2. METHODOLOGY
Over the course of two months, the Academic Commons team launched a survey consisting of 32
questions across the 24 campuses. These questions targeted key features of the website while
focusing on detailed use-cases for an array of Commons users. We also included basic demographic
questions to understand the background of users.
After collecting the data, we were able to get a better insight on who we serve, as well as a deeper
understanding what our users are currently doing and want out of our site. With our data, we were
able to develop four personas of the most common users. These will allow us to prioritize how we
will improve the Commons in the future and and make development decisions moving forward.
3. OVERALL RESULTS
Participants completed a five minute
survey.The goal was to determine who we
are serving and what users are currently
doing within the site.
Participants and survey analysis:
•Total participants: 481 people
•58% Faculty
•29% Graduate students
•18% Staff + Administrators
•40% Affiliate with the CUNY Graduate
Center
•36% Have never used the CUNY
Academic Commons
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?
The 36% of respondents that have never
used the Commons were asked: Where did
you first hear about the CUNY Academic
Commons? Most common responses were:
•Email notifications
•Faculty/Staff meetings
•Colleagues/Friends
•From a CUNY Commons members
•Links on a CUNY webpage
•Department orientations
•Department-wide emails
•Digital posters
•IT Conferences
4. • 58% Groups
• 47% Sites and/or Blogs
• 19% Events
• 15% Profile and Portfolio
• 13% Member Connection and
Friendship
• 11% Digital Research Tools
• 9% Docs
• 5% Site-wide Newsfeed
• 3% Social Paper
• 5% Other
In order to optimize the accuracy of how our website is being
utilized, we separated the data to analyze the 64% of
respondents who indicated they currently use or have used the
Commons.
Respondents were asked to pick key features that they used
within the CUNY Academic Commons. This allowed us to see
where our wide audience recalls spending most of their time
on the site. Respondents were allowed to select as many
features as they wanted
64% USE THE COMMONS TOP FEATURES
• Sample Size: 292 people
• 42% Faculty
• 18% Graduate students
• 16% Staff and Administration
• 14% Graduate Students with multiple
roles
• 10% Other
5. PERSONAS
In order to best present the data, we sorted users into four groups based on
how they themselves recognized their roles within CUNY. By doing this, our
analysis gave us a better understanding of our core audience and their use
cases. This gave us confidence in our persona summaries and based on the
results, the four main groups are:
➤ Graduate Students
➤ Graduate Students with multiple roles within CUNY
➤ Faculty
➤ Staff and Administration
6. “The Commons provides an intuitive platform for a
variety of needs like networking, idea development
and critique, and digital research tools.”
Age Range: 22-34
Department: English
Area of Study:
Digital Humanities
Graduate Students who use the Commons frequent the site around
2-3 times a week. Most commonly, they use their time to increase
their academic presence online. As they are career driven, it’s
important to be a part of an academic community for both its council
and mentorship. They promote their professional works and
achievements within the CUNY profiles but, more popularly, through
their academic groups. Graduate students utilize the Commons to find
like minded CUNY affiliates to share their ideas and gain confidence
in the works.
Visits the
Commons 2-3
times a week
Responds every
few weeks to
Commons emails
Accesses the
Commons via
laptop
Hunter College
&
CUNY Graduate Center
Graduate Student
7. Graduate Students
with Multiple Roles Within CUNY
CUNY Graduate Center
“The Commons allows me to experiment with
websites, connect with peers and classmates,
and have a public persona.”
Age Range: 35-44
Department: English
Area of Studies:
Linguistics
These users have immersed themselves in multiple CUNY roles
and, despite their busy schedules, utilize the Commons
frequently to access sites and/or blogs. Because they access the
Commons every few weeks, these users strategically connect to
collaborate with peers who are generally those whom they
share a class with. They also access the Commons to read and
discover works of their peers in order to gain inspiration for an
academic site and/or blog of their own.
Visits the
Commons every
few weeks
Responds once a
month to
Commons emails
Accesses the
Commons via
laptop
8. Faculty
New York City
College of Technology
Age Range: 45-54
Department: Library
Area of Studies:
Education
Visits the
Commons once a
month
Responds every
few weeks to
Commons emails
Accesses the
Commons via
laptop
Faculty users find it essential to be able to connect with colleagues
and peers within CUNY through the Commons. By joining groups
related to their academic interest(s), they take part in conversations
within group forums, send announcements to other group members,
and stay informed by reading the recent group activity. Within their
groups, the faculty is kept up to date with what is happening around
CUNY and they especially like to find events to attend within their
groups or across the CUNY campuses.
“I mainly use the Commons to keep up with activities
and discussions in groups to which I belong. So the
Commons connects me to a University-wide service!”
9. Staff and Administrators
Queensborough Community
College
Staff and administrators use the Commons about once a month in order
to remain informed as to what is happening around CUNY. They find the
membership connection and friendship features most valuable because it
keeps them connected to the ever growing community. Valuing what their
groups discuss, they enjoy finding other Commons users who share
similar academic interests and invite them into their Commons groups.
They enjoy expanding their academic knowledge and find that connecting
digitally with new members creates engaging academic discussions.
Accesses the
Commons via
desktop
Age Range: 55-64
Department: Library
Area of Studies:
Sociology
“One of the best academic community platforms I
have used and an important model for other
communities.”
Visits the
Commons less
than once a month
Responds every
few weeks to
Commons emails
10. SO WHERE SHOULD
WE PRIORITIZE?
Based on the data and what we
now know about our users we feel
confident about focusing on the
following features:
➤ Groups
➤ Sites/Blogs
➤ Profile and Portfolios
➤ Events Calendar
FROM THE USERS
“Service that lets groups run online events/webinars (basic
functions that you'd find in WebEx or Adobe Connect).”
What could we offer?
“A more intuitive interface; the ability to share content
from outside of the Commons more easily. More help
filtering and discovering.”
“A list and tutorial of all that's available on the Academic
Commons”
What do you enjoy about the Commons?
“It’s an incredible resource that makes tools for both
short-term and long-term project needs for web presence
and group collaboration easy and accessible.”
“Commons provides an intuitive platform for a variety of
needs like networking, idea development and critique, and
digital research tools.”
“I find it helpful in that I can see what others are doing
and also bounce my ideas off of peers.”
