MISO IT Satisfaction Survey 2024

Course registration is now staggered across two time periods on the days when major groups are allowed to register, resulting in far fewer instances of slow performance during registration

The class search was greatly enhanced – open seats are displayed, and searches may be filtered by subject and by attributes like Honors, General Education, Eight Week vs. Regular, etc. to provide more intuitive and relevant results

Campus Solutions was integrated with ISU’s mobile app, allowing for student accounts and financials display along with amounts due related to financial aid to be shown in the app

Final grades for classes that end prior to the traditional semester end date are now available sooner, one week after the class ends regardless of date

The student view of Advising Notes now displays recently updated items at the top

The Academic Advisement tile for advisors is now called Advising Tools and includes links to the Student Success Dashboard, Cognos, and Power BI; additionally, enhancements were made to improve performance of the Fallout report

Data error prevention –  event mapping was applied to student records to prevent data issues in Campus Solutions (CS) that affect routine reporting improving that staff experience in CS

Canvas technical support was streamlined in Fall 2024 – all Canvas technical issues and requests, for both instructors and students, should now be reported first to the Technology Support Center (TSC). Instructor issues not resolvable at the TSC will be forwarded to the Center for Integrated Professional Development (CIPD) for further consultation.

The online education team at CIPD offered nearly 50 workshops for over 540 attendees in 2024, as well as 40 individual consultations with faculty

8 new Learning Technology Integrations (LTIs) were reviewed and added to Canvas, including the accessibility tool Readspeaker

The Center for Integrated Professional Development offers one-on-one consultation options for instructors looking to enhance their usage of Canvas

The Canvas dashboard was integrated with the new ISU mobile app

Canvas released many new features in 2024. Features particularly useful at ISU include the following:

• Canvas Studio now autogenerates captions (and soon will auto publish) to help ensure videos are more accessible for all students

• Lucid was added to the Course Navigation – Lucid can provide improved options for student interaction and engagement

• There are new options for publishing modules, and modules may now be assigned to particular students and/or sections

• A redesign of Discussions allows instructors to set parameters for distinct dates for original posts and replies in discussions

Over $1 million was invested in classroom technology improvements to 87 classrooms in FY24, including updates to many of the classrooms identified in the last survey

A new collaboration space was added to Fell Hall, with more planned for the future

Academic Enhancement Funds allowed for approximately $1 million in environmental enhancements in classrooms and collaboration spaces for FY24. This investment included upgrades to seating, lighting, paint, carpet, and ceilings across 13 classrooms, a collaboration space, and several corridors. Additional improvements were made possible by funds allocated to teams in Facilities.

Additional meeting spaces were created in Milner Library

A longstanding issue impacting the printing of PDF documents via uPrint was resolved, and a new oversized printer for WKCFA was implemented

Over the past year, the Information Security Office (ISO) has introduced measures and best practices to significantly lower the risk of unauthorized access or data exposure across campus systems

Illinois State University has enhanced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all university web applications, ensuring stronger protection for personal information stored and accessed online

By promoting standard configurations for systems and devices, the ISO is actively reducing ISU’s overall attack surface and simplifying maintenance processes related to security

ISU remains a leading participant in the Illinois Partnership to Advance Technology in Higher Education, fostering collaboration and innovation in cybersecurity practices among peer institutions

The ISO has improved simulation exercises to build on the foundations laid by cybersecurity training, providing more realistic scenarios that further strengthen campus‐wide cyber preparedness

A multi-million dollar upgrade of the campus wired and wireless network is in its final phase. Network bandwidth has been increased throughout the campus network by 96%.  Multi-gigabit technology was also implemented which allows devices to connect at 1G, 2.5G, and 5G.  Power over Ethernet (PoE) capacity was also increased to support the new wireless access points and other devices that need PoE.

The increased capabilities of the wired network will support the 1,600 wireless access points that are being upgraded to Wi-Fi 6e, which introduces the 6Ghz spectrum that provides higher speeds and lower latency

Completed a phone system hardware upgrade to maintain stability of the system

The backbone to the Watterson Dining Center network has been upgraded to alleviate some wireless congestion noted by users

The ISU networking team is investigating technology that would automatically route cellular traffic to the more reliable campus wireless network for some cellular carriers. ISU does not control the cellular networks on campus and cannot directly improve their capacity – enabling WiFi calling is recommended on campus.

