By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
The Online Student Government Association (OSGA) hosted its first meeting of the academic year on Monday.
One of OSGA’s top priorities this year is strengthening communication with online students. The group is working to obtain access to a listserv that will allow them to email all online students directly. They also plan to place greater emphasis on Tiger-2-Tiger, an online discussion forum available through Blackboard. According to OSGA President Eileen Moore, 90 percent of Tiger-2-Tiger participants are online students, making it a great channel to connect with the online community.
“I think we need to pivot our communication more to Tiger-2-Tiger, not leave Tiger Link, but as we’re trying to break through and communicate more effectively in working closely with them (online students), I think, Tiger-2-Tiger is the place for us,” Moore said.
OSGA Public Relations Officer Seth McGinnis noted that OSGA posted about National Distance Learning Day on Tiger-2-Tiger and it received decent engagement.
Monday also kicked off World Gratitude Week and OSGA is encouraging those on Tiger-2-Tiger to participate in some sort of gratitude activity.
“We’re encouraging everybody to share pictures of them doing this in Tiger-2-Tiger just for us all to kind of enjoy and kind of be inspired as well,” McGinnis said.
Those who post about their gratitude activity will be entered into a drawing for FHSU swag.
This is the first year OSGA has had official funding, so OSGA Secretary/Treasurer Tavia Foley has been studying the funding guidelines and organizing the finances. The largest upcoming expenses are the scholarships for the executive members and t-shirts and shipping for all members.
“We’re very restricted on how we can spend funds and we can’t spend them on prizes,” Moore said.
Foley said the group will keep careful records of expenses for the next couple of years to get a good sense of the financial needs of the organization, which will help inform future OSGA budgets.
During the open forum, Foley mentioned that some online students, herself included, have experienced issues with purchasing ebook codes through the FHSU online bookstore.
OSGA Advisor and Vice President for Student Affairs Joey Linn asked Foley to send more details about the situations so he could forward those on to the contacts he has.
“I would love to help be a part of that resolution in any way, shape, or form,” Foley said.
Finally, Moore mentioned potential changes to OSGA meeting times. OSGA has traditionally met on Monday evenings, but “Mondays are really difficult”. She proposed alternating between Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings.