Jill Shaw April 2009
// Introductory email to students //
Dear
I am contacting you to ask for your help with some research I am conducting as part of a
COLMSCT project. The aim of this research is to enhance and improve the fOUndIt website,
both on T175 and on other courses.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could spare around 30 minutes for me to ask you some
questions by telephone about your experiences of using fOUndIt.
If you are able to participate, please let me know by 5th May 2009.
Please also complete the short form (COLMSCT student consent.doc) attached to this message
and return it to me to give your consent to taking part.
If you have any questions about this work, please contact the fOUndIt mailbox at
foundit@open.ac.uk or contact me directly at j.shaw@open.ac.uk.
With thanks in advance for your time,
Jill Shaw
// Survey questions ready for use in Surveymonkey.com //
fOUndIt online survey
Thank you for agreeing to take part in this survey. The purpose of the survey is to find
out about your experience of using fOUndIt and how we might improve it for the future.
First off, some quick questions about yourself…
1. Please select the region you are studying in

London
Jill Shaw April 2009

the South,

the South West,

the West Midlands,

the East Midlands,

the East of England,

Yorkshire,

the North West,

the North,

Wales,

Scotland,

Ireland,

the South East.
2. Please select your age range from the following groups:
Under 18, 18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66 and above
3. What is your gender?
Male, female
4. How many years of study have you completed with the OU?
Jill Shaw April 2009
Year 1,2,3,4,5, 6 and over
5. Please select your level of computer experience
Very basic(I can use a computer to send emails and browse the internet), basic, fairly
competent, very competent, expert (I can use a range of software applications and make
hardware modifications)
6. Have you ever used any of the following social networking tools such to share links to
websites? Please select as many as are appropriate.

Delicious

Digg

Facebook

Others – please give details
7. Could you please rate the fOUndIt website with a mark out of 10, where 10 is the highest score?
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
8. Would you recommend the fOUndIt website to a friend or colleague? Please give a mark out of 10,
where 10 indicates ‘I definitely would recommend it’, and 1 indicates ‘I definitely would not
recommend it’.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
9. Please rate your satisfaction of the site generally with a mark out of 10 on the following areas,
where 10 is the highest score:
Jill Shaw April 2009
How it looks
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
How easy it is to use
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
How useful the things you can do on it are
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
The quality of the links submitted
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
The quality of the comments posted by others
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
How much the site meets your needs
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
10. For the following statements please give a mark out of 10, where 10 indicates ‘Strongly Agree’ and 1
indicates ‘Strongly Disagree’
Generally, I feel I can trust the site
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
The site feels well constructed
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
The site has inspired me to find out more
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
about a particular subject
The site is a useful place to store links beyond
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
the end of a course
The site is a good place to find other people
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, don’t know
interested in similar topics
11. Did you experience any technical problems with the fOUndIt website?
Yes / no
(If yes ->) What problem(s) did you experience? Please select from the list below:

A page didn’t load properly

A page didn’t load at all

A link wasn’t accepted when you were ‘submitting a story’
Jill Shaw April 2009

Login problems

Other – please give details
12. Please tell us about the fOUndIt website.
What do you like most about the fOUndIt website?
What do you dislike most about the fOUndIt website?
Can you suggest any improvements that could be made to fOUndit?
Thank you for taking part in this survey. In the future we may be looking for volunteers to give more
detailed feedback on the fOUndIt website. If you are happy for us to email you about this research
please enter your email address below. Your email address will only be held by the fOUndIt team and
will not be passed on to any other party.
Email address: