UTEP IT Needs: Faculty Perspective

raw data from a survey done February 2009

The Invitation

Dear Professor/Dr/Ms/Mr xxx,

I am writing on behalf of the Faculty Senate Information Technology Committee to request your input regarding issues relating to IT here at UTEP. The committee has developed a 4-question online survey, estimated to take 3-5 minutes to complete.

As you know, Information Technology is critical to all University functions, and to our individual successes as educators, researchers, administrators, etc. However, anecdotes suggest that current services and service levels are inadequate. Your input will help us gauge the current situation, and guide us as we develop a set of recommendations to the administration for how to improve IT at UTEP for all of us.

URL

The Survey Questions and Responses

This scope of survey includes all IT-related functions at UTEP, from email to distance learning support, including software, hardware, people, and processes. We are especially interested in the big picture: going beyond the incidentals to think about how IT is helping you or hindering you in doing your job. All questions are optional.

Question 1. Please list two or three of the best things about IT at UTEP.

In the first textbox:
0. Forward thinking with Technology
1. Quick responsiveness
2. FIT Lab--Customer Service
3. Reliability
4. computer upgrades
5. VPN (being able to work from home)
6. webCT
7. FIT lab is helpful
8. helpful when I call
9. fast service
10. service
11. Great internet speed
12. Systems are up most of the time
13. Fairly prompt response to issues reported.
14. Easy access
15. good contact via phone services
16. Information is fast and adequate.
17. Proximity
18. people are courteous at the front desk
19. Staff is professional
20. Personal is very friendly
21. Centralized
22. Staff ready to work with faculty and staff.
23. For the most part, the repair personnel fix IT problems well and in a timely manner.
24. HELP desk important resource - staff always helpful!!
25. They're quick to fix things
26. I have had a good experience with technology at UTEP probably more to do with the personnel here in the CHS. Ana Matos is the best of the best!
27. On site (our building) personnel to assist as needed
28. I love the Xtender Team (Chuy Mena)
29. Contact person (liason) physically present in college building.
30. Efficient help desk staff
31. Responsiveness to needs
32. some courses
33. assistance from qualified staff
34. Convenience for students
35. Help-desk responds within reasonable time.
36. quick response
37. enhance UTEP general communication issues with each user that login
38. Knowledge of staff when assisting with problems.
39. Speed of fixing problems
40. Good, reasonably reliable basic functionality--e-mail, internet, etc.
41. Fast ethernet
42. Goldmine
43. There is an answering service to answer my questions
44. The Helpdesk, usually a problem can be solved immediately
45. High speed internet
46. Personnel are amiable

In the second textbox:
0. Forward thinking with New Software
1. Generally good support - Seem technically skilled
2. Help Desk
3. Accessiblity
4. some classroom are well equipped for technology
5. responsive to my requests
6. support
7. Prompt help from the help desk line
8. Help Desk
9. WebCT implementation.
10. Solid Security
11. leadership seems good at the top
12. e-mail and services are efficient
13. Friendly
14. quick response to department's needs
15. Staff is knowledgeable
16. The help desk is outstanding
17. Wide range of services
18. A willingness to seek and use new applications and programs.
19. The assigning of confirmation numbers to fix problems is a good idea and seems to work.
20. They are available to help
21. Quick response time from our building IT
22. Free software download
23. Expertise
24. WebCT access
25. Convenience for instructors
26. Availability of softwares through internet.
27. quality of service
28. Customer service is much improved from years back.
29. Efficiency
30. Outstanding support from helpful people at CoE technology center, HELP Desk, and training by several campus organizations.
31. wireless coverage
32. Webmail
33. There are trainings
34. Friendly and helpful helpdesk personnel
35. Technical support
36. Capable / skilled in technology
37. Their willingness to help
38. virtual servers

In the third textbox:
1. Usually pleasant to work with
2. Leadership- WIKI
3. Help Desk support
4. there is only one log-in for both e-mail and WEB-CT
5. availability
6. Staff is very knowledgeable and courteous.
7. Dell Computers and other reliable hardware
8. Facility of access to computers on-campus using a single login.
9. Outstanding reliability
10. appreciate getting into faculty services quickly
11. technicians are very prepared to solve issues
12. Turnaround time on repairs is good
13. On-campus system is relatively fast and reliable
14. Making updates automatic assures that every computer on campus receives them.
15. Personal response rather than over the phone response
16. Keeping up with the new times we live in
17. Availability of wireless srevice, vpn support.
18. Services and products they provide are top quality.
19. Site licenses for many advanced software packages allow faculty to use them with ease--library full-text databases, engineering software,
20. Web Storage

Question 2. Please list two or three of the worst things about IT at UTEP.

