Have you ever wondered where NC State students prefer to do their homework or even what types of computers or operating systems (OS) they choose to use?

The annual ResNet/ComTech Survey, which is open to all students living in campus residence halls and in Greek Village, aims to shed light on students’ use of information and communication technology services, including internet connectivity, computer labs, OIT technology support, and even social media.

The 2019 survey features responses from 1,749 students and includes the following highlights:

Personal Devices

• Of the 1,651 respondents, about 56 percent prefer to use PCs for classwork while 27 percent prefer using Macs.
• Conversely, 74 percent of the 1,555 surveyed with smartphones reported using an iPhone while 25 percent reported using an Android phone.
  

Internet Connectivity

• Of the 1,643 who responded, approximately 39 percent have two devices connected to the internet, and an additional 33 percent have three devices connected.
• About 87 percent of the 1,643 surveyed said they most frequently use a laptop, netbook or tablet to connect to the internet.
• Approximately 46 percent of the 1,690 students surveyed said they actively use the internet connection in their rooms from three to five hours per day. Thirty-one percent said they actively use the connection five to eight hours per day.

Campus Labs

• About 29 percent of 1,589 surveyed said they use a campus computer lab one to two times per semester.
• Of 913 respondents, 68 percent surveyed said they prefer to use Windows OS, while 27 percent said they prefer using Macintosh OS X.

G Suite

• The most popular G Suite app on campus for school tasks is Gmail. Of the 1,666 respondents, 98 percent reported they use the service for academic-related tasks. Ninety-five percent of the respondents use Google Drive (Docs, Sheets and Slides).
• Out of 1,559 respondents, 70 percent found Google Drive to be extremely useful when working collaboratively on academic tasks.  
• Approximately 76 percent of the 1,666 surveyed said they regularly use Google Drive to backup important files.

Technology Support

• Of 331 respondents who needed help with computing problems, 57 percent said they occasionally or frequently visited the OIT Walk-in Center.
• Of those who sought help from the walk-in center, 46 percent rated the quality of service they received as excellent. An additional 30 percent rated it as very good and 17 percent rated it good.
  
• Of 331 respondents who needed help, 28 percent reported they occasionally or frequently contacted the NC State Help Desk.
• Of those who consulted the help desk, 38 percent rated the quality of service as excellent, 19 percent rated it very good and 29 percent rated it good.

Social Media and Streaming

Of the 1,563 students responding:

• Approximately 70 percent said they frequently use Snapchat; Instagram came behind in a close second with 68 percent using the photo-sharing app.
• About 72 percent reported that they frequently view content on YouTube, the most popular streaming service on campus.

See ResNet/ComTech Surveys to view more survey results.