New feedback survey distributed to ASI Senate

Published in the CSULB Daily 49er newspaper Nov. 29

Communication between Cal State Long Beach teachers and students is rated poor compared to other universities across the country, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement.

George Del Hierro, a CSULB Student Services employee, addressed the Associated Students, Inc. Senate Wednesday to hand out surveys, which will attempt to gather information regarding student experiences on campus and with teachers.

"Last year I got involved with the director of general education and her research on faculty and student communication," Del Hierro said. "We participated in the survey, along with hundreds of other institutions across the country, and we found at Cal State Long Beach [that] our biggest problem is faculty and student communication."

Within all the research and literature compiled so far for CSULB, students are found to be unconnected with the teachers, according to Del Hierro.

"If the students do feel connected, and find faculty or staff they can connect with, or relate to, then they are more likely to stay in school and graduate," Del Hierro said. "Hopefully with the work of this research and the partnership of the administration at Cal State Long Beach, we can work toward addressing this issue, and eventually improve our graduation and retention rates."

The senators were given packets of surveys to present and distribute to fellow students in class for the next two weeks. The survey will ask students to share information regarding the previous teacher they had.

"They shouldn't be answering the questions about the professor that's standing there in front of them," Del Hierro said. "The questions are personality questions, personality characteristics of the professor [and] of the class in general. Last year was a pilot study and this is the real thing now."

After the information is obtained on Dec. 14, the data will be crunched and analyzed, then a plan will be created to address the issue, according to Del Hierro.

ASI Chairwoman and Vice President Lucy Montano said, "The survey is kind of long, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy - and some students will try to get out of it."

Montano also said, "They shouldn't comment on their current professor because it might put the professors in an uncomfortable situation."

In other Senate news, the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Program coordinator Ralph Davis gave a brief overview to the Senate.

"The program is the result of a 2001 drinking death at Cal State Chico," Davis said.

The incident prompted the entire CSU system to create alcohol education programs.

"Here at Cal State Long Beach, we built a comprehensive global view program where we look at the issues of students and drinking from all different angles," Davis said.