Increased the capacity of WISCNET, the part of the campus network that streaming services utilize from the residence halls

Zoom AI Companion was enabled on the campus Zoom license for voluntary use – this knowledge article provides details on what it does and how to enable it on your account

Campus IT teams resolved 93,489 tickets in FY24, a new high water mark. The speed with which they were resolved was also up – 60% of those tickets were resolved within 24 hours.

A new IT ticketing tool was selected and is being prepared for implementation in 2025. It will provide a more user-friendly interface for customers and greater efficiencies for IT staff.

Distributed 420 additional loaner laptops to students

The IT community provides a homegrown professional development opportunity to IT staff twice a year through the Continuous Improvement in Technology (CIT) Conference events, providing important networking and learning opportunities to all IT staff at a very low cost

Several campus IT teams focused on enhancing their training and development programs for student employees

The Technology Support Center Knowledge Team is continuously updating, organizing, and creating new articles on all things ISU technology. In 2024, 135 new articles were created, and 658 of the 887 total articles were updated.

Canvas technical support information was consolidated to a single location, the technology knowledge base at  Help.IllinoisState.edu/Technology

Eight new non-IT departments and one new IT department began using the Help.IllinoisState.edu knowledge system to document ISU public and internal information

The Office of Technology Solutions marketing & communications team assisted in piloting a new self-service mass email option

The technology orientation offered to new students in the Fall and Spring semester was streamlined and updated – students continue to appreciate this resource, with 80% rating it “Excellent” or “Above Average” overall

A formal request process for reviewing apps to integrate with the Microsoft 365 environment was established; 27 apps have been integrated through that process

The default sharing option for OneDrive and Sharepoint files was changed to better safeguard University data

The Microsoft 365 technical team completed a security remediation consultation with Microsoft, and is implementing recommended changes to further enhance the security of Microsoft 365

Enabled Copilot for the Web, an AI assistant that can enhance productivity

Migrated Microsoft Stream Classic video content automatically to user OneDrives as the campus moved to Canvas Studio for storing videos used for teaching and learning

Enhanced the prospective student experience in My.IllinoisState with a more personalized and individualized approach

• The new version includes a clear task list to streamline the student onboarding process and eliminate confusion over due dates, contact points, and task priorities

• Cross-campus collaboration was vital to the success of this project, breaking down silos and engaging multiple university partners along the way

• The project was recognized with Honorable Mention for Illinois State’s Team Excellence Award in 2024

• This new version of My.IllinoisState for prospective students is the model for future improvements for current students, faculty, and staff

The Academic Software Request process was launched, streamlining the process of requesting compliance reviews of software to a single entry point with updates to requestors throughout. Exceptions were established to remove barriers where possible.  A Software Catalog of reviewed software is now available as well.

A request process was established for researchers to utilize a group of NVivo licenses funded by the Research and Graduate Studies office

The Office of Technology Solutions created a new position focused on how technology supports research – the Director of Emerging Technologies, Instruction, and Research. Tech Solutions is also leading the campus Committee for the Responsible Use of AI, which has reviewed and released some AI tools for campus use and created a Community of Practice for further research.

The campus High Performance Computing cluster is being prepared to host and research Large Language Models for use with AI tools

Tech Solutions is  working with campus leadership to review and contract with AI providers to acquire licenses for  research purposes

The resources researchers require from the High Performance Computing cluster is being assessed and funding sought for future improvements

Illinois State joined the New England Research Cloud (NERC), which provides a cost-effective option for short-term or long-term use

As part of the Connected Communities Initiative, Illinois State partnered with OSF to use the Apple Vision Pro headset to develop a mixed reality training on how to deliver Narcan, a nasal spray capable of reversing the effects of an opioid overdose

Illinois State researchers partnered with State Farm to use VR technology to create an immersive virtual platform to allow teen drivers to safely train for hazardous driving conditions

Formed a partnership that is coordinated at ISU with Fermilab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and other institutions to implement Cube Satellite Ground Stations that will launch in Spring 2025. These stations will allow for research into Earth observation missions and astrophysics, monitoring of environmental changes, collecting data from current space missions, and assisting with weather and climate studies.

ISU received an NSF grant to build a network that focuses on the unique needs of researchers. This network is designed for securely transmitting large data sets and sensitive data sets on a network that is separate from our common-use network. Researchers will have access to a high-speed network with dedicated research resources like the High Performance Computing cluster. 

