I believe all departments play a key roll in orientation and the students stay in school, each department helps in their on way. for example the instructors need to build a strong relationship with each and every student since they interact with them on a daily basis once classes begin. the admissions Reps. are one of the first people they meet upon entering the campus therefor the students feel the most comfortable with them and need to maintain that level of comfort through the time they attend school. current students and graduates can offer their experience during and after their time at the school, such as success stories, experiences they have encountered with the time they have spent as a student at our Campus.
I agree, these are the people in the class that they will ultimately be dealing with the most, so it makes sense that they should be a big part of the orientation
Rita--
I have always found the 'station' approach to be fun and effective. It gets students moving and engaged in interesting ways.
Susan
All of our department are involved with orientation. We have stopping stations that lead to the orientation room which admissions do; administer math/english placement testing which academics does; career services is "master of ceremonies"; and financial aid reminds students they are always available, etc.; the campus director greets all students; the director of education conducts tours; and so on.
This works well for us and the students are so pleased with all the attention and comfort this brings them in preparing for their journey.
The department that has the most interaction with students is education. All our students start out taking the same class. on the first day of class, the instructor will introduce themself to the class, take the class on a tour of the campus, discuss rules again, and have the class interact with each other. All to help the new students get comfortable in their new surroundings.
David--
This is excellent! It is so much easier to acclimate new students when they are all together and having an experienced, supportive instructor is key.
Susan
The department that has the most interaction with students is education. All our students start out taking the same class. on the first day of class, the instructor will introduce themself to the class, take the class on a tour of the campus, discuss rules again, and have the class interact with each other. All to help the new students get comfortable in their new surroundings.
All of our major departments have a role in orientation,from financial aid,student services,employment services, education. A few Instructors are present during orientation,not nearly the full staff.
From a "providing comfort" standpoint, I think the most important participants in the orientation are the instructors. To a student, what could be better than actually seeing the face of the person you will soon be learning from?
Stephen--
Excellent! Do you do any interactive activities as well?
Susan
At our school, each department ( financial aid, education, housing, & student services) is represented by a speaker that will highlight the areas that they are responsible for and who to see if they have any questions or concerns about the services within the department. Each department seems to have an equal and ample amount of time to get the message across.
Financial Aid Dept., Housing Dept., and Education Dept. all departments contribute to a facilitation of a portion of the orientation.
This is a very good way of removing many student fears.greeting a student with faces instead of names tends to relax a person, especially if these new people tell who they are and what they do.
Student services is a major part for our student's success.They do a meet and greet at orientation, along with follow up on any concerns a student may have had on accomodations for their learning styles.
Our New Student Orientation (NSO) is the official handing of students from Admissions to Academics. At the NSO students are welcomed by Admission upon arrival and then spend the rest of the NSO with the student-facing departments with whom they will interact during the course of their studies--Student Accounts, IT, instructors, Student Finance, Student Services, Learning Resource Center, Career Services, students, Academic Leadership Team, and the student store.
Career Services - we introduce the staff of Career Services, show them where it is on campus and have the Director talk to them for a few minutes discussing how they will be working with each student individually to help them find the best possible externship available.
Education Department - we have each Program Dean do a presentation/demonstration for the students in their particular programs and introduce them to their first module teachers.
Student Services - Introductions of the Dean of Students and associates to discuss what they offer and how they can help along with introduction of Academic Specialist.
Financial Aid - Introductions and location of offices
Library and Resource Center introductions, tour and offerings.
Our orientation process involves all portions of the school. It is especially important that Faculty are part of the process. Our organization places Admissions, Financial Aid and others in an overall group called Student Services. This organization takes a leadership position in the orientation and the rest of the school engages to support the effort. At times, our presentations miss the mark and start to sound rather contrived or "Corny" but usually the work of the team and the quality of information conveyed is top notch.
Stephen--
That is great that you specifically take time to explain those support services. You are also correc tin that having administrators actively in the hallways greeting students is important.
Susan
The department with the most interaction with students in our school is student services. On first day of class I spend some time explaining how addition services (such as tutoring, job search, and counseling) can be activated at our campus. The same thing is included in my class syllabi with contact information.
One of the biggest differences I have seen is when administrators (campus president, dean of education, department chairs) are in the hallways talking to students.
During orientation, we have representatives from all major departments present. As discussed in the module, we divide students in to groups after the initial check in. For example, students in the diploma program are grouped and sent to a classroom where they meet the Department Chair and/or instructors (and sometimes students) of that particular program. Interaction with other members of the Academic, Faculty, Career Services, Student Services, Finance, and IT departments is also commonplace during orientation.
