Student Computing Survey 2009-2010: Graduate Results

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Check out the results of the annual Student Computing Survey for grad students. Click here for Undergraduate survey results or visit the survey result archives.

Summary

Selected Results

Summary

Demographics:

This year, 1200 grad students responded to the survey, with more men responding to the survey (62%) than women. 56% were PhD/EdD students, 35% Masters, 4% MBA, 8% JD, 4% MD and the remaining in MFA or other degree programs. 48% were in the School of Engineering, 23% in Humanities and Sciences, 9% in Medicine, 6% in Business, 9% in Law, 5% in Education, and 4% in Earth Sciences.

Use of Computers and Related Equipment

Regarding equipment of those who responded to the survey:

  • Almost 100% have their own computer
  • 51% have 2 or more computers (not including other computing devices, such as handhelds)
  • 90% have a Windows or Mac laptop*
  • 13% run more than one operating system on the same machine
  • 41% have an iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Palm, or other handheld
  • 35% have their own printer
  • 28% have an iPod or other media player (not including iPhone, iPod touch)
  • 14% have a Game console (XBox, PlayStation, etc.)
  • 11% have a wireless access point or router (WiFi)

In terms of platform:

  • 86% have a Windows PC desktop or laptop*
  • 44% have a Mac desktop or laptop*
  • 14% have a Unix or Linux computer

Most students say they use their computers between four to eight hours a day, with 23% four to six hours a day, 26% six to eight hours a day, and 37% more than 8 hours a day.

49% of students say they acquired their primary computer only after they arrived at Stanford. 34% said they acquired their primary computer before they were accepted by Stanford.

Students were asked to rank how they generally prefer to have their computer problems resolved after contacting their RCC. The most popular results were, in order:

  1. Online e.g. email, IM, Facebook
  2. Phone e.g. voice, text message
  3. In Person
  4. Other

With 90% of students with laptops, students were asked specifically where around campus they used their laptops. The top five locations listed were:

  1. Your room on campus (91%)
  2. Classrooms (46%)
  3. Department or administrative offices (41%)
  4. Other students' rooms (29%)
  5. Other libraries (24%)

Students were also asked about their email use-- 52% of students said they forward their stanford.edu email to a different email service. 37% of students used the general Stanford email service (@stanford.edu) while 55% used GMail to check their email.

Off-Campus Students

A significant portion of graduate students live off campus and this year and this year, students who live off-campus were included in the survey. Of those who responded-- only 3% of those who answered the survey-- the most popular way of getting computer help were:

  1. Non-Stanford websites (Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) (71%)
  2. Friends of family (61%)
  3. Stanford Campus Help Desk (5-HELP or HelpSU) (29%)
  4. IT Services website (29%)
  5. Academic department tech support (17%)

To use their iPhone, computer, etc. while on campus, most off-campus students used the Stanford Network Self-Registration service (66%), Academic department tech support (24%), or the Stanford Campus Help Desk (5-HELP or HelpSU) (12%).

RCCs

Resident Computer Consultants (RCCs) are students who live in each residence and serve on house staffs as local network managers by supporting residential network connections, educators by running residential programs on computing and working with students in general, consultants by helping residents with computer problems, cluster technicians by helping to take care of the residence clusters, and more. They are managed by the RCC Manager (and the Resident Fellow(s) where applicable) and receive support and training from the entire ResComp central staff. RCCs are the first line of support for residential students and are an integral part of residential life. For more information about RCCs, click here.

44% of students said they have asked their RCC for computer related help or advice with 42% of them asking for help one to five times this past year (the survey was conducted near the end of the academic year). The majority of questions were related to the wireless network (73%). Other kinds of questions included those related to the wired network (28%), cluster printer (6%) and computer or network security (5%).

On average, 80% of requests were resolved within two days with 56% of those requests being resolved within 24 hours. Of course, in some cases it takes a longer time to resolve issues. In those cases, 58% of students responded that students felt that the RCC's response time was reasonable.

78% of students rated their RCC's knowledge as excellent or good and 87% rated their RCC's availability to help as always or usually available.

Residence Computing Spaces

Residential Computing supports a computer cluster in every residence, roughly 360 public computers in 80 locations. 50% of students said they have used a residence computing space (computer cluster) this year for any purpose (computer use, printing, study, etc.). Of those students, most students said they either used it regularly (at least once a month) (47%) or rarely (once or twice a quarter) (52%).

The top five most significant reasons for using the residence clusters are:

  1. Printing (70%)
  2. Availability of specialized software (Matlab, Mathematica, Photoshop, etc.) (58%)
  3. Multimedia production (scanning, video editing, etc.) (49%)
  4. Personal computer is broken (49%)
  5. Availability of group/partner work space (46%)

Regarding the reliability of the printers in residence computing spaces, 86% of students say that the printer is always or usually stocked with paper and 93% say that the printer always or usually has sufficient toner.

Public Computing Spaces

Academic Computing Services, Residential Computing's parent organization, also provides central public computer clusters, equipment for checkout (e.g., laptop, video camera) and study space in Meyer Library, Green Library, other branch libraries, Tresidder LAIR, Old Union, and the community centers. Consulting support is also provided by Student Computing at the Meyer Tech Desk. 58% of students who answered the survey say they have used one of these spaces this year.

Students were asked how often they used specific public computing or study locations. Students said they used the following spaces regularly (at least once a month) or often (more than once a week), in order:

  1. Any library other than Meyer or Green (42% of cluster users)
  2. Green Library (other study or computer spaces) (36%)
  3. Meyer Lobby (1st floor) (28%)
  4. Meyer 2nd floor study/computing space (24%)
  5. Meyer 24-hour Study Room (1st floor) (23%)

The most significant reasons students used public computing or study spaces in Meyer, Tresidder Computer Center, or Green Library are, in order:

  1. Study space away from residence (63% of cluster users)
  2. General printing (58%)
  3. Availability of group/partner work space (51%)
  4. Avilability of specialized software (Matlab, Mathematica, Photoshop, etc.) (47%)
  5. Multimedia production (scanning, video editing, etc.) (35%)

The second floor of Meyer also houses the Multimedia Studio. Students who use the space use it for a variety of multimedia purposes, such as image scanning (64% of Multimedia Studio users), digital video editing (23%), and text document scanning (OCR) (23%).

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Selected Results

About Your Residential Computing Consultants (RCC)

About how many times this year have you asked for help/advice from or been contacted by your Resident Computer Consultant (RCC) for a computer related problem?

About Your Personal Computing

Which of the following devices do you have?

Residence Computing Spaces

How important is it to have a study space WITHIN OR NEAR YOUR RESIDENCE equipped with technology such as computers, printers, and shared displays for laptops?

 

Have you used a residence computing space (computer cluster) this year for any purpose (computer use, printing, study, etc.)?

 

How often do you use your residence computing space?

Public Computing Spaces

Have you used a public computer cluster or study space this year in Tresidder, Meyer, Green, any other library, Old Union, or the ethnic and community centers?
For what activities do you primarily use the Multimedia Studio in Meyer?

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