl. Additionally I know of major flaws and lack of functionality but rarely are end-users asked, and when asked, no one seems to be listening. I know of people that will be developing alternatives to Oncourse CL if the "original" oncourse is shut down. Other than Oncourse and PeopleSoft - UITS has been great. The people I talk with are the best.

Terrible IT orientation when I started; no one told me about One Start or the other services available on One Start, including even how to create an email account. I had to ask and the information I got back from my department was not helpful. I still am not sure which services on One Start I should use (esp. around FIS) and the emails sent out about electronic W2, etc had no context for a new faculty member. The law school IT team is nice but slow to respond to problems or special needs of my office (clinical -- dealing with real clients). The phone equipment also doesn't make sense for an office that deals with the public a lot. Multiple lines for our receptionist would be nice to have. More operational phone lines for student attorneys would be, too. No one at the law school knew about the teleconferencing service the Switchboard offers -- I wish I'd known earlier as I have to do conference calls a lot.

I am very proud of IU's IT infrastructure and support and thankful to be a researcher on a campus that recognizes the value of information technology in teaching and research.

My sent items don't show up automatically in Outlook like they do for hotmail and other email accounts. This survey should have branched so that users only answer relevant questions and aren't click N/A on entire pages.

I'm generally satisfied with the state of technology at IU insofar as I need it, but here are a few gripes: The PeopleSoft registration/waitlist system continues to be a source of no end of aggravation. Oncourse CL is an improvement over original Oncourse, but still has odd glitches and frustrating limitations. When I tried to report three of them, I received a response that addressed one of the three inadequately, and didn't even mention the other two. I don't understand why the new IUCAT interface encourages users to log in. It's just an extra step, and for what most of us do on IUCAT 99 percent of the time, a completely unnecessary one.

My e-mail account will eventually not be big enough, since I need to keep so many messages from students for record-keeping purposes. I wish there were a way to download an entire folder; it's too cumbersome to download individual messages to save them.

Allow the Music Library to have its own search engine for its catalogue. The new iucat is particularly useless for this library. The needs of the School of Music are very specialized and the general iucat search engine is pointless.

IUCAT is impossible and the library resources are not fully catalogued, or are organized in such a way that it is often difficult to find what you are looking for. There is still too much spam in our email, even with the filter, and the system (webmail) is frequently slow, or not working at all.

There are often malfunctions with online forms such as updating affiliates that do not get recorded properly, necessitating several attempts to get the info right. The support staff, however, is excellent, always helpful and nice. Sometimes, however, one has to wait a long time to get through to a consultant per phone.

PLEASE extend the wireless service to the College Mall and other residential areas where students stay during the school year. Make Bloomington as one of the best "connected" city in the US.

No

My only ***serious*** complaint is that frequently there are large delays in receiving email on my indiana.edu account. Over break, for example, I had a delay of an outside message by almost 3 weeks. Delays of several hours or a day are not unusual. This is extremely frustrating and has adversely affected getting work done (missed deadlines, etc.)

Improve the quality of voice mail and long distance service.

I came to know that I had not used many of the services provided by UITS. I will try to make use of them fully.

Oncourse CL is good but can still be improved. I strongly dislike the Unified Messaging System; I preferred the old voicemail.

entering grades in onestart is a total joke. I would enter a few grades, click save, and it would do some updating and erase some of my grades. I tried to capture a movie of this happening, but the movie didn't save for some reason. If it had, it would have been a classic. This interface is BROKEN. At least oncourse cl works (and if oncourse is your fallback, you are really temping fate). Otherwise I couldn't be more pleased with support here at IU.

When making changes please consider existing hardware/software limitations. For example, changing access to various servers (by excluding older OS) cost us 4 months of research time and $50,000 in computer hardware/software upgrades. Your advice "to upgrade" was not at all helpful.

-- UITS telephone helpline is wonderful -- nicest people on campus. -- Wish the library had not changed their portal: takes more clicks now. -- Why is it more difficul to get Outlook to do stuff from home? Makes using email system from home very frustrating - wish the systems were same. -- Stat/Math center a big joke: they can sell me a software CD but could not help me with my statistical research needs. I needed somebody to help me do a particular statistical test. I got shunted around to three people, and nobody really seemed motivated to help. Attitudes were negative, even contempuous. This was one year ago, and this is first time anyone has asked me to provide customer service feedback!! I strongly suggest you start getting them to do customer service surveys like UITS does, and also to holding them accountable for the findings.

N/A

1. Oncourse CL is the bane of my teaching life because it promises so much and then routinely fails to deliver. It has improved since it was first introduced, but the improvements have come too slowly, and failure is still routine. A favorite example: I used Oncourse-CL to send a time-sensitive message to my class about an assignment. How clever that I can post an announcement, and email my students at the same time! Unfortunately, the email was not received for over 18 hours. Students who did not by chance look at the Oncourse website missed the info.

2. Oncourse CL is far too limited as a research environment. It is very much a step down from previous centralized storage facilities because I cannot directly access data stored in CL. I have to download it first. Extra step, extra time.

3. UITS put in place VPN-IPSEC knowing full well that it still doesn't work. It doesn't work. I was forced to switch from VPN-PPTP at home south of campus, and the following symptoms have become routine:

a) Outlook says the exchange server is not available, when VPN-IPSEC is continuously connected. I know this because I will get the error message at home, log into my desktop using RDP, use my Outlook email, disconnect, and try Outlook again, only to get the same error message.

b) RDP has failed on several occasions, with an excruciatingly long wait in the connection window, only to bounce back to whatever applications are available on the desktop. No error message, nothing. This never happened before. The first time I had to reboot my desktop! Other times RDP mysteriously starts working again after VPN is disconnected and reconnect.

c) As compared to my desktop access to a departmental LAN server in Sociology, my VPN access is so slow that MS applications appears to time out altogether. Microsoft Word, for example, has come back to tell me that the document is not available. Again, the solution is to use RDP and then EMAIL THE FILE TO MYSELF. This is just silly, and a time drain.

