Gannon Knight News

     Want to get your voice heard quickly? Now you can with Student Government Association’s newest online tool called IdeaScale, a feedback system created specifically to allow students’ voices to be heard in a fast and efficient way.
     Gabe Shreckengost, SGA vice president of technology, said the IdeaScale is also an online tool that used by many professionals in business.
     “IdeaScale is used by numerous large corporations around the world to drive innovation by collecting valuable ideas and feedback from customers about their products and services,” he said.
     And since SGA receives money from a percentage of the student activities fee, Shreckengost said that he would like to see that money be put into good use.
     “Since our customers, the students, ultimately pay for everything that SGA accomplishes, we should be strive to do projects that a majority of them want to see happen,” he said. “IdeaScale gives students the ability to collaborate on ideas and projects that they would like to see SGA do.”
     In the past, SGA has tried various ways to get more students to speak out and voice their opinion about their school, all of which weren’t successful.
     “Unlike traditional surveys, IdeaScale allows SGA to find out what ideas students have and what projects they want us to do before we even ask them about anything specific,” Shreckengost said. “Also, open-ended survey responses typically provide the most useful ideas, yet they are difficult to process and organize meaningfully on a large-scale basis.”
     Registering on IdeaScale is simple and fast. All students have to do is go to SGA’s Web site (gannon.edu/sga) and click on “New Idea” at the top of the Web site. Once that step is completed, the site will re-direct you to the IdeaScale home page and directions to register.
     Once registered, users will have 20 votes that can be allocated to various ideas or projects at any time throughout the semester. Some votes have already been cast on the site.
     Additionally, Shreckengost said that students can comment and even improve other people’s idea using the site’s tools.
     As to whether the IdeaScale will make an impact with the school, Shreckengost is optimistic that it will have a huge effect on the way the students share their ideas.
     “Through the use of this new technology, we are optimistic that SGA can reach the largest group of students that we have ever been able to connect with,” he said.
     “Hopefully, the top ideas suggested by students can be implemented around our campus through the hard work of SGA as quickly as possible so that their benefits can be realized by all students.”
     SGA Freshman Representative Caitlin Szczupak, a pre-med/biology major, also believes that the IdeaScale will get more people to voice their opinions on their school.
     “It is definitely easy to use and SGA is looking forward to proposed ideas,” she said. “I see this as a great tool for SGA to use when we consider what projects to fund, what projects to pursue and what projects to ignore.”