Every November Information Services invites students to complete the Digital Experience Insights Survey and to tell us all about your experiences with digital technologies in study and learning. This article summarises the main findings from the November 2023 return. As the survey gives us a valuable insight into how you use our main technologies and your digital study preferences, the University takes it very seriously and a report will be taken to the ESEC committee in June 24.
Introduction
DEI 2023/24 was open for student participation from 15th to 24th November 2023 and was advertised through a variety of channels including the student bulletin, IS blog, portal news article and a Canvas announcement. Despite the short window for participation, the survey received 1,102 responses from students, compared to 711 in the previous year.
Highlights of the report
- 89% of you rated the quality of Canvas as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ and gave us hundreds of useful comments on Canvas, Panopto and Library Search in particular. This is an increase of 4% from the previous year.
- 85% of you agree that use of digital technologies is convenient. We noted the high volume of comments about how you value the flexibility and balance between life and study that the use of digital technologies permits.
- 86% of students rated the quality of digital learning on their course as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. This compares to 82% in our 2022 survey and 80% in the 2022 national benchmark.
- 72% of students agreed that they are supported to use their own devices, compared to 68% in our 2022 survey and 61% in the 2022 national benchmark.
- 75% of students agreed that they are supported to access online platforms and services whilst off-campus, compared to 71% in our 2022 return and 66% in the 2022 national benchmark.
- 75% of students rated the support we provide for them to learn effectively using technology as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. This compares to 71% in both our 2022 survey and the national benchmark.
You Said, We Did
These are the key issues noted from the return with our plans to address them:
You Said: “We don’t all understand how the University collects and uses our data”
We Did: We’re creating a short and simple video to show students how we collect and use your data in ways that are appropriate, safe and secure.
You Said: “Some digital learning resources aren’t always engaging, and Canvas is only as good as the lecturer.”
We Did: We’ve put on additional training to guide academic staff in best practice when using Canvas. We’ve also added a new tool by the makers of Canvas that will allow us to understand how Canvas is being used across all programmes and modules and make improvements where appropriate.
You Said: “How do we assess our own digital skills and needs?”
We Did: We’ve created a digital skills hub where you can do a self-assessment to find out where your digital skills gaps are. We’ll make sure we promote this more in the Student Bulletin and elsewhere.
You Said: “The University should really provide recognition or certificates for our digital skills”
We did: We’ve purchased a digital badging platform, Canvas Credentials. Soon, we’ll be providing digital badges for your digital skills training and other extra-curricular activities. Importantly these can be proudly displayed on your LinkedIn profiles!
You Said: “Can you provide more training on digital technologies?”
- We Did: We provide digital skills training via our Stirling Essentials Workshop program in partnership with Student Learning Services and others. Students also have access to the vast training resource LinkedIn Learning via the university portal.
- We Did: We have created a Digital Skills Hub for students which identifies the core skills required for University study and includes a self-assessment tool to allow students to assess which areas of digital capability they need to work on and points them to appropriate training.
- We Did: We are working on the creation of a ‘Digital skills for new students’ course in Canvas which will focus on the core digital skills identified for entering university. We are also looking to expand our existing digital skills workshop program for students to allow development of skills in our core technologies throughout your time at University.
Thank you to all who participated in the survey.