4. I'm sad to report that the still-very-cheerful and helpful staff at the UITS help center 5-6789 are much more likely than ever before to confess complete ignorance about fixes to problems. Maybe they are doing too much - but the training could improve.

This survey would be better with a progress bar to indicate remaining questions.

Need a class or tutorial in how to best use Onestart/Oncourse to enhance our teaching and would like to find a tutorial or course for those of us not as computer savvy to help us create a faculty webpage.

Staff

I think it would be useful to employees for UITS to offer one-on-one training for Dreamweaver. More classes regarding editing should be offered as well.

I like the new voice mail service except I have to use headphones to listen to the messages because they are sensitive and can't be heard by all who enter the room. I am in an open office with student traffic.

PLEASE upgrade staff members' email inbox limits to more than 100 Megabytes of disk space!!! Even my free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail) both have a 1GB minimum size limit. I receive lots of emails with attachments for work. 100 MB doesn't go far these days! When I started working for IU 6 years ago, it was a cutting edge space limit. It's never been upgraded to keep up with current needs. This needs to be addressed soon!!

I am really, really annoyed with the loud noise in the silent computer clusters in the info commons. Group work and cell phone usage should be stopped.

I thought this survey asked an overwhelming number of questions from so many diverse areas that I found it hard to respond to. I'm not sure about the use of the data you compile from this survey.

- University instant messaging system for faculty/staff collaboration

Technology is wonderful when it works and it functions as a true support to human needs. A number of technological initiatives that are being put in place on the IU campus are having the technology dictate the need and we humans are having to adapt. Leaving some needs unattended because the technology can not accomodate. Before further technological initiatives occur, I hope more serious, thorough thought is done to understand human nature ramifications. For instance: What students have to go through to find and review courses to register is an awkward, clunky approach with OneStart and the Registrar's Web site. It's a long way from us winning any awards for a technological savvy campus.

The two things that I ranked the lowest deserve comment. The search feature on the IU web pages is absolutely miserable. There should be a ranking system that allows the user to narrow their search to "related items" if the first search provides too many choices. In addition, if a user types in a search term that is an office, that office (e.g. "bursar") should bring up the Office of the Bursar as the first choice... not the third or fourth. The other item that I ranked poorly was the telephone system. The new voice mail does not work well. It is slow enough that I hit the digit 1 too many times and the message goes into saved mail. I feel that I have to be totally vigilant. Also, when I do not have messages, I cannot seem to figure out what my mailbox number is when I'm supposed to enter it at the prompt. My five digit extension doesn't seem to work, nor does my seven digit. I think I've even tried it with my area code, which is seems is what the system thinks it has to tell me every time I retrieve my messages. The new system seems too "stiff" and digital to make it user friendly. I've had to call myself from another number to be able to change my out of the office message... and then it only lets me choose a computerized message. I cannot record something that sounds like a real person who cares about being gone from the office.

You didn't inquire about video conferencing services. I think the staff at VICOPS [IRD] are wonderful. Scheduling can sometimes be difficult but the troubleshooting [IRD] provides is outstanding. I use video meetings more than once a month. I think you should consider adding some questions to future surveys about the video conferencing capabilities.

I hate the old Cortelco phones! I don't like the decrease in functionality of Outlook Web Access.

OneStart is a great resource but it can be difficult to find something as there are so many tabs and links that it becomes confusing.

You are doing a good job. There is always room for improvement, but as long as IUB stays up with technology you can not much more. Thanx

Wireless/VPN connection capacities seem to be maxed out during class sessions where students use laptops such as business graduate school settings.

Thanks for helping me out...UITS is like my "On-Star"

The IUIE is a mess

my only interaction with UITS was not a positive experience. I was on the phone with 3 different people and on hold several times before anyone told me that changing your password to initially log on to Onestart changes all campus passwords and thus had me locked out of all other computing. It was the simplest answer that was overlooked and when someone figured it out, they acted like I was supposed to know that and were rather degrading in their attitude.

UITS is doing a phenominal job! Never had any problems! Thanks for making it easy on us!!!

No

Personally, my computer is quite slow but I consider that that is not UITS's fault. Also the SIS service is quite cumbersome and makes you perform several searches whereas in the previous, one page would yield all the information required (the old RQ89).

OnCourse CL is a joke. It's two steps backwards after *years* of development.

Fix OnCourse so that it makes sense and is usable.

This survey is far too long! I almost gave up from frustration and the fact that so many questions didn't apply to me and probably more so for other people since I am an LSP.

The room in the IUB library is extremely hot in there. It made it very uncomfortable when I take classes over there. Can someone let them know it was probally 80 degrees in there the last two classes.

Please offer podcasting courses via STEPS

The Steps classes I've been to have been excellent.

Most systems are not intuitive and require memorization of steps not frequently taken in order to obtain results. Sometimes queries within one environment require the same information keyed in differently. I've used FIS longer and am just more familiar with it but it took some time as well. Each system seems to function differently.

The IU portal is a sore spot for usability and accessibility. The link organization works in a way that IU I believe is trying to get away from. That is: fiefdoms of disorganized technology services.

Even so, Technology services is overall good.

We desperately need more space on the Exchange Servers. Hotmail gmail and other free mail services offer gigabytes of storage. IU on the other hand is pushing unified messaging with a 100mb of storage. We desperately need a storage upgrade to Exchange.

