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UW staff, students more wired than ever

Lynn Welch  —  9/06/2007 11:18 am

Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison continue to go wireless, and show increasing concern over computer security according to the most recent survey of student technology trends.

The report, released this week and conducted online through the school's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) with about 350 students last spring, shows that more than three quarters (77 percent) of students own a laptop, up from 64 percent in 2006. As a result, reliance on campus wireless network connections increase. Wireless access was up from 30 percent in 2006 to 50 percent in 2007, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, a recent survey of faculty and staff technology trends at UW-Madison revealed that nearly 60 percent use a laptop, more than double the 29 percent in 2006, and 49 percent use a cell phone, up from 20 percent reported last year. The 2007 UW-Madison Faculty/Staff Computing Survey also was compiled by WebSurvey@UW for the first time this year with about 350 staff and faculty members.

DoIT communications manager Brian Rust pointed to an overall trend of portability among students, faculty and staff members.

"The newer students coming in are even more comfortable with portability," Rust said, pointing to the increasing use of portable storage devices like thumb or USB drives, and more laptop ownership by faculty and staff.

Security was more important to students surveyed, with 84 percent saying they never intentionally shared a password, up from 76 percent in 2006. Students also back up data more: only nine percent said they never back up information, down from 40 percent who reported never backing up in 2006.

"This was a pleasant surprise for us," Rust said of security awareness. "Our effort to redouble security seems to have gotten through to all."

Last year, DoIT required anyone with a password thought to be unsecure to change it in order to access campus resources, Rust said. The strategy worked.

Other student technology trends: most own cell phones, up from 79 percent last year to 85 percent in 2007; and MP3 use jumped to 64 percent from 53 percent last year. Also, 67 percent of students owned portable storage devices such as flash drives and USB, thumb, or jump drives.

Lynn Welch  —  9/06/2007 11:18 am