(March 29, 2018) — Students at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will participate in the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) annual Student Technology Survey for the first time as the UTSA Office of Information Technology (OIT) leads the participation effort.
The survey will collect data on student views of:
- Device ownership, usage, and importance
- Technology and the college/university experience
- Privacy and security
- Learning environments
- Personal computing environments
The survey will be sent out to all UTSA students on April 3 and will remain open until April 20. The initiative is organized by Assistant Vice Provost for IT, Vanessa Hammler Kenon, who serves as the EDUCAUSE Core Data and survey administrator for UTSA. Project Coordinator Rosalind Ong and Communications Specialist Nicole Duff serve as research assistants for the survey administration.
According to EDUCAUSE, the research can catalyze conversations among IT professionals about how to better serve their constituents; among institutional leaders about how to use technology strategically; and among students about how to articulate their technology needs and expectations.
Last year, 124 institutions across 10 countries participated in the ECAR survey, collecting 43,559 responses. By participating in the ECAR survey via the EDUCAUSE Technology Research in Academic Community (ETRAC), OIT will have access to data that can provide insights to improve IT services for students, prioritize IT contributions to strategic plans, and help UTSA advance as technologically competitive among peer institutions.
In addition to gaining access to the survey data for further analysis and to benchmark student needs and expectations at UTSA, OIT will be part of aggregate level data for EDUCAUSE reports, infographics and data almanacs.
