Digital Experience Insights at Queen’s
The Digital Experience Insights Survey gathers feedback to enable organisations to collect and analyse data about key aspects of the digital environment.
It is a national survey to find out more about how students use digital technologies and how this affects their experience of learning, and how staff use technology in their teaching practice. It is aimed to inform the digital environment through feedback and bring about positive change.
At Queen’s University we will be undertaking 2 main surveys – one for staff and another for students. To enable a richer picture of what is happening in terms of digital at the institution the findings of the staff survey will complement the student survey. Both will be launched in November, 2019.
Previous survey findings
The Jisc service, including the extensive pilot of all survey tools, has developed over a 3 year period. In 2018, a total of 37, 720 students and 83 organisations were included in the Insights survey.
The Student Survey, consisting of 25 questions, is categorised into 4 key themes:
- Theme 1 – the digital lives of students
- Theme 2 – digital in the institution
- Theme 3 – digital at course level
- Theme 4 – student attitudes to digital
A brief sample of findings from the Digital Experience Insights Survey, 2018 include:
- Over a third of all students wanted digital technologies to be used more on their course (Theme 2: Course level)
- Only 41% of students in HE agreed that their course prepares them for the digital workplace (Theme 3: Course level)
- 73% of HE students agreed that they are more independent in their learning when digital is used (Theme 4: Student Attitudes)
- 69% of HE students thought digital skills would be important for their chosen career (Theme 3: Course Level).
Please note: The Student Digital Experience Tracker ran prior to the Digital Experience Insights Survey. The findings of the Student Digital Experience Tracker can be found here.
Why is Queen’s Participating?
“Development of the digital environment is one of the big ticket items on your college or university’s budget sheet, so you need to know how effective that investment it” – Sarah Knight, June 2017
“Use staff and student feedback to make smarter investments in digital” – Jisc, Digital Experience Insights, September 2018
What are the benefits of using the Digital Experience Insights Survey?
Some benefits include:
- Engage staff and students directly in conversations about digital practice and work collaboratively with them to improve and shape their digital experience
- Build partnerships and develop a shared language to discuss the staff and student digital experience
- Bring about changes that will improve the digital environment experience and will help plan digital transformation
- Support the digital environment by prioritising investment where digital issues exist. The data collected will drive improvements
- Track progress over time and ability to benchmark data nationally and against sector averages
- Help staff to think about the digital expectations and experiences of the learner
- Allow student voices to lead transformation and enhancement
- Identify where support is needed and tailor opportunities for training
- The staff survey (which was piloted in 2018), will complement the already established student survey.
Although the University will not be participating in the student survey for the 2018/19 run (as the closing date is 30 April, 2019) we will be posting about the data as it emerges. So watch this space!