The annual Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) student survey ran during May earlier this year. Despite lower response rates than in previous years, there were some hugely useful insights.

Director of IT Services and Technology Operations, John Shemilt said, “A huge thank you to all those who took part. Our department greatly values student feedback and involvement. We’re working with ICU to develop our engagement approach, because it’s vital that we continue to build such crucial insight and input into a strategy that delivers excellent ICT services at Imperial.”

92% of respondents said they were satisfied or happy with services received, with many commenting on the rapid responsiveness of the Service Desk team.

Despite numerous ways to get in touch – whether in person on the 4 th floor at Sherfield, via email, online FAQs (the top three most popular methods) by phone, or by following on Twitter (@TheServiceDesk) – over half had never made contact. 

Many simply hadn’t experienced a problem, leaving feedback such as:

• “I've never had a problem :) still confused how to get the print drivers to work in the library mind you...”
• “I'm afraid it's not you, it's me - if there's a problem I don't even try to contact you, I just assume it will go away in a day or two (and it does)”

The top most important and talked about services, receiving the most positive and negative comments, were email and network access, followed by e-learning, printing and access to College PCs.

• “Takes 30mins to print, prints don't appear.”
• “Great wifi speed + access to imperial internet services via VPN”

Six months on, these are just some of the activities underway to respond to student feedback and supporting a better student experience at Imperial.

Moving to ‘wave and pay printing’

New HP and Xerox copier/printers are coming soon across College. They will be faster, with touch card readers to speed up collection and cut queues. A money-loading machine in Central Library will also be upgraded to a chip and pin model, accepting debit cards.

Wifi

For ICT, delivering wireless access across College is a priority. In addition to providing access across all public areas of the College, ICT recently extended wifi access across Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust sites. Developing plans to secure budget for access across teaching spaces is the next phase. ICT is also liaising with colleagues across departments, to offer coverage in College spaces under departmental authority.  

Keeping in touch

For those who do need to get in touch and said they wanted to know more, ICT has recently trialled an online webchat service, and introduced a new e-bulletin to make sure departments and faculties hear about all the latest services, and can spread the word to students.

Tutoring support

And, ICT is working in collaboration with ICU Sabbs and colleagues from across College to develop an online system for use by students and tutors, to enhance academic, pastoral and research supervision, beginning with a pilot to commence during this academic year.