0. Help Desk Response time
1. Mac support
2. Don't know enough to comment.
3. BIS
4. does not notify of changes
5. HELP desk is slow and not very knowledgeable/reliable
6. office computer very old (Windows 2000)
7. none
8. hard to reach online
9. scheduling
10. Low quality of trainings provided by IT
11. Remote access of IT to UTEP-owned computers. Unfortunately this slows down my computer requiring a reset each time remote access occurs.
12. poor search function on web page (home page)
13. many students/workers aren't as capable or willing to help folks as they need to be (I'm thinking IT in the ULC, for example)
14. Learned things about IT at UTEP by hit and miss
15. No set time of when IT comes out to a call.
16. not enough technicians to assist the departments
17. Under staffed
18. Very slow off-campus access
19. Techonology is old and outdated.
20. One time I had the two older men argue with me as to what the problem was with our fax machine. They thought they knew more of what the problem was after I explained the problem. I finally called Mr. Steve Rosenfeld to explain my problem, He agreed with me and fixed the problem right away in their area. The two men didn't like that I had to call him and have him tell them I was correct. They tried to call me an idiot.
21. HELP desk not open in evening or weekends
22. Lack of support for home computers used for work.
23. They're down with problems too frequently
24. The WebCT instructions are not very clear for a first time user. Once I was used to WebCT, I could do it, but the way you put things on the site is not easy to figure out
25. When dealing with main campus IT you get nowhere
26. They take a very long time to come an fix any issues
27. Inventories are sporadic and not well organized.
28. Autivirus software (Symentec) not effective
29. None noted
30. Projectors ( infocus machines ) don't work in many of te rooms
31. No face to face interaction which some people need
32. MS outlook does nor allow search for words. This is a serious handicap.
33. I have no complaints
34. I do not have any
35. Software development projects take long to commence due to lack of resources.
36. Receptionists answering calls
37. The business management and academic record-keeping software (BIZ, Goldmine,Banner) have very cumbersome user interfaces.
38. Charge of $150 for each new ethernet connection whereas this should be covered by grant overhead for infrastructure
39. WebCT support
40. That the use of technology is so complex
41. Slow response when requesting site service
42. The proper hardware is not available in all the teaching classrooms
43. Need to use Blackboard available....WebCt is too old and not current for our online classes
44. On site assistance beyond the FIT lab too much concentration on UTTC to the loss of webCT
45. The waiting to get someone on the line

0. Response time to get projects completed with IT
1. Not always quick to resolve problems
2. Lack of UTEP screen saver with key messages
3. large tech fees and cost for phones and ip drops
4. few workshops for beginning/intermediate users
5. Report writing and download capabilities limited
6. There is no online repository, for easy download and installation, of commonly used software (anti-virus, MS Office, operating systems, etc) by UTEP end-users.
7. Software versions vary from computer to computer
8. Events calendar should be readily avialable
9. Turnaround time on calls.
10. technicians are very stressed out due to big load work
11. Response time could be better
12. Very limited site licenced software library, particularly for engineering/science faculty
13. There is a lag between the technology that needs to be replaced and that which has already been updated.
14. Don't like to have to try to talk to a computer when I need to direct a call from outside of the campus area to the correct department.
15. Keeping software apps up to date, ie: WebCT
16. Main Campus is too time consuming to get results
17. They think that we understand what they are saying half the time
18. Access to rooms not easy to obtain.
19. Ethernet connection cut-off frequently
20. Laptops aren't available for use with machines
21. When is goes down or is off line
22. Webmail does not allow to store mails in hard-disk or make a mail file, like pine for example. An alternative to outlook will be nice.
23. Although the department is large, there is still not enough staff in the department to handle the university's demand in a timely manner.
24. (Perhaps) a bit too much emphasis on Microsoft software and services.
25. No Linux support!
26. Have had technicians attempt to repair computer/but leave because they didn't know how to repair the problem
27. mailbox storage size should be increased
28. Need to make computer replacements a priority
29. Too few workers for the work that needs to be done - I suspect this.
30. being transferred more than once

