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Overview

In April 2025, ITS conducted in its inaugural survey of all faculty, staff, students, and trainees. Out of 172 respondents, the breakdown was: 48% staff, 21% faculty, and 21% students. The majority (88%) were in Memphis and most of them come to campus at least once a week.Ìý

Overall Assessment

ITS is viewed as a responsive, helpful, and professional organization, receiving especially high marks for its live customer service. To build on this strong foundation, strategic improvements and growth are needed in new-employee IT onboarding, user training and support, and infrastructure modernization/enhancement.

Areas of Excellence

1. ITS Staff and Issue Resolution
   1. Staff members overwhelmingly viewed as responsive, friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful, particularly the Service Desk and room support staff
   2. Issues generally resolved quickly, and users are confident in the support
   3. Live human support cited as a high-value interaction point
2. Network
   1. Wired and wireless services rated as reliable, stable, and fast
   2. Quick response to outages appreciated
3. Communications
   1. Timely and informative Daily Digest and service announcements appreciated
   2. Communications and transparency before and during outages praised
4. Learning and Professional Development Tools
   1. LinkedIn Learning cited as a valuable resource
   2. Self-service tools like TechConnect and its knowledge base should be maintained and expanded

Opportunities for Improvement

1. Blackboard
1. System perceived as outdated, hard to use, and unreliable
2. Additional training and more in-house support requested
3. Many requests to consider moving to Canvas learning management system

2. Streamlined Process for New Employee IT Onboarding

1. Excessive time and steps to set up new employees with required IT access
2. A need for better onboarding protocols or automation of access provisioning

3. Training and Support
   1. Increased promotion, training, and support for existing products (M365, SharePoint, etc.)
   2. Training materials hard to find
   3. Additional self-help resources in audiovisual/infographic formats needed
   4. Desire for extended support hours and methods (ex., chatbot, live chat)
4. Network

1. Coverage gaps and weak spots in some buildings
2. Reports of stability issues on Nashville campus
3. Issues with accessing guest Wi-Fi

5. Classroom Technology
   1. Outdated audiovisual technology in GEB and other areas

1. Disruptive software upgrades during lectures
2. Desire for integrated, device-agnostic wireless projection systems

6. Communications

1. More intuitive ITS homepage and search functions
2. More lead time on planned outages or updates
3. Additional updates on service requests that have a long resolution time
1. Artificial Intelligence
1. Additional training and support for UT Verse and Copilot
2. Improved design, more integration with campus-specific content, and additional capabilities to make UT Verse as robust as mainstream AI platforms

Out of Scope

Some feedback, while valuable for institutional improvement, was related to issues beyond ITS’s current purview.

1. Classroom disruptionsÌýdue to environmental and operational activities (ex. testing located near high-traffic areas, custodial and grounds work during classes, etc.)
2. BlackboardÌýis perceived as outdated and restrictive, and some users simply want to move to Canvas or other learning management system.
3. Users called for greaterÌýDASHÌýtraining and support, quicker issue resolution, and less system complexity.
4. Users requested additional support for some systems that ITS currently does not manage, such asÌýK@TEÌý(a UT System learning management tool) andÌýeMedleyÌý(Medicine’s learning management tool that the college supports internally).
5. Users noted outdated audiovisual equipment in the Health SciencesÌýLibrary, which ITS currently does not manage.

Next Steps

Survey results will be shared with the full ITS department, as well as with the campus. Each ITS team will be responsible for developing an operational plan to address those items that fall within their domain of expertise during this fiscal year. Larger initiatives, such as new-employee IT onboarding, will require a cross-functional approach and collaboration with multiple university units, which ITS is prepared to lead.