Student Email Survey Results (March 2011)
Subject: New Student Email System
Dear UBC Student,
UBC's student email service (NetInfo/Interchange) is at end-of-life and we are looking at replacement email solutions for students.
Your opinion is very important as email is a critical method that the University uses to communicate with you about a variety of things including your grades, assignments, research etc. Please let us know your preferences by completing the short survey here: <link>
The survey should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. All respondents will be entered into a draw for a $150 UBC Bookstore gift card. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please email <link>
Thanks, UBC Information Technology
| Question 1: Are you a | |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate student | 5748 |
| Graduate student | 2015 |
| Exchange student | 2 |
| Theology student | 1 |
| Continuing Studies (non-certificate/non-diploma) | 7 |
| Continuing Studies (Certificate or Diploma) | 125 |
| Unclassified | 10 |
| Other (please specify) | 135 |
| Question 2: I am in year | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2053 |
| 2 | 2073 |
| 3 | 1784 |
| 4 | 1340 |
| 5 | 524 |
| None of the above | 272 |
| Question 3: What personal email service(s) do you current use/prefer | |
|---|---|
| Gmail | 5369 |
| Hotmail | 3668 |
| Yahoo | 767 |
| Internet service provider (Telus, Shaw, etc.) | 493 |
| Other (please specify) | 464 |
| Question 4: What productivity suite do you use/prefer? | |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Office | 6533 |
| OpenOffice | 408 |
| iWork | 406 |
| Google Apps | 464 |
| Skydrive | 12 |
| Other (please specify) | 158 |
| Question 5: Do you have an NetInfo/Interchange email account? | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 6097 |
| No | 1039 |
| Don't know | 886 |
| Question 6: Do you have any other email account(s) that use a UBC domain | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 1004 |
| No | 6619 |
| Don't know | 417 |
| Question 7: Typically, how do you use UBC Interchange email? | |
|---|---|
| Web access | 3147 |
| Forwarding only | 2121 |
| I don't have a UBC email account | 1217 |
| Through email programs (such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail) | 833 |
| Other (please specify) | 664 |
| Question 8: How important is it for you to have a UBC email address? | |
|---|---|
| Very important | 2078 |
| Fairly important | 1426 |
| Important | 1208 |
| Not very important | 2274 |
| Not important at all | 1047 |
| Question 9: How important is it for you to have the same UBC email address after you leave UBC? | |
|---|---|
| Very important | 1824 |
| Fairly important | 1415 |
| Important | 1181 |
| Not very important | 2303 |
| Not important at all | 1312 |
| Question 10: What type of service would you prefer? | |
|---|---|
| A UBC email address that forwards to a mailbox of your choosing | 4805 |
| A UBC email address that is tied to a UBC mailbox hosted by Microsoft or Google | 2349 |
| I don't need a UBC email address | 856 |
| Question 11: If you could have the address first.last@<something>.ubc.ca "for life", what should <something> be? | |
|---|---|
| alumni | 471 |
| 449 | |
| student | 176 |
| interchange | 164 |
| vancouver | 149 |
| sauder | 101 |
| okanagan | 95 |
| Students | 89 |
| my | 88 |
| gmail | 68 |
| 64 | |
| edu | 63 |
| science | 56 |
| nothing | 52 |
| ubc | 52 |
| education | 48 |
| connect | 36 |
| faculty name | 36 |
| Department Name | 33 |
| University | 33 |
| alum | 30 |
| Question 12: Additional Comments | |
|---|---|
| Forwarding | 126 |
| Privacy/Security Concerns | 17 |
| Third-Party Service | 127 |
| About the Service | 227 |
| Alias/Name Issues | 223 |
| Don't Care/Know/Need | 127 |
| Interchange Sucks | 195 |
| Good Things | 90 |
Breakdown of the Additional Comments categories:
(A single comment may be tagged in more than one category: for example, a student may raise concerns regarding privacy as well as request for a specific email domain)
Forwarding – any inclination from the student that they currently forward their Interchange mail to another email account (personal or otherwise), or if they request that such a service be available in future email services
Privacy/Security concerns – any mention or raising of concerns regarding security issues, such as data mining or hacking
Third-Party Service – any mention of outsourcing services to Google or Microsoft hosting (or any other third-party where applicable)
About the Service – similar to a "General" category for any comments from "please make it look like Google" to anything else that seems like the student is pointing at something negative, even if indirect
Alias/Name Issues – any issues or mention of a naming convention for a future email service; may also include the domain portion in @<something>.ubc.ca
Don't Care/Know/Need – any sign that the student does not care about the email service, did not know about it (and may even ask about where to get it), or if they say they do not use and have no use for a UBC email service
Interchange Sucks – anything negative students have to say about the Interchange service; this includes technical usage and terms (no "mark as read" feature, "star/flag" emails, small inbox storage, etc) or aesthetic features (they do not like myUBC layout, find the WebMail application too slow, etc)
Good Things – anything good that students have to say about the Interchange service, including a simple "thank you for changing from Interchange to something else" or other similar comments
