I agree with the utility analogy, but what does that tell us? Not much, I think. Natural gas is also a utility, but request that in your office and see what kind of response you get. The utility analogy fails to answer many question related to how and where we should deliver Wi-Fi services. The answers to these questions must be driven by business requirements, and those are challenging to define.
-----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck Anderson Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 10:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] AW: [WIRELESS-LAN] To provide (wireless) service, or not to provide (wireless) service... Wi-Fi has become an (expensive to maintain) utility. It is just expected to be there and work well. You don't have people going around asking how much of a deciding factor the reliability of the electricity is for choosing where to go to school. Also, 7Signal isn't exactly an unbiased party with no conflicts of interest... On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 09:58:29AM -0400, Chuck Enfield wrote: > I have no doubt that network availability, accessibility, and > performance all affect student satisfaction. But my question is > directed at the issue of recruitment and retention, as these things > have a clear impact on the bottom line. It stands to reason that > student satisfaction affects the bottom line as well, but to what > extent is far less clear. If we can't figure out if networking is a > significant factor in who chooses to attend our institutions, it's > highly unlikely we'll figure out how it affects things like alumni > activity, donations, etc.. > > The (undated) graphic Chris provided is the first time I've seen a > survey of students that addresses the recruitment question. 38% say > Wi-Fi quality is a deciding factor is pretty powerful. That said, how > students choose their institution is a well-researched question and > I've never found information like this in any other source. Typical > of what I find is this 3 year old data from a UCLA survey: > > 1. College has very good academic reputation (63.8 percent) 2. This > college's graduates get good jobs (55.9 percent) 3. I was offered > financial assistance (45.6 percent) 4. The cost of attending this > college (43.3 percent) 5. A visit to this campus (41.8 percent) 6. > College has a good reputation for its social activities (40.2 percent) > 7. Wanted to go to a college about this size (38.8 percent) 8. > College's grads get into top grad/professional schools (32.8 percent) > 9. The percentage of students that graduate from this college (30.4 > percent) 10. I wanted to live near home (20.1 percent) 11. Information > from a website (18.7 percent) 12. Rankings in national magazines (18.2 > percent) 13. Parents wanted me to go to this school (15.1 percent) 14. > Admitted early decision and/or early action (13.7 percent) 15. Could > not afford first choice (13.4 percent) 16. High school counselor > advised me (10.3 percent) 17. Not offered aid by first choice (9.5 > percent) 18. Athletic department recruited me (8.9 percent) 19. > Attracted by the religious affiliation/orientation of college (7.4 > percent) > 20. My relatives wanted me to come here (6.8 percent) 20. My teacher > advised me (6.8 percent) 22. Private college counselor advised me (3.8 > percent) 23. Ability to take online courses (3.2 percent) > > Based on this, it's pretty clear that 7 Signal didn't conduct their > survey at UCLA in the fall of 2012. I've been able to find newer > data, but nothing that lists this many factors. That's another > problem with the available data. Amongst surveys which describe their > methodology, many decide a priori what factors are important and let > respondents choose from those factors in an attempt to weight them. > As far as I can discern, few surveys allow the respondents to add factors > that the surveyor didn't include. > > I don’t mean to give the impression that I've researched this topic > exhaustively. I've probably spent 10-12 hours deliberately > researching it over the last couple years. That activity has left me with > 2 conclusions: > 1) I don’t know how Wi-Fi affects enrollment, and 2) it's likely that > nobody else does either. > > Chuck ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