The main issue I have as an LSP is that the VPN is extremly flakey. Especially the IPSEC. I have went back to using PPTP because IPSEC is not stable. Response from the Email team seems a little slow also.

The service we have is wonderful. All the people I have dealt with are very nice.

The instructions for the new UMS system for office lines, not personal lines, are deplorable. The vast majority of IU personnel have no idea what "off hook" means. These instructions need to be run by a usability expert. I had to make three calls to get our UMS system up and running. I did not mind the calls, just the instructions that were emailed to us that were not in laymans terms.

Outlook Web Access on a Macintosh isn't the best user experience and I'm using the latest version of Max OS X. I wish there were classes that covered all the functions of Photoshop. I've taken all the courses UITS offers and there are still tools and menus that are not used (at all) or enough in class to prepare you to use them on the job. The instructors are good and what is presented is good -- it's just an issue of product scope, I guess. Thank you.

All campus staff office telephones should have accessibility to voice mail/messaging service.

More technology labs or laptop access in student areas such as in Memorial Union or in academic advising areas - in places where students are "waiting" or "gathering". Every building should have a least one computer station access area with a minimum a 2 or 3 computers or access for laptops.

Keep up the great work. We want IU to stay on top!

Knowledge Base used to be more helpful. I don't know if my problems have changed so that it's less useful or that the content has changed so that it's less useful.

UITS is to be commended for the way that they communicate updates/ possible service interruptions. The monthly update e-mails are also appreciated. Doing a very good job in computing services.

1. Improve performance for administrative systems, especially SIS. 2. Set aside more resources for system functionality enhancements.

I don't have any other IT services to which to compare IU's IT service, but considering the complexity and electronic equipment in general, a few glitches are expected. It think UITS is very good. My only disappointment is that Mac computers are not more widely supported. Security would probably be less worrisome if the campus were mostly Macintosh.

You guys are great.

Consider this: The University maintains an office of publications to assure that the printed image of the institution is of high quality, reasonably standardized, and professionally designed and edited. Could a unit be created within UITS to furnish web design for University units that is also creative, integrated, and of the highest technology appropriate quality in terms of design. At this time every department is hiring their own, and, depending on what they can afford to pay, we have many different "looks", with varying degrees of utility. Thanks, and thank you for the software CD. [IRD]

I feel there is a bias toward whiz-bang techie features over understanding user and businsess needs . For instance, new initiatives take staffing precedence over fixing holes in PeopleSoft or the FIS. There seems to be an attitude of design it in the abstract and then worry about performance. The Kuali project is an example of this. So was the design of decision support. The managers made an assumption about what users wanted--canned reports. It turned out to be erroneous: ad hoc queries were more important. The staff (with limited resources) ahs been working hard to fix performance and data organization issues ever since. Performance was also an after-thought in the database architecture. Again, the attitude seemed to be design it first in the abstract, then throw hardware at it to make it more usable. I don't fault the expertise or commitment of the staff. I simply think UITS as a whole is more interested in technology for its own sake than it is in trying to understand sometimes inadequately articulated user needs and fitting the solutions to those needs.

I HATE the new voice mail....the old style worked just fine.

Thanks for asking for my input.

The search function on the indiana.edu or iub.edu needs to be improved. It brings up articles and non-related webpages. When I am searching for academic calendar on the IUB website, it brings up everything but what I am looking for. This features needs to be assessed and revised.

Would like to see more evening workshops for full time employees.

My local tech guys know nothing about Mac's and are not a help. When they get off off their behinds and out from in front of the TV, They still offer little support. I go directly to the phone help to avoid all of this.

Finding relevant info has been iffy in the past. Make sure folks know that the blogs are where the important stuff is. Teach courses that relate more directly to the IU environment rather than having to sit through boring chapters on Windows and Mac Services that are not of use in the IU environment, the really juicy stuff comes out only in questions and asides. Why not have qualifications for workstation support, tests that are specific to the IU space, not MS or Mac qualifying exams? How about approaching the problem of tech heads trying to help people, and they have have no training on people skills (how often I have heard of users having to jump through hoops because "it is easier" for the tech guy). This is the wrong approach, we should be making things easier for our users, even if it it harder for us! Can't this be taught?

No comments

The new voice mail services was not very professi.onally explained and installed. We received emails with a blank subject line. When I questioned this on the phone - I was told they were too busy to fill in the subject line about the new system. Many, many people didn't read the email and deleated it because they thought it was spam. Additionally, the communication was so non-professional, I questioned its valitity. I hope this helps.

In the library - the student who assisted me with a computer question had no idea the answer to my question so he brushed me off. He was spending time with students but didn't have the time to answer the question coming from a 50ish woman - asking it for the benefit of a Distinguished Professor. He completely brushed me off.

PeopleSoft system remain a disaster and a nightmare to use. The IUIE as a reporting environment remains a train wreck.

I often check my business email and respond to email from several locations (home, work, laptop, etc.), and there have been many, many times when I've needed to reference a response that I sent to someone, but my emails sent from my IU accts don't automatically save to all of my IU sent folders. I don't know if it's possible to address this, but I imagine I'm not alone in my desire to have access to my sent emails from multiple locations. And I don't care for using webmail unless absolutely necessary because the interface is a bit slow and awkward.

