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In May 2011, UQ students had the opportunity to complete an online survey and provide their feedback about mySI-net. We received an excellent response, with 847 students providing their suggestions over this brief time period. 51 students then accepted invitations to attend a lunchtime discussion session in June, to discuss their experiences and suggestions in more detail.

 

The majority of survey participants rated mySI-net as “Good” overall and provided valuable feedback on how the system could be improved. These suggestions will help to shape the SI-net Support Group’s worklist for the coming months and years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please scroll down to see the features that our respondents indicated they would like to see in mySI-net.

 

View the timetable of a course before you add it

Access your Studies Report (e.g. to view results from your previous semesters)

Access mySI-net directly from the UQ Home page

Receive an SMS of your end-of-semester results

Access a Sitemap, FAQ and Feedback/Help page

 

Semesters listed in chronological order

New navigation features to make the menu and tabs easier to use

Quicker access to your mySI-net timetable

 

Automated emails when class signon opening times are set / changed

Other improvements to class signon process

Improved computer equipment for handling the class signon load

Clearer instructions for new students

More integrated timetable planning tools

Personalised Exam Timetable in mySI-net

 

Complete overhaul of the look and feel / colour scheme of mySI-net

Hosting of your program rules, required courses, electives (etc) on mySI-net

Changing the wording of the Financial pages
 

 

The Course & Timetable Info page enables you to view the timetable and other useful information about a course, before you decide to add it. As most students did not know that this function was available under Other Links in the left-hand menu, the page can now also be found under the Courses and Timetable menu folders, to help you with planning your future semesters.

 

Many students did not know where to find their Studies Report link. This is directly under the myPage heading at the very top of the left-hand menu. The Studies Report link is removed from mySI-net for a few weeks at the end of each semester as results are gradually being processed, to prevent some students finding out their results before the official release date. We are currently looking into ways to make the Studies Report easier to find and reduce the amount of time that it is unavailable at the end of each semester.

 

If you need a copy of your Studies Report during this end-of-semester downtime, you can request that a staff member generate one for you by going to Other Links > Feedback/Help. However, if you are simply looking for a list of the courses you have completed (without the results), go to Program > Enrolment Status Report.

 

As well as accessing mySI-net from within my.UQ, you can also access mySI-net directly by going to www.sinet.uq.edu.au, or via the links on the right side of the UQ Home page (under FAVOURITE LINKS > CURRENT STUDENTS > 4. mySI-net).

 

We plan to continue to send your end-of-semester results as an SMS to students wherever possible, as this helps to reduce the load on mySI-net at results time. If you wish to receive this SMS, please go to Personal > Telephone Numbers in the mySI-net menu and ensure that your mobile number is up to date.

 

If you do not wish to receive an SMS of your results, please go to the above page in mySI-net and ensure that the mobile number field is left blank.

 

 

1 - There was an issue with the SMS-results that were sent for Semester 1, 2011, in that the message was not received by students who use iPhones. This issue has now been tested and resolved, so that it should not recur in future semesters.

 

2 - While the SMS is sent at 12:00am on the day of the results release, please remember that those same results will not appear in mySI-net until 6:00am, as advertised.

 

3 - Note for International students: At this stage, the results SMS is sent to Australian mobile phone numbers only. However, we plan to revise the Telephone Numbers page in the future, so that the results SMS may then be sent to any international mobile number that you specify, if you are not planning to be in Australia at the time of results release.

 

All of these functions are available in mySI-net under Other Links at the very bottom of the left-hand menu. Small Sitemap and Frequently Asked Questions links also appear at the very bottom of your window on any mySI-net page. 

Semesters listed in chronological order
Many of our respondents indicated that the display of semesters (in reverse chronological order) on the mySI-net Home page and the Courses pages was confusing.  When you next access mySI-net, you may notice that the active semesters are now presented in direct order of sequence (Semester 1 appearing at the top of the page, followed by Semester 2, then Summer Semester when applicable, etc).

New navigation features to make the menu & tabs easier to use

When you next access mySI-net you may notice ‘tooltips’ appearing when you hover your mouse over the navigation tabs (across the top of the page) and the left-hand menu items. These mouse-over tooltips will explain the purpose of the different parts of mySI-net, helping you to find what you need faster.

 

The left-hand navigation menu has also been upgraded, so that you can easily expand / contract each menu group by clicking on the yellow arrow next to each folder name. This enables you to view the contents of each menu folder, without waiting for any pages to load.

At the earliest, this would be implemented for Semester 1, 2012. All students enrolled in a course would receive an automated mySI-net email, whenever the class signon opening times for that course are scheduled or amended. While this may lead to students receiving many emails for their various courses, participants in our discussion sessions agreed that this was much better than having to repeatedly log in to mySI-net to find out if this information has been posted.

 

We will also look into other ways that mySI-net can more efficiently and effectively support UQ’s class signon process. As currently, we will continue to consult with course coordinators to encourage a more even spread of class signon opening dates, so that fewer students are trying to sign on to classes at the same time.

Work is currently underway to review the computer equipment that supports mySI-net. At this stage we anticipate some equipment will be replaced before the end of this year. This should increase the performance capacity of the system, in particular at busy times of semester.

 

We will review the help and instructions within mySI-net over the coming year, with the goal of providing a more user-friendly introduction to mySI-net for new students, and a reference-point of key topics for existing mySI-net users.

We are currently working together with the developer of the popular UQ Rota website, to maximise the future usefulness and efficiency of this timetable planning tool, while ensuring that all UQ students maintain the security of their mySI-net username and password and the sensitive information contained within mySI-net.

 

Many students requested a personalised exam timetable in mySI-net, automatically showing the exam dates and times for the courses in which they are enrolled. This task is already on our worklist, and we will endeavour to deliver this in future semesters. 

Given the many other important priorities outlined above, it is unlikely that we will be devoting our resources to a cosmetic “facelift” of mySI-net at this stage.

 

Regarding navigation in mySI-net, students are reminded that the Tabs across the top of the mySI-net page provide access to exactly the same information as the left-hand menu folders. However, the Tabs give you direct, one-click access to each folder’s “Home” or “Summary” page, which contains useful links and summary information. When you click on a Tab, you will notice that the same folder in your left-hand menu is expanded, allowing you to then access the more detailed pages within that menu group if the summary page does not answer your query.

 

While some students wanted only the tabs and others wanted only the left-hand menu to remain in mySI-net, the reality is that both of these navigation options can be useful for students at different times.

Many students raised the idea of hosting and displaying all of the UQ program rules directly within mySI-net, so that students can easily see the courses they need to complete in planning their program. Unfortunately the number of the programs offered at UQ, the flexibility that we offer our students, and the frequency with which these program rules can change mid-way through the completion of your program makes this much more difficult than it sounds.  However, we are currently investigating ways of displaying a link to the program rules specific to each student's program as a permanent reference tool.  It is hoped that this functionality will be available via students' mySI-net home page from Semester 1, 2012.

 

Some students indicated that the wording of the Financial pages of mySI-net is confusing. Unfortunately, the wording of these pages is legislatively determined by the Australian Government, so it cannot be changed by the mySI-net team. However, we will look into how we can improve the help information on these pages in the future, to make it easier for students to understand.