Measure: Collect Information to Help you Lead
Understanding the end user perspective is the most difficult thing technology managers
do. Within higher education, with diverse audiences of faculty, students,
and staff - each with different and competing needs - this challenge is significantly more difficult.
Among higher education administrators there is broad consensus that technology
services must evolve to be more aligned with end user perspectives, however, the
challenge of bridging the gap between those who deliver technology services and
those who use technology is significant.
The Higher Education TechQual+ Project was created to help technology managers close the gap between their organizations and those they serve. The
project produces, on an annual basis, a standardized questionnaire that measures
key concepts that are important to faculty, students, and staff. The instrument
is informed by focus groups conducted at participating institutions and revised
each year to reflect new trends and shifting expectations. By administering
the Higher Education TechQual+ Assessment annually at their university, technology
managers can measure the strength and performance of technology services using an
end user focused approach. With annual assessments, technology managers can
demonstrate improved performance of technology services, consistent with their strategic
plans.
Research conducted through the project has identified three key concepts critical
to end users in higher education. Faculty, students, and staff want great
technology services, particularly web-based services; they want to be able to access
those services from anywhere, at anytime, in a reliable and efficient manner; and
they want consistent and timely support as necessary to be more effective with technology.
The 2008 Higher Education TechQual+ Assessment
instrument contains 18 items that measure the quality of services as they relate
to these three important areas. In addition to these 18 core items, universities
may also include additional items that measure the service quality of items specific
to their university. By using the Higher Education TechQual+ instrument, universities
have the benefit of measuring a key set of concepts proven to be important to faculty,
students, and staff, and the flexibility to create additional assessment items that
measure the quality of services unique to their institution.
Click here to download a PDF of
the 2008 Higher Education TechQual+ Assessment.