Built a Hyperconnected Quad, a private 5G network specifically designated for research that provides a secure, high-speed, low-latency network for testing Internet of Things (IoT) devices, communications, environmental monitoring, robotics and autonomous vehicles, AR/VR, and data-intensive applications

All college web sites are now on the latest web site template (V4) and have a consistent look and feel

Launched Search V4, modernizing and improving the internal web search experience on Illinois State University’s homepage

Added meta descriptions for 125 websites, totaling approximately 900 webpages, to improve search results as they appear on Google and ISU’s internal search

The 2024 MISO survey was administered in February 2024, marking the first time the survey measured satisfaction with Canvas rather than ReggieNet. Satisfaction rose sharply for all audiences compared to the scores recorded for ReggieNet in the 2023 MISO survey.

In addition to the quantitative measures on Canvas as a service, survey respondents were asked to name the “one thing that would enhance the functionality of Canvas”. The tone of these comments made a notably positive shift from 2023 to 2024, with all audiences recording at least twice as many comments in the vein of “it’s good/no complaints”. Other themes in the responses to the question included concerns around gradebook and grading in general for both undergraduate students and faculty. Some faculty reported not finding Canvas intuitive, and some students expressed a wish that their instructors had more knowledge of the system. It should be noted here that this survey was administered after all parties had had only one semester using the new system. Both undergraduate and graduate students remain interested in consistency from course to course in how instructors utilize Canvas and comment that it is difficult for them to navigate their courses when they vary greatly from course to course.

Generative AI Tools were presented for the first time as part of the 2024 MISO survey. All audiences were asked to report on their usage, importance, and satisfaction with Generative AI Tools as of the time of the survey – February 2024. Students reported higher usage of Generative AI Tools than employees. All audiences reported very low importance and low satisfaction relative to other services rated in the survey.

When asked why they use Generative AI Tools (academic and/or personal usage), 48%-76% of each audience reported “never” using them. Beyond that, the majority usage was “equally personal and academic use”. Students reported higher skill levels with Generative AI tools than employees, with grad students posting the highest skill levels. Undergraduate students feel the most informed about Generative AI Tools, while staff feel the least informed.

It should be noted that some comments from respondents regarding the use of AI revealed a suspicion of why these questions were being asked, and that the results may have been impacted by such concerns for some.

IT staff at Illinois State continue to be highly rated by the customers they serve. The MISO survey includes each year a rating of of IT staff on the measures of “friendly”, “knowledgeable”, “reliable”, and “responsive”. Included in this measure are the Technology Support Center (TSC), which serves the entire University, College/Departmental IT teams, who serve their constituency, and the Center for Integrated Professional Development (CIPD), who serve instructors. The scores on these measures have have been uniformly high over all four years of the survey.

Many respondents also provided praise for IT staff in their comments, with some also noting they would like to see faster resolution of their issues. IT staff resolved 93,489 tickets for customers in FY24, and 60% of those tickets were resolved within 24 hours.

In an effort to gauge customer sentiment on the cybersecurity practices in place at Illinois State, a series of satisfaction questions were added to the 2023 survey. Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction with four aspects of the impact security can have. The results have been consistently high in the two years these questions have been presented, indicating that the customers are very satisfied with security practices. The first two measures about account security and device security ranked especially highly and at least one of those measures was in the top 10 services for satisfaction for all audiences.

Contrasting Importance and Satisfaction scores for technology services is a useful way to determine if customer needs are being met. If a service has higher satisfaction scores than importance scores, we can consider that customer expectations have been met for that service. If importance is higher than satisfaction, however, there is an expectation gap that should be analyzed and targeted for improvement.

There were nearly 50 services measured in the 2024 MISO survey, presented to each audience as appropriate to their use. Of those services, only four services had an expectation gap. All other services had higher reported satisfaction than importance. These services are top focuses for improvement – the improvements list above provides some information on the work that has been done in these areas.

• Canvas (Overall Importance = 3.78, Overall Satisfaction =3.73). Canvas made big gains in 2024 from 2023 in satisfaction, but did not quite close the gap completely.
• Ease of Logging In (Overall Importance = 3.71, Overall Satisfaction = 3.59)
• Performance of the Wireless Network (Overall Importance = 3.68, Overall Satisfaction = 3.61) There are two wireless network measures in the survey, Performance and Availability. Availability of Wireless had exactly equal Overall Importance and Satisfaction scores at 3.68.
• Access to Free/Low Cost Course Textbooks (Overall Importance 3.53, Overall Satisfaction 3.05) Although it is not a technology service, this item was added from the standard MISO question set this year as a way of gauging student and faculty sentiment on this issue.