First, make comments box for each section of the survey. It seems that some services (steel, pine) are being ignored in favor or newer 'sexier' initiatives. The recent decision to integrate voice mail with email is a poor one, I think. And pushing out a message that one cannot bypass regarding the change is really annoying. It seems that all too often, support for LSPs is slow in coming and UITS reps lack expertise on which LSPs need to draw. This brings me to training... There needs to be more and MUCH deeper training made available to both UTIS personel and to LSPs. -- Things like multi-day workshops on dtrace, tomcat security and performance tuning, large scale database deployment and maintenance.... Think Big Nerd Ranch type offerings. Then go beyond those. Offering Adobe software on iuware would be nice. Closing the stats/math center and offering those applications on iuware (and not as a one-year lease) would be great. A site license agreement for Apple software would be great as well. LSP tech talks should be much more in-depth when technology related and they could also be used as semi-open forums for policy discussion. An on-campus, university run repair depot would be fantastic. Dell support contracts are hardly worth the electrons used to create the image on screen. Mabye UITS could adopt the service that is left and bring back what was lost since the physical plant is not interested.

I would have liked more information and instructions as we switched to the new voice mail system that goes directly to the computer. The information given to us as we switched seemed inadequate to me. We never got new telephone directories this year, until I got copies from someone who had extras.

Addendum/explanation of responses to question (#6 on pdf version) about e-mail service:

I've been satisfied with Cyrus mail, which I access with Eudora on a Mac, but I've recently also opened an Exchange account in order to share calendar functionality, and discover that I'm not happy trying to manage both accounts, particularly on the Exchange side, and particularly since I'd like to stick with Eudora as an interface, since I've used it for years. I use Entourage--which doesn't really appear as a possible answer in your survery, by the way, and which I don't particularly like--or Outlook Web Access to go against the Exchange server. (I realize Eudora is no longer fully supported as a mail handler; that's no doubt the source of my disappointment.)

Webmail, which I use from home, is a clunky interface, but passable or OK; the same seems true of Outlook Web Access. I'm disappointed that Eudora seems not to work with the Exchange server--I can't get mine to delete messages (even with the consultation of good departmental support). The Knowledge Base _says_ I should be able to redirect mail from Exchange to Cyrus (redirect as oppose to forward), but that doesn't really appear to be an option on any Mac interface I've tried. I'd prefer to be able to run everything through the Cyrus side, and use Eudora as my interface. By the way, I preferred the earlier version of the SPAM quarantine service; otherwise, the current SPAM quarantine seems pretty good.

I run a couple of Listserv lists, and it seems harder to get help with problems now that my messages don't go straight to the Listserv administrators. Instead I get "canned" responses from the general IT help staff, who aren't familiar with Listserv, so those responses don't usually help. I then have to ask that my problem be forwarded to someone who works specifically with Listserv, which means a slower response time. The same is true to some extent with general problems; I'm an advanced enough user that I've already tried to solve my own problems with the Knowledge Base or other online sites before I contact UITS, so once I do contact you, it's because I need more targeted help. And, finally, I have been frustrated in the past by being told that I need to go through my departmental IT person to get an answer about a problem. We are a very small unit, and our IT person has to do a lot more than IT. Thus I'm usually more experienced than whoever is officially in charge of IT here, so going through that person is a step backward for me.

In general, though, I'm really happy with the quality of IT service here.

threat warnings and outage notices need to get out faster to limit duplication of reporting accross campuses and in offices.

I think UITS needs to take a more holistic look at its web infrastructure. Your web servers need to be brought up to date, including the versions of MySQL and PHP they are running. You need to get away from running PHP as a CGI. Users need to either be able to install their own versions of software like PHPMyAdmin or Joomla! CMS. The IT Training group should offer some classes in PHP/MySQL since it is the Web hosting/development infrastructure the university supplies.

A side note on this survey. It would be helpful to have some sort of progress indicator. It is hard to determine how long to budget to do the survey when you have no idea how far you are through it. I saved and exited one time and when I returned it started me at the beginning again. I had to click through all of the screens I'd already filled out. Thanks for providing the survey and thanks for the excellent work that UITS does overall. While I may have gripes in certain areas I give UITS an "A" grade overall.

The new Concerto system needs work. It is vague and it is sometimes very difficult to discern the units of measure and price per unit. Sometimes pictures are not shown of what we need. Things that were once available through Corporate Express have increased in price dramatically and we are having a very hard time finding substitutes for those items. I have spent a lot of time on the phone with Purchasing, and they have generally been unable to help and have instructed me to call Concerto, where the customer service leaves something to be desired. I was hung up on and had to call back and still never got answers to our questions.

Thanks for asking. I'm not as big a user as some whom I don't believe have been selected for the survey. Is there a way to self select to participate in the survey? I think this would be a good idea to give all users the option to participate if desired.

In all my years at IU, I have NEVER come across a UITS representative who was unable to provide the help I needed in a prompt, professional, respectful and courteous manner. Thank you.

Of all the systems and services UITS has, the one that gives me and the people in my office the biggest pain is the Peoplesoft program that we use for payroll and HR documents. It seems that the system is always going down or it is usually extremely slow to respond.

wireless in the union can be mysterious for hotel guests. my own laptop often doesn't work there. and i have never ever gotten a satisfactory answer to any computer question i put to the 5-6789 guys.

I am too busy to keep doing surveys. I don't want to participate anymore.

Undergraduate

you should make configering wireless easier

OneStart still continues to be negatively geared toward Apple computer usage, which is extremely inconvenient. Also, wireless points on campus are also hard to access, but maybe its just my computer.

I think the programs I use through the University Information Technology Serivces are very helpful but I'm sure the ones I haven't used yet are just as good. The only critism I have is that when first learning about all the programs it does seem very overwhelming and confusing. After a few times of using each one it is very easy to catch on.

The old Oncourse had a better interface, loaded faster, was easier to navigate. The old Insite-based system was much easier to use to plan class schedules. Scheduling is a nightmare for me because I have to check (it seems like) 10 different pages to find out if I can take one class. The Onestart-based scheduler is slow, unintuitive, and frustrating to use. I would rather register for classes the OLD way, waiting in lines in Franklin Hall, than go through another round of Onestart class scheduling.

i have a very hard time finding wireless availability anywhere in the fine arts building. the finarts library isn't hard, but anywhere else it's almost impossible.

