News

One-Third of Online IT Support for Students Deals with Login Questions

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 12/03/09

A third of all online questions posed online in an IT help desk environment in institutions of higher education deal with password and login information. Those are followed by e-mail, which consumes 26 percent of questions; inquiries about Blackboard or student portals, which encompass another 21 percent; and gaining remote or wireless access, which makes up another 11 percent. General administration questions make up the remaining nine percent.

The results come out of a report issued by IntelliResponse Systems, which sells Web-based self-service applications. The "2009 Voice of the Student" report summarizes three years of questions posed online by students in North America and contains recommendations for how schools can use the trends exposed by this data to improve the student experience on their campuses.

The report, which is available free with registration, also goes beyond the IT questions and provides a rundown on the top questions posed overall by prospective and current students as well as those specifically related to financial aid.

"For the first time ever, schools will be able to obtain unique trending data across North American campuses that will help them benchmark their performance with other schools--to ultimately help improve the student experience," said David Lloyd, president of the company. "IntelliResponse is in a unique position to provide this type of compiled data because we enable more than 100 schools across North America with the technology to effectively answer questions posed by students on their Web sites."

The company's higher ed customers include Penn State University, Ohio State University, and the University of British Columbia.