On March 20, 21 and 22 focus groups were held with both students and faculty to gain insight into the use of the 25 Student Public Labs that are located across campus.
Thank you to those who participated. Your input will help to improve the student lab experience.
Below are the questions that were asked of student participants. We encourage you to leave a comment below and help shape the future of Carleton’s computing labs.
Student Focus Group Questions
- How often do you use one of Carleton’s computing labs on campus?
- What do you use the computing labs for?
- In terms of school work (studying and assignments), do you tend to use the computing labs individually, in pairs or in larger groups?
- When Carleton introduced wireless technology across campus, it was expected that computing lab usage would decrease. In fact, wireless usage AND computing lab usage are still increasing. Why do you think this is happening?
- What sort of technology are you bringing to campus yourself?
- What technology do you do most of your studying/assignments on while on campus? (e.g. Laptop/netbook, computing lab desktop, smartphone, tablet)
- What technology do you mostly use for other purposes while on campus? (e.g. Email, web surfing, social media, video conferencing, music/movies, etc…)
- Do you use Carleton’s computing labs to access specific software that you don’t have available elsewhere? (e.g. SPSS, AutoCAD)
- If Carleton provided you with access to all of the software currently in use in the computing labs, essentially freeing you to access campus resources from anywhere, at any time, and with most devices, would this provide value to you?
- In this model, where you do you envision doing most of your school work?
- Would there still be a need for computing labs on campus? Would you foresee a reduction?
- How should Carleton be providing hardware to students that don’t otherwise have access to them? (e.g. Laptop loan program, included in tuition, cost-effective student purchase program)
- Have you taken part in the laptop loan program through the Learning Commons in the Library? (laptops and netbooks for 3 hours at a time)