Improving your orientation programs...
What kind of comprehensive orientation program can be put in place at your school? Or how can your current orientation program be improved to increase student retention?
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.
Thanks for your response Katheryn. If you extend the time in orientation will it be more than one session? What specifically would you add?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 university campus recently opened in this area. We are in the process of improving our programs and services. At this moment, we conduct our orientation every five weeks when a new term of classes is starting. The new students receive by mail an invitation and follow up calls from the staff. The format usually is informal and involves a presentation by the counselor and the director of the learning resource center. The topics include study skills, time management, test taking, dealing with anxiety, and a description of our innovative educative system. We try to make a positive first impression and to demonstrate that we are committed to the student's success. I think
the more information the student has, the more successful and committed the student can be to staying in school through completion. We could possibly improve our admissions process by making the group orientation mandatory and introducing the staff and facilitators.
Our School holds orientation typically the Friday before classes start, it's usually a one day event where students meet all faculty and department heads. Discussions are centered around what to expect as a student, what we expect as faculty, school policies etc.. We have tried different methods of bringing in graduates to discuss their experiences and Instructors discuss real world industry experiences. It can be overwhelming at orientation with all the information we are giving them, but it's very important to reinforce it along the way once the student has matriculated.
Our orientation currently takes place on the second day of class. In the past, we preferred to give students a taste of what class would be like before orientation. However, we are currently revising this procedure because we found that we actually would lose a student or two between the first day of class and the orientation session. For future starts, our orientation session will be held the Friday before class starts. It is a three-hour session designed to cover necessary policies and procedures while motivating the students to be successful. The difficult part of orientation is matching student expectations with the reality of college. It's like your parents telling you something--you don't believe them until you experience it yourself!
I particularly like and will implement the idea of a voluntary roster with student contact information to share rides, child care, study groups, etc. We have a student organization, "Students-Helping-Students" which assists with student retention. We have added them to our orientation program and they will discuss the benefits of joining and conduct a membership drive. For $5.00, students will get a membership card and a t-shirt. Student involvement is the most important part of retention in my opinion. Our school motto is "Where YOU fit In!" We launched this two years ago as a marketing AND retention tool and try to practice this in all our activities. We also host a student appreciation week every semester around mid-terms and a spirit week the week prior to finals.
Because we are a small campus, we do not have the administrative capacity to launch a formal mentoring program; however, we do have an informal program and are lucky to have a licensed counselor teaching some of our general education courses. We encourage studnets to meet with the counselor if they are having difficulty with study skills, instructor problems, or personal problems. The availability of this service is discussed at orientation.
We attempted to incorporate a semester-long orientation program last year with a one-credit mandatory class called College Success Strategies. However, we found through class evaluations that students hated the semester-long format and thought it interfered with time they could be spending on other core classwork. We are now in the process of deleting this course from our curriculum.
Overall, I think a more thorough orientation program will help to alleviate first-term withdrawals.
Hi Scott
I love the flexibilty of your organization! It is so important to be willing to change what isn't working. That isn't failure, it is the path to success. Student feedback is critical.
Most important is having a comprehensive strategy for retention. Showing the student the reality of the challenge is very important. Being honest and supportive works.
Again thanks for sharing some of your strategies. We can all take something from your experiences.
The amount of information presented is already fairly overpowering; the only way to improve it without destroying its effectiveness would be to create a process of orientation over the first week that would briefly cover the earlier information so that it was not lost.
Our schools use similar orientation outlines that include all areas of the available services and personnel at the campus. We attempt to reinforce the students' expectations of the program and our commitment to helping them achieve their goals by successfully completing their studies. If there were one thing I could change to help improve the process, it would be the length of the orientation. There are some individuals who present more information than necessary, which makes for a long and sometimes boring session.
I think the orientation that we have now is a great start! I believe when I as Retention Officer, am introduced, I need to make clear that I am here to mentor the students with needs that may arise. I think the word itself is a calming word to most. I can also get with the first phase instructors of all programs and put them on the task of seeking out those that might need mentoring and help me in this arena! I like this idea of mentoring and think it will give us a boost!
Kevin Asberry
Orientation is extremely important. We bring Director and Associate Director, pLacement, student services and admissions for the orientation. We introduce each person and the students introduce themselves and they are asked to talk about their chosen program and why they decided to take this particular program at our school.
We also give the students another tour of the school to introduce them to as many staff and faculty members as possible.
I would like to implement the idea of giving a student an opportunity to experience what it will be like in a typical class. I would couple this with the option to survey the sutdent and have them understand their leanring styles so they can improve on the classroom experience.
