ULink Survey

ULink Survey
by Lori Briggs

UL Lafayette has recently implemented a new system through which the new ULink runs called "Banner." UL began to replace the old system, ISIS, with Banner at the end of 2014 and plans to fully replace the old system by the summer of 2017. Recently, a survey was conducted to gauge students' interaction quality with this new system, and a random sample was selected out of the UL student population to fill out this brief survey. This sample was chosen simply by going around campus and engaging students who had free time.

For most of the questions, students were presented with a scale in which they had to rate their experience or satisfaction from 1 (not being satisfied at all) to 5 (being very satisfied). A marking of 3 (I don't know/neutral) indicated that the students haven't dealt that much with certain features of the new ULink yet and therefore don't have an opinion.

The survey asked students about their age as well as year of study at UL and whether they were an undergraduate or a graduate student. Two percent of the respondents were under 18. About 36 percent were between the ages of 21 and 23, with the majority, about 42 percent, being between 18 and 20 years old. About 18 percent of students who responded to the survey were over 24.

About six percent of the undergraduate students said they were in their fifth year or above of their undergraduate study. About 13 percent said they were in their second year of undergrad, about 20 percent in their third year of undergrad, about 21 percent in their first year of undergrad, and about 19 percent of the respondents were in grad school.

The 101 students who filled out the survey were about 50 percent male and 50 percent female. Almost 50 percent of students reported that they are satisfied with the new ULink, and 25 percent of them didn't have an opinion. According to the survey, most students find it pretty easy to add and drop classes on the new ULink. When the survey brought to their attention that it is possible to contact a professor or advisor directly from ULink, many indicated that they weren't aware of this feature.

Most of them said that they had an easy time accessing their financial account on this new system. Overall, the survey found that most students think it's easy to find what they need on the new ULink, suggesting that on a satisfaction basis, the implementation of this new system has been successful. Further and more in-depth surveying will be done in the near future to assess student satisfaction with specifics of the new ULink.