1. Seem not to think about the implications for end users of modifications to the system, enamored of bells and whistles and not driven by needs of end users
2. not knowledgeable in thier areas
3. some classroom are not IT equipped
4. Provide users with procedures for securing information on a need to know basis
5. High prices of ethernet port installation.
6. Assumption that all know IT is misleading
7. Faculty Laptop replacement program should be at the most a 3-year revolving program
8. Computer security still has holes that can be breeched.
9. The operators need to know more about what the departments do and who to call instead of our department receiving wrong calls. This happens very often.
10. Training with It is not available to allow all of us the opportunity to get training
11. They exepect users to know how to fix something while on the phone with an IT person.
12. Equipment failures, maintaining classroom equipment always a problem.
13. UTEP & IT homepage not user friendly - speed of redesign is to slow
14. It is difficult to search for journal in the online list provided by the library. There should be categories such as science, arts, literature.
15. Stand-alone computers in some of our labs are too vulnerable to malware--USB virus, etc. Resistance of computer/projector setups in classroooms to tampering has improved, but could be better still.
16. Firewall doesn't allow data transfer from outside
17. Search engine on main website not efficient.
18. Lag time from request to solution. I I mean weeks +
19. too many menus for students to wade through calling HELP

Question 3: What should be the top priorities for things to improve right away?

0. Consolidation of all the redundant systems in place
1. upgrade to the current version of WebCT
2. More smart rooms--computer, screen, projector, etc.
3. Go to web based BIS replacement
4. reduce fees
5. up to date equipment for offices
6. we need updated equipment
7. better wireless service
8. To provide faculty/staff with the latest equipment.
9. Assign Technical Implimentation Managers to each dept
10. To distribute online class rosters with a message that indicates the specific course classification and include the WebCT ID of each student.
11. Increase wireless acess to satellite buildings/campus
12. more reliable infrastructure for wireless
13. training and/or help links
14. Staying ahead of the curve regarding technology
15. should hire more qualified technicians like Carlos Gonzalez
16. Hire more technicians to cover university
17. Hire more IT specialist
18. Improve the software application library
19. Updating all the old technlonogy (i.e. computers and printers, etc.)
20. More training for the operators to know how to direct calls from outside of the campus area.
21. I've had no problems.
22. Speed in resolving student's issues re: internet and WebCT
23. Improve the technology in all areas
24. Provide more one on one services ie in the bldg, specific persons for specific sites, eetc
25. Customer Service Trainings!!!
26. Maintain equipment and KNOW what the problems are.
27. Continuous function of ethernet connectivity
28. Get the inexspensive things that are used constantly fixed
29. flexibility in hours for support
30. When transferring course that content is not lost
31. Possibility of searching inbox using words or senders name or subject.
32. better training on Goldmine
33. I have not detect any issue that disconfort me
34. Increase staff size.
35. None
36. Voicemail system--still sometimes fails to announce (by lamp) IN queue, and messages occasionally are lost in some phantom buffer; front-end menus are annoyingly redundant
37. STOP CHARGING for services that should be free!!
38. Help Desk Support
39. Better website, navagating can be frustrating
40. Make more laptops available for student check out
41. More personnel skilled in technology and HUMAN relations
42. Easier access to the website
43. lab replacement program

0. Work Closely with other departments to enhance training efforts
1. up-to-date list of available computers and peripherals for swapping/recycling
2. Create screen saver dashboard for key messages
3. do not dictate policies
4. up to date equipment for all classroom
5. Understanding user needs and gear training
6. To improve the relaying capabilities of the sendmail server(s).
7. Offer easily accessible tutorials for common software
8. more software contracts
9. More efficient and effective training in tech resources
10. Educating all departments what is available and new
11. Expedite billing procedures
12. Increase speed for off-campus access
13. Improve the security system to help ensure that the techolnogy we do have does not become so easily infected.
14. Probably hire more personnel to handle operator calls. People calling off campus don't always know which department they need. Either the operator answering their questions doesn't know the answer and they need more training.
15. Network reliability
16. update on our programs used for consistency
17. Customer Service Trainings!!!
18. Streamline the inventory process.
19. McAfee antivirus
20. Keep things working, get a better ordering system
21. ongoing training (web-based and face-to-face)
22. That students have a tutorial and know how to use before the course starts
23. Provide alternative to MS outlook.
24. better training on WebCT
25. Provide more straightforward access to Banner (using Explorer rather than FireFox, if the user prefers Explorer; or our own secure portal applet available as a desktop icon).
26. replace WebCT
27. The search engine is too broad, not accurate
28. Make more print stations available for laptop user...charge student a fee to use...
29. Dedicated staff for specific faculty / depts
30. more information on the website

