USG to students: “Talk to us.”

With the University Student Government (USG) determined to organize a different set of activities this year to cater to the changing needs and interests of the students, the overall effectiveness of these activities has become the top priority of all USG units. Feedback and suggestions from students are now given higher regard when the different units plan for the activities and advocacies that will be offered to their constituents.

Pre-activity and post-activity evaluation

In promoting its activities, the USG utilizes social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as the USG website and the Centralized Communication Channel (SMS system), says Janel Tumpalan, USG executive secretary.

These promotional efforts managed by the Office of the Executive Secretary (OSEC) are conducted prior to the implementation of the activities. “Allowing these activities to become viral through shares, reposts, retweets, among others, ensures us that students are interested and aware [of its] relevance,” explains Tumpalan.

The effectiveness of these activities is assessed by the Department of Activity Approval and Monitoring (DAAM), which is supervised by USG Vice President for Internal Affairs Pram Menghrajani.

Being an independent committee that does not fall under the executive, legislative or judiciary branches, DAAM provides unbiased assessments. USG President Carlo Inocencio adds that after an activity is approved and implemented, one representative from DAAM will conduct on-site surveys to the participants of the activity he or she is assigned to assess.

Basing the assessment on survey results, DAAM will then give their recommendations to the USG units, so the units could know the strengths and weaknesses of their activities, and areas for improvement, if any. The assessment could be used by the units as basis when planning future activities.

In the project proposals (PPRs) of activities, quantifiable measures called key performance indicators (KPI) are included. Unit officers can establish their own KPIs, may it be from the number of participants to the relevance or strict implementation of details, says Inocencio. “You can’t really tell if using this KPI for [one] program would be as effective for another program, so it depends. You wouldn’t want to dictate measures which aren’t applicable to certain projects, so what we follow would be the KPI that the heads state in their PPRs,” he adds.

Moreover, project heads are required to accomplish and submit a USG Activity Report, one of the post-activity requirements, indicating and justifying how their program’s objectives were met during the activity implementation. Tumpalan furthers that post-event evaluations can also be done through Facebook or Twitter, so heads could gather more feedback.

Addressing communication and assessment problems

Despite the usage of these channels, Tumpalan explains that these are rarely used to measure effectiveness. “We release surveys for post-activity evaluation, but isn’t always done,” she says. She adds that more surveys could be released especially for college-wide and university-wide events to know what projects remain relevant to students.

For this academic year, the USG also aims to streamline all activities information and make them available in the USG website. Moreover, the DLSU USG website now includes mood meters, encouraging the students’ feedback and participation in the activities. “We can collect real data and really determine what efforts we should be focusing on this year,” Tumpalan mentions.

On KPIs, Inocencio shares ongoing problems in the assessment such as the varying perspectives of the project heads and students, and the students’ lack of involvement in the assessments. “[We lack] evaluation from the student body, which I am confident enough that DAAM this year will be able to do [or improve on],” says Inocencio.

On meeting expectations

The USG aims to meet its expected number of participants for all of its activities and programs, and more importantly, the participants should know the relevance of each activity attended. The USG also expects its constituents to be active, especially in programs such as open forums and focus group discussions. “Through students’ participation, we hope that they can fulfill their ideal Lasallian student experience,” expects Inocencio.

The USG would also like the students to participate in beneficial projects. Inocencio reminds that the success of the USG could only be measured by the number of students who are willing to contribute to the improvement of the University. “At the end of the day, whatever we’re doing for the USG is not only for us [elected and appointed officers], but for the entire student body,” he adds.

Meanwhile, in an online survey conducted by The LaSallian, Abigail Pacleb (IV, INSYS) expects the projects of USG to be more streamlined and unified this academic year. Clarizze de Guzman (III, ISA) says that the USG should aim for sustainability in their projects, and recounts of the USG’s installation of charging stations throughout the campus. “The installation of the charging devices was commendable, however, it was abandoned and unmaintained,” she points out.

Regarding the planned student handbook revisions for this year, James Tan (IV, MKT) expects all elected USG officers to at least have the voices of students be heard.

College of Science (COS) President Arianna Olis claims that although the insights gathered from engaged students were sufficient, COS is still hoping for more participants, preferably a representative from each course, to engage themselves in the handbook revisions focus group discussions. Olis highlights that the needs of students are very specific to the group they are a part of, in this case, the groups are the degree programs they are pursuing.

Joana Aberin (III, CAM) reminds the different USG units of the importance of consulting their planned activities with their constituents. “In order to effectively address the needs of the students, the projects must first be seen [from] the perspective of the student, then the perspective of those attending or interested. This allows the activity to be understood from different levels without assuming that one or two reasons [are] enough to have the said activity,” she ends.

The different USG units are determined to offer activities and advocacies that could address the needs of their constituents, but they can only do so much to make their projects effective and successful. Lasallians are expected to participate not only during the activity proper, but also during the pre-planning and post-activity assessment.