The STC labs should have staplers in them.

It would be helpful if we had access to wireless in our dorm rooms.

The phone service is a bit complicated. Some sort of revision would be nice.

Excellent job, no matter where I'm at I always have access to a computer if I need one.

I think it's f-ing great. Pardon the language, but damn you guys do an amazing job.

For future surveys please provide estimated time in the invitation email, and provide either a progress bar and indicate total # of questions upon starting the survey. I am always more willing and less rushed when I know both the estimated time commitment and progress in the actual survey. Also, indicate when/ how the results will be posted. Thank you, [IRD]

-I really like the new IUCAT system -I believe you should install more MAC computers on campus

-I think the Union should have more computer centers -The UITS personel are usually very helpful and paitent -I have been pleased with webmail this year, it appears to have had less problems this academic year than in the past. -I still think oncourse needs some work

those guys that work at the library in the information commons do a great job!! :-)

Webmail is slow and unreliable. Listservs sometimes do not deliver to everyone on the list. Search through is not very productive. IUCAT searches are also not very helpful. Wireless in the dorms is very bad. Otherwise, service is good and technical assistance is great. Deals with Microsoft and others is great for promoting computer learning. Wireless, when able to connect, is excellent. Courses (like for Excel) should be advertised more. Having Get Connected online is A LOT BETTER than having a CD that expires every semester.

None

Nope

UITS calls themselves a support service, but every time I've gone to them for computer problems, they say they can't help. I wouldn't call that support.

The financial aid information section of Onestart is difficult to navigate and obtain info from.

N/A

855 4848 is a very helpful service the wireless on third street isn't done that great

No

No

University Information Technology Services has been great!

Need more computer labs with printers on campus. need higher print quota

Need more computer centers in buildings to accomodate the number of students needing to print off papers. It would be nice if students had the option of a 15 minute room, and then another room where students can sit and do homework. For example, Ballatine is constantly full with a 20 student line.

Webmail is by far the most tempermental system I have ever experienced. When on campus it is slow. When I'm at home off campus, at least five times a week I have some issue with Webmail not sending, or not letting me log in, or I'm unable to send attachments to professors. My aol account will work instantly and at the same time Webmail makes me wait up to five minutes just to inform me my login has failed. After three attempts it will finally let me log on and then fail in the middle of me sending emails. Webmail is my nightmare!!! and completely untrustworthy!!! This has been for the past two years of school. Ironically when I begin to complain to friends about computers the first thing they say is..."your webmail? huh?" Everyone hates it and its unreliability. UTIS and I.U. have failed. This is an instituition with supposed respect and reputation and all involved are droping the ball. Your computer system at I.U. is a joke. I'm not the only one to think this. My friends from other top universities all over the country have explored your system with me and tease me about my "archaic" "lame" amatuer system of communication that I am given as a required system of communication between the schools, departments, and professors. Even professors don't trust it and state so in their syllabi. Shame, Shame on you I.U. and UTIS leaving us your system as a required "pain" to tolerate on a daily basis Get it together, or get people in here who can!

Maybe it will better to change interfaces of OneStart and Webmail, so they would appear more accurate and user-friendly.

Oncourse is great, just wish it was easier to use. For examples I want to see my current classes on top. Also, no impressed with the wireless and IUB VPN on 3rd street. I get it on 10th well, not 3rd.

The 24 hour help is great, they have fixed my computer MANY times, and they always know what they are doing. It is an awesome service for students to have.

I think it's pretty good, but you can always strive to make it better!!!

The printers are EXTREMELY slow when printing PDF documents in many of the computer clusters on campus. This is quite a nuisance when in need of notes before a class and the notes do not print or print 1 page at a time. I have noticed this in the Chemistry Resources room and in the Chem Library. Also in Briscoe Learning Center.

the search @ iub.edu is horrible. it's never been an effective tool for me

The original version of oncourse and the new version need to be combined or one needs to be the only one.

printers in Read and Forest are often out of order and even sometimes both out of order at the same time. This makes it very difficult to print out mandatory papers for class.

I was not the biggest fan of the change in Oncourse, I feel the original was much more user friendly. Now it's not as much of a hassle because all instructors use it, however I still liked the past version. However UITS seems to supply plenty of help.

I wish the wireless that they've spent a whole lot of money to put in at Forest would actually work on a reliable basis. I'm generally satisfyed, but it seems absurd that for all the money that has been put into wireless, it would actually work.

The new Oncourse is really annoying and hard to use. I makes my life more difficult.

I love the 24 hour computer help hotline.

I really like the 5-6789 number. I take advanage of it and gain all my skills from that! Thanks!

I think that there should be a wider range of wireless access points in the dorms and on-campus apartments.

Ashton Johnston seems to have sporadically unreliable internet connection at times. As I'm going to live there next year, I'd appreciate it if you'd check that network and see if it could be improved.

Doing a great job, when you offer survey perks though, you should offer Windows Vista instead of the useless stuff that was offered. I will try to get Vista with the card, but if you CAN offer me Vista for doing this survey I would greatly appreciate it. Please email me if you CAN. Thanks a bunch. Keep up the good work. [IRD].

Oncourse is terrible. There is no back button which is very bad. Also, there is no point of having my workspace and the class listing. Why cant they jsut be one thing!

Very dissapointed with wireless. Not avaliable in enough places, and when avaliable very weak signals. Wireless should be avaliable in dorms...ethernet is pitiful

Not bad, I don't really use it all that often

I have found 855-IUIU very helpful in contacting places on campus and around Bloomington. I also am very satisfied with the software agreements with IU and the availability of the software to students.

