The results of the 2005/2006 WebCT student survey are now available. The complete report is here, and a summary follows.

A total of 1356 responses were received.

Overall, the results reflect well on the state of WebCT courses at LSE. The student satisfaction level is high, and students say that they feel encouraged to use WebCT, that they think it is well-integrated with the course teaching, that it is a valuable supplement to traditional modes of teaching, and that they would like to see it used on more of their courses.

The WebCT features deemed most useful by students are those that we would consider fairly basic: lecture contents, reading lists, e-packs, and external links. The assignments tool is also well appreciated. However, discussions, which are used by 80% of respondents, are seen as more non-useful than they are useful.

The most requested WebCT feature is “example essays”, and there is also some desire to see the use of TV/Radio programmes, audio/video lectures, quizzes, student presentations and past exam papers.

Only a small proportion of students take advantage of WebCT training. When asked what they think training should include, there are very few concrete suggestions. It is possible that there is a publicity problem with regard to training, but it might well be the case that most students simply do not require training.

Finally, the results also reveal some problems with the survey itself, and certain questions may need to be redesigned for next time.