1. Digital imaging of most paper.
2. be customer responsive
3. more workshops on integrating technology with instruction
4. Listening to departmental needs to improve efficiency
5. Enhance the features that WebCT offers; for instance to show a correspondence with the Registrar's database.
6. getting student workers who are eager to help students
7. Get input from different departments on needs.
8. More virus protection
9. more training for staff to cut down on It calls - teach us to help ourselves
10. Customer Service Trainings!!!
11. Improve websites.
12. That is demands enough from students to justify on line courses
13. More storage space for inbox or email space. Public websites like gmail provide large amount of storage space.
14. mspace file sharing does not show in shared bookmarks
15. Updates are critical/departmental information
16. More use of innovation in instruction...podcasts, etc.
17. Offer on site assistance one on one in faculty office
18. better communication about problems and status of resolution

Question 4: What should be the top priorities for IT at UTEP over the next few years?

0. Move to an entirely wireless campus
1. Same as above--more smart classrooms
2. Move everything possible to digital imaging, reduce paper
3. just keep basic functions running smoothly
4. improving equipment, access to superior technology in classrooms
5. Continue to be staffed with knowledgeable employees
6. Improve IT operations with new or improved software and equipment
7. To get acquainted and emulate IT practices that have shown to work elsewhere.
8. Further develop "in house" computer experts (see comment)
9. Help all bridge the digital divide
10. Staying ahead of the curve regarding technology
11. give regular maintenace to computers all across campus
12. Have an IT specialist assigned to specific department
13. Better security for the computers. It seems as if we get quite a few viruses hitting our software.
14. Software & hardware apps to improve teaching and speed work
15. Just continue to make our access better. Clearer instructions that "make sense" would be easier to learn.
16. replace all outdated equip and provide training to decrease calls for service
17. Customer Service Trainings!!!
18. (see above)
19. More undergrad courses offered on line or hybrid
20. Better VPN support. Occasionally does not work.
21. integrate communication framework with other technologies
22. I do not have any idea
23. Increase funding that will send staff to trainings to continue to stay on par with the industry.
24. None
25. ? We should be looking forward to more course delivery over the Internet to off-campus clientele (and trying to find a web-based education niche in which UTEP can assume a leadership position).
26. increase support for videoconferencing
27. Too many operating systems to do the job: BIS, UTDirect, Banner should be combined
28. State of the art electronic teaching aids/technology
29. Increase Online course support outside UTTC
30. More user friendly ways of getting information from the website

0. Improve the ability of Faculty and Staff to Access Campus networks, systems to run faster and safer
1. Set up computer connection stations throughout campus
2. Continue pc replacement throughout campus.
3. More involvment in determining how IT can improve efficiency in departments
4. To consider more open software usage (operating systems and applications) and distribution among the community.
5. Exposure to resources available to accomodate all
6. Trying new things. (techniques, equipment, software)
7. Depth of knowledge of tech support
8. replace all printers that are outdated for better functioning/less service calls
9. Customer Service Trainings!!!
10. More advertising for such courses to bring in new students
11. Better goldmine site requiring less use of clicks.
12. It is important to maintain (and enhance) the diversity of software, available to all campus users, that supports research and teaching. (Not bad now, but will it be maintained? And by whom?)
13. get money to replace faculty computers on 3-yr basis
14. My.UTEP.edu has too many webpages, items are very difficult to find. A simple list of services should be provided for faster access
15. Replacement program for faculty computers
16. 24 hour assistance for webCT courses

1. Stay current with technology
2. Improve the report writing and dowload capabilties of departments
3. Either keep up with all or be on the cutting edge
4. Train IT to not just "fix" our problems but to teach us as they fix our problems to help ourselves.
5. Customer Service Trainings!!!
6. More emphasis on quality of courses over anything else
7. More flexibility for web-page administration in terms of design.
8. Current software
9. More faculty training in course development
10. helpdesk / pc support improvements

Question 5. Comments, suggestions, etc.