UITS is a pain whenever I start up my computer and is not useful at all

The E-Mail system could definitely use some improvement or at least an upgrade to make it faster and allow for larger storage space. And the UITS online knowledge database could be organized a lot better.

There needs to be some kind of information given out about how to get a laptop started on using the IUwireless network. I have been here almost a year and I can't figure out how to get it to work, or where to go to get help with it. Also, my experience with the Wilkie Center Building printers hasn't been all the great. A couple times neither of them worked and many people needed to use them. We had to wait a while before someone came to fix them.

Talking with other students, there seems to be a consensus that the printing quota should be based on the number of sheets used, not the number of sides printed on. That would encourage students to print double-sided more, and it would be more economical and ecological.

I would be a good idea to make the webmail at IU more accessible and allow for it to have more features. It tends to filter the wrong messages into the "spam" folder and thus, I use an external client for forwarding.

There have been several occasions where I have needed to access Oncourse for homework purposes and have not been able to do so. It has affected my performance in school. If the tech services are not capable of dealing with thousands of students using their services at the same time, then I don't think that UITS should be so pivotal to the coursework at IUB.

In some areas of campus, there is a lack of computers available for students to work and access printers. In such cases, it is frustrating to wait for other students to finish who are not engaged in academic work (ie using the computers for Facebook). This situation needs to be controlled in high traffic areas/hours, such as the HPER Library.

-Wireless in dorm lounges would be nice...seeing as how we are supposed to be one of the most wireless campuses. -lack of knowledge by the consultants (do these people actually know anything about computers?) --I've called with questions about connecting to the network, and ended up having to ask a CS major instead. --Many times consultants act arrogantly toward customers giving them the impression that they look down on them and feel that they are wasting their time when many times I have called they can do nothing to help. -The user interface of all the software and web pages are very poorly written. Sites are difficult to navigate. In trying to make the sites look more appealing, they have also become impossible to navigate and take a long time to load, stressing bandwidth. -Webmail is alright; however, it is hard to navigate through older messages and delete unused messages. -I don't know if there is a server that files could be uploaded to and accessed on other computers, but if there is I haven't heard of it and would like to; otherwise, there needs to be one. -I really like the STC departmentally sponsored software, it makes it very convenient, to access chemistry from my lounge; however, it would be nice if there was some location nearer than the library that I could use a STC computer past midnight. -The print quota is nice, and it is good that I can connect to the printers from my dorm room; however, something that would be nice is a color printer that's available for maybe double print quota. -more terminals with actual productivity tools on them instead of e-mail hubs. -a static account on the server where you are free to administer your own account similar to the CS server where you can log onto any machine and have your file structure and all your preferences. -access to cyrus mail through pine again -possible router usage in dorms for people with multiple workstations. -An additional registration or two would also be nice, if someone has a laptop and a computer they essentially use up all their registrations, one for wireless and two land lines; I know many people who have more than a laptop and desktop. -having the print quota also be available for copies would be awesome. -WINDOWS VISTA WITH A MAJOR DISCOUNT WOULD BE AAAAMAZING!!!!! -Some good video/photo editing software on STC computers would be nice too. (refer back to usable workstations instead of e-mail hubs) -Doing away with OneStart, Oncourse, and possibly even webmail, and then investing in a user-friendly system would make a lot of students and faculty very happy. Thank you for taking time to consider my concerns.

Color printing is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE Not enough open labs on campus TERRIBLE spam protection on E-mail E-mail "Help" not helpful and hard to use Way too long and complicated a survey

There are loads of dropped packets in wright dorm connections making it very slow at times. Should be better.

There seems to always be a lack of paper in the dorm printing stations.

The dorm labs need serious help. There are many times where the computers are not working and either no one is there to fix them or no one responds to calls to fix them. It can be extremely frusterating when those are the computers you rely on to print things. Improving this service would be of great benefit to the students living on campus. Also, while the wireless service is great for the most part, there are many places on campus where wireless reception is very weak-- even in classrooms. Fixing this would be great. Other than that I am extremely pleased with the services offered by UITS.

Thank you for everything!!!!

Graduate

the search engine on iub.edu is ridiculously awful. the results are painful. oncourse is okay at best. onestart is a colossal waste of money. computer/software is impressive. wireless coverage is very good. printing options are outstanding at the IC.

Please reduce spam

Need to improve the quality of the wireless connection at the Kelley School of Business.

Logging onto the wireless network on campus has proved difficult for myself and many of my colleagues. Finding a way to make this easier would be very helpful!

I can only copy folders of files (not individual files) into Oncourse Resources via WebDAV from my Mac without getting an error. What's up with that?! OneStart (especially student registration on OneStart) gives me nightmares. I still can't pay my bursar bill or order a parking permit with Safari on my Mac. Why can't I listen to language lab audio on my iPod? The blocking of .zip email attachments is a ridiculous way to prevent viruses. It just irritates those of us that don't use Windows (and probably even those that do). Then you wonder why people still prefer email accounts outside IU. Where art thou IPv6?

I use IUCAT very frequently, and I don't like the new set-up of it as much as the previous one. I think it is actually harder to find certain functions on it than it used to be.

make OneStart more aesthetically pleasing, less clutter (use fewer links...consider drop down menus or hidden links)

I love the access to computers on campus. Printing can be frustrating especially in the school of education. Two printers in library. Often a mass amount of traffic follows through and printing goes missing. No proof of loss on your account is facilitated. Standup stations for quick access in school of ed are unsanitary and slow. Something to think about when you are thinking of the flu season. Are computers ever cleaned? Or is there a safe way to santize without damaging them? Email on outlook exchange is good. Only problem was the spam on my account, getting viruses almost everyday. Never opened them but what a pain if you miss something because you weren't sure to open mail that seemed suspicious. Thanks!

the support guys who answer the phone are great- even with home computer problems!

