This is a great idea Andrew. Having students come in to orientation, as well as having new students paired with mentors can be very helpful in achieving student success.
And even if you don't have time during orientation, having graduates talk for a few minutes in a beginning class can be helpful.
There is a powerful motivation in seeing that others have perservered and succeeded.
Our orientations are very successful because we genuinely care about the success of our students and it shows. We do everything we can to let them know that we are here to help them through their entire program. We use a PowerPoint presentation and all of our directors participate. In addition, we play games with the students and really get them involved. We give away prizes and always have refreshments. At the end of every orientation we conduct a written survey and almost always get 5 out of 5 stars. The one area in which I think we could improve orientation is by including a guest speaker. Our last orientation three graduates came in and spoke to the new students and this was unplanned. It was very moving and I am now going to try to have graduates or upcoming graduates speak at all orientations from this point forward.
We have been doing an orientation program that introduces the new starts to all the administrators and key people in our school. We present an organization chart and then have them stand up and introduce themselves briefly and talk about what services they provide to the student body. They also go over common question that apply to their area of responsibility. We have a very harm reaction to this type of orientation versus others that we have held.
Our school usually plans to have our orientation progam the last day of finals for our current students and the new students can see what it is like for a final. This gives the student time to reflect and pursue options to look into as far as what to expect. We offer the orientation twice for morning students and again for night students. We did try to do orientation on 2 half days, but found doing this in one day also helped getting the students ready to sit in a classroom for 5 hours.
Our school usually plans to have our orientation progam the last day of finals for our current students and the new students can see what it is like for a final. This gives the student time to reflect and pursue options to look into as far as what to expect. We offer the orientation twice for morning students and again for night students. We did try to do orientation on 2 half days, but found doing this in one day also helped getting the students ready to sit in a classroom for 5 hours.
I agree. Our Orientation currently goes through some traditoinal ice breakers and introductions. I feel that one of the things that we could improve on would be to give the students a taste of what it is actually going to be like once they start class.
I would like to see an orientation program that exposes students to every facet of their educational experience. This includes presentations by program directors and academic advisors, student services, financial planning, education administration, learning resources, and career services.
No, we would extend the time by about 45 min with a break for the transition. New students would be made aware of the time commitment necessary for orientation. We would then go over some things such as identify how you learn, auditory, visual, kinestetic; importance of time management; goal setting techniques; study habits; reading styles. These things would be re-inforced in their Learning Frameworks course in the 1st quarter, but it will give them some tools to work with prior to the start of class. The only hesitation is that it may be over-whelming for the student and they may decide to postpone their start.
Thanks for your response Katheryn. If you extend the time in orientation will it be more than one session? What specifically would you add?
We generally conduct our orientation the week prior to classes. We hold both morning and evening sessions. Each director is present and spends time addressing the students and making sure that they are aware of the role that each of us plays. We are currently considering extending the time of our orientation to include some of the basics of college learning as a way to increase retention for the campus.