1. I really don't need anything new from IT. They need to work on improving the uptime of their existing systems. IT should be like electricity or plumbing. I don't really what to know about it, just that it works. IT seems to feel that adding all these new features, most of which are redundant, like mspace and wiki that they have some value add; in large I don't feel they do.
2. Presently, I work as a guest lecturer for the physical therapy program, therefore, I do not have much experience with the IT department. With this in mind I do not have any improvements for the department but have been pleased with the services available to me at this time. Allison Carson
3. none, great job for growing community
4. Overall I am impressed with the IT at UTEP in terms of both equipment and personnel. I worked for the city for 23 years and on suggestion I can bring from their is in the handling of routine type computer issues. Though the help desk and IT folks are very responsive, (and I believe UTEP may have a similar program), the city identified individuals in the various departments who had better than average computer skills and empowered them to have limited administrator access to help speed up computer repairs and resolving minor issues. I am not sure if UTEP does this but there are times when you need something, for example an updated driver, and you have to wait for IT to come and install it. I realize that there are security issues but it would be good if you could identify staff/faculty with computer expertise and allow them access to computers within their departments for routine maintenance and so on.
5. Overall IT does a great job. The only negative feedback I have received from co-workers in the Athletic Department is the time it takes and that there is no set time when responding to calls. Sometimes they are just stuck here waiting, not knowing when IT will be able to respond. Maybe an appointment type meeting would work.
6. Carlos Gonzalez is an excellent tecnician always willing to help us in any question we may have with our computers.
7. It would be helpful if we eliminated going thru the help desk and could send our requests online directly to IT. Our department has approximately 60 plus computers (not counting the computers in the music library) and 3 labs who periodically need help from IT. Response time is crucial, as it is with all departments. There is a lack of recognition that different areas have different needs because the Music Dept. is unlike any other department on campus.
8. In my opinion, IT does their jobs pretty good. I am not aware of any big problems that may arise.
9. The Psych Dept has had its own IT person that who was initially funded as a result of an extramural grant. Thus my interactions with other IT folks at UTEP have been minimal. Hence the reason for my current skimpy input. Sorry.
10. I need to move more easily from MSWord to WebCT to Library databases, to Internet and back.

11. I am happy with the technology here. Ana Matos in CHS is a big reason for that since whenever I have had any problems at all, she is so very capable of helping me. Her attitude is always excellent and she is organized and available to us.
12. IT here at CHS is very on top of the process. Response time is above par and the staff let us know what they are doing and how they are doing things to fix our IT issues. This helps us to lessen the calls to IT by helping ourselves. Whenever I have to call IT on main campus it is a very frustrating process to go thru. The communication is not there nor is the skills to help assist up in resolving our IT issues.
13. The IT group at UTEP is not friendly at all and they talk down to the users. I don't appreciate that behavior.
14. IT should be aware of how to solve technical problems. One of the most insulting moments for me was to be told by IT that my laptop was the problem when trying to get it to work in a multi-media supported classroom. I had been using the same laptop in the same classroom for THREE YEARS!! Suddenly, the problem is MY fault? IT shouldn't just "shrug their shoulders" when it comes to tech support especially when some rooms here in the college have had the SAME problems since I started at UTEP (projection, software installed, etc.)
15. My experiences with the FIT Lab, web-based training (ex: Compliance Training) have been positive. I am always interested in learning more - since technology evolves so quickly, it's not easy to stay "caught-up," but need access beyond the regular work hours (evening or weekend access to support). Thanks for asking.
16. None. I am still learning how to improve on all this myself. So far so good!
17. Just as numerous departments across the university are experiencing a lack of resources, primarily staff, the UTEP IT department would more effectively serve to university with a lager staff within the Applications Infrastructure of the department.
18. Over-all IT is doing a good job. In our office we hear lots of complaints from students that the new My.UTEP.edu website is cumbersome.
19. Decision on how the tech fee is going to be managed....do the units spend the funds as directed or is it centralized. We should not be investing in large computer user rooms.
20. Faculty who are interested in online ought to be singled out and coddled to be successful. Faculty role modeling will add more to IT then the techies and administrators pushing it can ever do. I believe we need to pour monetary and human resources into IT. This is particularly important for growth of graduate programs. It would be wise to be on the ground floor for UG degree course developement too. The IT train has left the station and we need to sprint to get on board. This border town needs to leave the dust of traditional technology and education for the future reality that we are actually in. IT is and will continue to drive our future success.
21. Since working with the department I am in now, IT has responded fast to our problems and needs. I don't think I've come across someone who hasn't been willing to help.
22. more focus on support to students/faculty/staff. look at ways to increase redundancy of network connectivity as well as bandwidth increases.