Abstract 2009

Development of an Action Planning Framework for Faculty and Guidance:  Coordination Based on Student Needs Inventory

 Ronan S. Estoque, DPA

  This research is aimed at Developing an Action Planning Framework for Faculty and Guidance Coordination based on the Student Needs Inventory SY 2008 – 2009.

                Specifically, this research sought to answer the following questions:

1.        What are the top three (3) student needs?

2.       What are the least three (3) student needs?

3.       What is the recommended action framework for Faculty and Guidance Office coordination?

 Findings:

 1.  The top three student needs are as follows; 1.  Academic needs, 2. Career needs and 3.  Spiritual – Moral Needs.  For the Academic Needs, students from the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy reflected the highest score of 4.43, closely followed by Sanitary Engineering students with a score of 4.18 and then, by the Marine Transportation students, with a score of 4.12.  For the Career needs, students from Bachelor of Science in Accountancy scored the highest mark of 4.15, followed by the students from Logistics Management with a score of 3.76 and Architecture students, with a score of 3.71.  In Spiritual – Moral Needs, students from the Accountancy department tallied the highest mean score of 4.31, followed by the students from Marketing and Management with a score of 3.87 and by the students of Electrical Engineering, with a mean score of 3.86.

In the ranking of all respondents, Academic needs came out on top indicating that students are serious about their studies, that they are here to learn and acquire a degree and that anything that is related to their academic pursuits is inherently valued.  The second ranking of Career needs validated the first ranking of Academic needs.  This shows that related to pursuit and value of their studies, students are concerned most about their employment after the acquisition of their respective degrees.  The ranking of Spiritual – Moral needs shows that respondents places a high importance on their spiritual needs after academic and employment concerns.  This connotes that “right and wrong” is still important to them and this vacuum should be filled somehow by the institution.

2.  Based on the ranking tallied from Table 1, the least scores are as follows; Psychological-Emotional Needs – ranked #8 with a mean score of 3.08, Family Needs – ranked #9 with a mean score of 3.02 and Sexual Needs – ranked #10 with a mean score of 1.99. 

For the Psychological – Emotional Needs, there is a tied score between the Marine Engineering students and Accountancy students, reflecting a score of 3.82.  This is followed by students from the Sanitary Engineering which showed a mean score of 3.47.  There is a tie between Information System and Information Technology, with a mean score of 3.38.

For Family needs, the top reflected mean score belongs to the Accountancy students with a score of 3.82; this is followed by a tied mean score of 3.26 between Information System and Information Technology.  This is followed by the score of 3.25 from the Marine Transportation students.

For the Sexual needs, students from ECE showed the highest score of 5.89, followed by a tied mean score of 3.84 between IS and IT.  This is followed by BSA with a weighted mean score of 3.14.

Respondents tend to sacrifice a lot in pursuit of their education.  For the sake of academic betterment, they are willing to sacrifice or place a minimal importance of their emotional needs, family longings and even human sexuality.  In pursuit of higher learning, the three enumerated student needs takes a back-seat in terms of priority and importance.

3.  The Guidance Office is recommended to publicize the results of the Student Needs Inventory.  Respective academic departments are recommended to take note of these needs and tailor the delivery of instruction along the results revealed by the structured psychological test.

Publicity could either come in the form of a simple memorandum informing different departments about the concerns and needs of their students or for a wider dissemination, could even be published in the institutional organ.   The Guidance office could call for a collective meeting with the different department heads to discuss the results of the Student Needs Inventory or simply meet individually with the different academic heads.

The delivery of instruction is recommended to specifically target the ranked student needs and tackle them head on.

 Recommendations:

1.       The institution is recommended to focus on fulfilling the Academic needs, Career Needs and Spiritual needs of the students.

2.       To avoid the scenario of being spread too thin, the faculty and guidance office will just have to pursue programs that are the priority of students.  Of the 10 variables of the Student Needs Inventory (i.e. Academic, Career, Character Building, Economic, Family, Psychological-Emotional, Physical, Sexual, Social and Spiritual-Moral) least program priority should be given to Psychological-Emotional Needs, Family Needs and Sexual Needs.

3.       It is recommended that information be given to the different academic departments to assist them in focusing and targeting their delivery of instruction in congruence with the Student Needs Inventory.

4.       A meeting with the Student Needs Inventory as the main topic is recommended to be discussed between the Faculty and Guidance Office this school year, next school year and every school year.

5.       As a mode of publicizing the results of Student Needs Inventory, an article about its significance is recommended to be written and published in the school organ.

6.       A memorandum expounding the reliability and usability of Student Needs Inventory is recommended to be drafted and disseminated through a memorandum or a simple bulletin board posting.

7.       It is recommended that the conduct of the Student Needs Inventory be continued.