2019 UBIT Faculty Survey results to steer IT at UB

Published September 17, 2019

In Spring 2019, UBIT surveyed over 400 UB faculty members to understand how they use and perceive the technology available at the university. This feedback will guide UB's decisions about technology for teaching and learning in the years to come.

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UBIT learned about respondents’ everyday experience with classroom technology, online teaching, mobile devices, information security, and more. You can read our complete survey report, as well as past years' surveys, on the UBIT website. 

Classroom Technology

Satisfaction with classroom technology among UB faculty closely resembles our 2017 survey. Classroom tools with the highest satisfaction ratings include classroom projectors (74%), touchscreen control panels (71%) and document cameras (69%). 

Introduced in Fall 2018, Webex received the lowest satisfaction rating (50%), but adoption of Webex is growing rapidly among the campus community, jumping from 700 customers in Fall 2018 to over 2,600 as of September 2019. UBIT offers support and training for Webex, and is currently working to update UB’s classrooms with more options to easily take advantage of Webex collaboration.

Devices in the classroom

49% of UB faculty respondents reported that they do not encourage students using mobile devices in the classroom, which is a significant decrease from 54% in 2017.

The growing number of UB faculty who integrate the use of mobile devices in the classroom reported using them for:

  • Collaborating with classmates (49%)
  • Mobile Notetaking (43%)
  • Responding to clicker questions (43%)
  • Presenting in class (38%)
  • Taking exams (12%)

In 2018, UBIT formally began supporting Top Hat, with which instructors can leverage mobile devices in the classroom for presentations, quizzes, exams, and attendance.

The future of teaching

More UB faculty told UBIT that they expect to be teaching online within the next five years:

  • 31% expect to teach both online and in-person
  • 5% expect they will no longer teach in person at all

Some respondents (2%) expressed doubts about the efficacy of online learning, while others requested increased support for UB’s online teaching tools like Panopto.

Protecting personal information

UBIT asked UB faculty to weigh in on the potential benefits of two-step verification for UBITName accounts. Duo two-step verification is coming to UBITName accounts during Fall 2019. 

While some faculty expressed concerns about the logistics of two-step verification at UB – in particular the requirement to use a personally owned device for verification – the majority of respondents (49%) said they felt the practice would be valuable for UB. Faculty concerns have been taken into account during the development of UB’s solution, and multiple devices will be available for verification prior to requiring Duo two-step verification on UB services. 

Learn more

If you have questions regarding UBIT's 2019 Faculty IT Survey, please email ubit-communication@buffalo.edu.