Welcome to the February digital experience insights blog post. These monthly blogs provide general tips and advice on how to run the insight surveys, latest best practice and guidance, as well as the latest news in and around the area of staff and student digital experience insights.
Gathering the data
- Why not promote the student survey as part of internet safety week – 11 February
Some institutions plan to run their insight surveys alongside wider initiatives, for example running a ‘Digital February’ where they also run additional support desk drop-ins, advice tweet discussions or subject-specific focus groups that discuss how digital is used on campus, in a subject, or within a faculty. This year some institutions plan to run their surveys in the week of 10 February with Safer Internet Day (opens in new window). Linking in with a wider initiative will help raise the profile and hopefully response rates for your insights surveys.
- New analysis templates for teaching and professional service staff surveys now available
Alongside the existing student analysis templates, the teaching staff and professional services staff analysis templates have now been uploaded to the resources page of the website. The link to the resources page can be found here (opens in new window).
Also, new for this year, we have an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to populate data from your different insights surveys (if you used more than one survey) and compare on the same question across the different surveys. The charts will then be automatically created and can be lifted and presented in any of your relevant PowerPoint slides, wherever you feel most appropriate.
Please let Mark (opens in new window) know what you think of the new analysis templates.
- Webinars to publicise (raising response rates in March and analysing your data in May)
We are running two webinars in the next few months to offer advice and share best practice in running your insights surveys, so don’t forget to get these in your diaries:
How to maximise your survey response rates webinar
The first takes place on Wednesday 4th March (11-12). To join the webinar, click on the link here (opens in new window).
How to go about analysing your survey data webinar
The second takes place on Thursday 14th May (11-12). To join the webinar, click on the link here (opens in new window).
- Now is the time to launch your FE student surveys
Have you run your FE student insights surveys yet? Spring is often the best time for colleges to run them. We strongly encourage you to launch as soon as possible to allow enough time to run your surveys and carry out the subsequent analysis and dissemination of the results. From a planning perspective you will also need to ensure your survey(s) don’t clash with other institutional surveys also being run throughout the academic year.
For HE institutions, you still have time to launch your surveys, although time is running out in terms of the best time to engage students and staff in the HE calendar.
For those that have signed-up and received your ‘getting started’ form, we encourage you to complete and send the form back as soon as possible so that we can release your master copies of the survey and you can get going.
If you would like to subscribe so you can run the 2019-20 insights surveys, please complete this short form here (opens in new window).
- New improved guidance
As mentioned in last month’s blog, the guidance pages have recently been updated to reflect new question sets and provide additional clarification – these can be found here (opens in new window).
The guidance now includes information on:
- New professional services staff survey
- Which surveys are most appropriate for different students and staff
- How to name the specific VLE system you use within your organisation
- A new PowerPoint presentation which outlines the main features of the insights service for your key stakeholders/senior management
- Naming your insights survey(s)
Can I remind you all to please include the following in your survey name: [name of your institution] [HE/FE/HE online student or teaching/professional services staff] [2019/20] [insights survey]. You will need to do this for each of your surveys.
If you’re using the Welsh version, please indicate either by putting the title in Welsh or adding “(Welsh)” into the title.
- Creating test / practice surveys
Some of you have created a test survey to practice with. Please can we ask that once you have finished with this you delete it, as we can see all insight survey copies made in this account, and we need to clearly find each of your “real” insights survey(s) in the master dashboard in order to put you in the right benchmarking groups.
Events
- Next community of practice – SAVE the date: University of Northampton: 21 May 2020
Find out more about how to participate and contribute to our next digital experience insights and building digital capability community of practice event, which will be hosted by the University of Northampton on 21 May 2020 by clicking on the link here (opens in new window).
If you have any ideas for sessions you’d like to present or would like to be presented at the event, then please email Ruth at ruth.drysdale@jisc.ac.uk
- Digifest 2020 coming up – 10 & 11 March
The next Jisc Digifest is coming up next month (10 & 11 March). The digital experience insights team will be there presenting as well, so pop over and say hi! For more information and to book a place, please click here. Note that bookings to attend close on the 1 March and its free to attend for representatives (including students and researchers) from further and higher education providers.
Developments
- Sign-ups for the researcher pilot insights survey
We’ve had a really great response to taking part in the new researcher pilot insights surveys. In total 13 institutions are taking part, which was around the number we were looking for. We hope to roll out the full survey next year, so this will be an extra survey in the suite of insights surveys we offer as part of the service.