I really don't like ONCOURSE resources--the old locker system was much easier and FASTER to access and use.

Shorten your survey!

print email save options at IUCAT are frustrating.

oncourse self services are less than intuitive. the bursar page would be nice if it could show line-item costs. (this, i understand, is not your problem). suffice to say, billing and the oncourse experience could be more clear.for instructors, oncourse pages should NOT expire automatically. send an email asking which pages instructors would like to maintain. you could limit overall space, but let instructors choose how that space is allocated in terms of "archived" class pages.

Great job overall. One great way to make accessing the latest news easier would be to create RSS compatibility with the subscription services available through SPEA. Specifically, I would love to use the RSS reader that is bundled with IE7 to pull RSS data from the Wall Street Journal or Business Week subscriptions SPEA has.

UITS consultants at the main library need to be taught how to print posters using PDF. they always insist on TIFF format and always fails. PDF format is an excellent method but i always receive frustration and lack of understanding from UITS staff when wanting to print PDF posters. I've had many successful posters printed with PDF, they should learn this method as well.

-I would like to see Windows Vista on IUware soon. -It took me a long time (3 years) before I knew about the online library research databases. A tutorial on this during freshman orientation or sometime freshman year would have been helpful.

Last I checked, the new Oncourse did not allow gradebooks to specify assignments by percentage of total grade; it only allowed you to do it as a function of total points. This is a complaint that many of my colleagues and I share, and it is the reason we stay with the original Oncourse.

I wish I fully understood what it meant to delete certain programs and such from my computer when i call 5-6789. I worry if i'm doing harmful things to my computer after it's completed and I leave IU>

I want faster Internet access (regardless of wireless or not).IU web-mail is very slow and it is difficult to attach big files to the web-mail.

Oncourse is complicated and confusing. No one seems to use it in the same way so it is difficult to know where to look for or post information. Some classes allow you to post and others don't. Some professors post files through Resources and others use email attachments. Most frustrating, emails sent through Oncourse do not let you reply to the group. It would seem one has to log in and find the correct section through which to post a reply... only sometimes you can't post as a student. I find it limits online participation more than it enables it. (Although I do like having a "resources" section where files can be posted and retrieved. I just wish it were easier for users to communicate.)

I can't stand OneStart and all the steps it requires to do anything. But I suppose there is nothing you can do about that. It's not a friendly program.

Professors need to be educated in how to use Oncourse CL. It has been a major source of frustration. The calendar feature is great... if everyone would use it.

It would be perfect if the IU CAT had a journal articles search service. currently you must know the journal reference to find the article. It would be great to link the "title" or "author" search engine to a database of journal articles.

- The Oncourse system is *horrible*. Extremely user-unfriendly and unclear. The old oncourse (which some of my instructors still use) is significantly clearer and thus better. - It is very annoying and disappointing that some resources on onestart cannot be accessed for long periods of the day/night. Students do not have regular schedules, why is it difficult to make such services available 24/7?

I think the IUWARE online is an excellent service that you provide. I am sure everyone appreciates it!!

I hope that Webmail can be improved further since it is often very slow and makes access to e-mail messages very bothersome.

No additional comments

High quality service. WIFI on campus is not the same as it was drawn on the map. Excellent knowledge base and any direct assitance. Need to make OneStart more userfriendly (my opinion)

thanks for your work

Webmail needs more storage, like gmail. "Search - don't sort" is the best form of email service.

Sometimes, connection problem (e.g., web mail and wireless signal) occurs frequently. Need to handle these problems in IU university IT service.

Improve the Online journal resources (IU link). Many times I have been told that I can't access a journal article, only to be able to find it though google or the publisher web page.

Please get rid of OneStart. It is such a horrible application and never works most of the times I need it.

Block Facebook and MySpace from e-mail express computers so people who have important work or class-related messages can read them.

OneStart doesn't seem to work with Firefox; I have to use a campus computer running Internet Explorer to make it work for me. Oncourse is really inferior even for purposes of basic group work; students I know have resorted instead to Yahoo! Groups and Facebook. Oncourse discussion areas are also very difficult to navigate and use efficiently. Software: you don't have deals like students were able to get at the University of Missouri. IUCAT's new interface is nice, but I still can't do a simple search for an exact title and get it. Final suggestion: in pursuit of excellence, practice your bedside manner. Phone support is good, but I would be much encouraged if support technicians were actively interested in making sure I have a working system, rather than feeling like I am bothering them. All this notwithstanding, you are a great resource and I appreciate it.

The webmail interface is clunky and very difficult to search. Also, webmail was terribly slow in the Fall, though it has much improved for the Spring semester. Other media need to be integrated into IUCAT more seamlessly. Students should have access to recordings in the libraries' collections digitally, on demand when searching--this should not be limited to music students' access to Variations. Indiana's use of technology is great on the whole. I've been very impressed.

Webmail is one of the worst email systems I've presently encountered. It should be updated and user friendly with more memory for students, especially grad students who teach.

I think that there must be more wireless places on compus, above all in dorms.

Sometimes IU webmail is very slow. Campus View printer always has problems, no one came to fix the problem after called for 5 hours! It's inconvenient for students printing papers for School's homework. I hope one day wireless can be used on campus housing soon!

Well on the whole the service I received form the system - both in the Info Commons and over the Phone in teh last year was really good. There were of course ,the rare occasions when the consultant on duty was not really able, though some one else could. Great service and a big Thank You

Ability to scan and email hardcopy journal articles to myself. I had this option at WVU. If you can do it in WV one would think you could at Indiana.

Why did the library purchase so many new monitors and keyboards for the research clusters? The old ones were fine; they were only 1-2 years old. It seems to me that the money should have been spent upgrading more necessary equipment, such as the printers, or buying useful software.

It might be helpful if all university computer support services were collected into one building, for instance in a new structure like the one suggested a few years ago for IUB's campus.

The search system is terrible! There are times that I search for something on the IU webpage (last time I tried SRSC), and I never can find what I want. I gave up, and just search for something on google.

Color printing seems expensive at $1/page, and I wish I had my own color printer. The new voicemail system is my least favorite part of UITS. Halfway through the semester it stopped telling me who the messages were from. It also has a lot of long introductions before it gets to the actual new messages. I love the ability to receive them in email, though.

As a graduate student, I would like to develop a very simple web page to display my research and allow people to find me. I have found this task to be more difficult and time-consuming than I had hoped.

not that i can think of...

Keep up the good work. Thanks!

I'd like the print/email/save function on IUCAT to display call numbers as soon as possible. The new interface is not very attractive (i.e., why are the letters in the headings spaced out?). I was also wondering if there was a way to make uploading to RFS easier- if there was a downloadable desktop icon that I could install, rather than having to upload files one by one. Finally, I'd be interested in upping the print quota for grad students- since so many articles are online, 1000 pages generally isn't enough for a semester.

Webmail interface is not very professional and it is always very slow.:( Overall, very impressive job and thank you all!:D

no

The IU wireless environment needs to be upgraded from 802.11b to 802.11g.

Please add more detailed instructions about IT services to new students in orientation.

I'm an in-absentia grad student, so most of your services, I really cannot give you any feedback. But last week I was visiting campus, and buying material at the IU Computer store (Tuesday 20, around noon) . As I was browsing through the store, the 4 people working there were having the most negative conversation and making fun of the people that call for help, diminishing old people for not knowing how to use the computers: unacceptable behavior for people that I take work for your service. I actually call on them, but someone should teach them that knowledge is not a reason to think of themselves better, but that it is their job to teach and mentor. Not knowing much the people that work for you, I can't say, but if these 4 people are a good example, I would guess you have a problem of arrogance among your people.

There are somethings on onestart (eg, grades) that can only be accessed at certain times of day. Ideally, they should be able to be accessed at all times.

Please do away w/ webmail. It is very unreliable and we now heavily rely on email communications for our work and education. Pine would be great. Also, would it be too much to ask to use the Google api for the IU search? The current search feature is unreliable - at best.

overall, it is very well done. keep working hard!

Please advertise more of services offered. I have not heard of many of the services mentioned in the servey.

I have noticed a shift to distributing class materials, and sometimes entire course packets, from paper to computer based, such as on ereserves. One thing which would make this much more useful, and cut down on printing costs, for myself at least, would be the ability to have access to more robust pdf software. For example, all I have is Acrobat Reader which does not allow me to highlight, make comments, etc..., and having these capabilities would allow me to work entirely on my computer.

n/a

If the online software are more fulfilled, it would be helpful.

I work with undergraduate students, and most of them forward their IU email to a commercial account. Even though I explain that they should use their IU email accounts when writing to IU faculty or staff, often they do not and sometimes their messages go to my junk email folder. Also, as far as I know, webmail does not support email with formatting (html). I think if student accounts were allocated storage space comparable to that of free commercial email accounts and something less clunky than webmail were available, students would be more likely to use their IU accounts. Alternatively, email forwarding could be disallowed. I also have some students whose parents monitor--and sometimes respond to--their email. I feel it is bad for students not to be taking responsibility for their own communications with the University. I wonder if it could be made clearer to new students that they shouldn't be giving IU computing privileges to anyone else.

Wireless connection for linux machine is not good.

(6) Horde is almost unusable. I rated e-mail as highly as I did because I use an IMAP client and the last major e-mail outage was two years ago. (11) The Windows news client provided by UITS is really annoying and I have to uninstall it once a year on my Windows box. (16) In University Apartments where I live, the printer tends to be out of toner about 10% of the time. Not terrible, just a little annoying. I appreciate the variety of Python and Scheme interpreters available on the STC machines this year. Improved from last year, as I recall. What interaction I have had with Oncourse CL has been terrible, but I don't have to use it very often or the rating would likely be lower. (19) In the linguistics department, I am often the unofficial "Guru of Fiddling with Projectors" for talks and things. This might be indicative of an ease-of-use problem with the projectors--I have noticed some interface inconsistency among the various controllers. It might be unavoidable technophonbia on the part of the linguists, too. (20) It would help if Steel didn't run such an ancient distro of Solaris. It could be worse (see Veritas) (22) Student Self Service is extremely *useful* but not extremely *usable*. This year I haven't had any problems registering with Safari, though. IUCAT was ridiculously bad until the recent upgrade. I haven't used it much since, but it seems better. Before, I NEVER used IUCAT, instead using scholar. and clicking the IU-link. Actually, this is STILL what I use now that the new system also integrates with Google Scholar. At least you are trying to improve the system, though. (25) The distro on Veritas is extremely old (though probably extremely stable) and sockets in Python are broken, meaning that MySQL and some CGI services don't work. For the last year and a half the webmaster has been stonewalling on this because of an impending upgrade to Linux. I'm not sure when this is supposed to happen...but $ python -c "import cgi"

still crashes with a missing socket library. (26) Adding online access to telephone messsages was a great idea.

It would be helpful to know common problems- things like the VPN not working well with wireless connections instead of thinking something is broken.

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