Orientation is a time when all departments can contribute to the cohesion of a person's transition from perspective to active student. Creating opportunities for students to engage with staff, other new students, and graduates will help them feel confident in their decision to attend school.
What have I learned from this module?
- Students offer suffer from Buyer’s Remorse when enrolling/starting college
- Schools can help overcome that by reassuring the students others have succeeded and they can too.
- School support is very important
- Orientation needs to address student concerns
How do I intend to apply it?
- Ask current students for information they wished they had in orientation.
- Have more activities during orientation
Using orientation as an opportunity to reassure while setting expectations, make students feel like they are a part of a larger community
Plan topics, speakers and activities during orientation to make students feel comfortable and a part of the school before they start classes.
Building credibility is very important. Make orientation informative and fun at the same time. You want to have a positive lasting impreesion on students, especially since this will be one of their first interactions with the institution. Make it fun and eventful, but not corny. Making it too lighthearted can also affect the perception of the credibility of the school. You want students to leave orientation feeling like a student, ready to start school, and answering any major questions they have.
I learned the term "progressive orientation." This means that, rather than just listening to individual speakers, students, either as individuals or in groups, travel from department to department to gather the important information. Doing this in teams is a good idea for helping to build interaction with classmates.
In this section I learned the importance of having an interesting, effective and supportive orientation. Students are nervous on the first day of classes so by having a fun and interactive as well as having readily resources available, allows the students some ease prior to going into their first classes.
From this section, I have learned that credibility and connection to the institution is extremely important. You want students to feel connected as that they belong immediately and have those feelings continue throughout the program. If students feel connected, knowledgable, and as if they belong, they will be able to reference that through difficult or uncertain times to keep them at the university.
Students are always the first priority. We also need to make them feel that they are part of the instituition from the day they walk to the admissions office searching for information about the different programs that the instituition has.
This was a great outline for how to plan an oritentation that will engage the students and keep them invested in being excited about attending. By cultivating that excitments studnets would can then go home tell friends and family an build that support system they will need to avoid buyers remorse. I really enjoyed the suggestions on how to structure the orientation and plan creative activities that are almost like a scavengar hunt or Monopoly. It is unique and fun.
Credibilily in the institution is critical to student retention.
Familiar face such as staff from admission department make student at ease during orientation. Ambassadors can also be instrumental to keep new students engage during orientation.
Students should leave their orientation feeling like they are already a student. What we started doing recently was to give each new student at orientation a college t-shirt at the end of the orientation and let them wear it home. This gives them a sense of belonging to the the school and is definitely a conversation starter when they get home or when they see their friends after orientation.
It is so helpful to learn about the reality that students face buyer's remorse. This is especially helpful in planning orientation. I plan to use this by trying to implement Student Services more in the orientation and welcoming process when students come in.
I appreciate the insight on ways to make orientation fun but also to keep an awareness to not make it corny.
Building creditability with students is very important it helps students get a more positive feel about the school.
It is important to create communication channels that build trust and credibility
Orientation plays a key role for students joining an institution. Not only does it set you up for success, but with the right material it makes the student feel secured in their decision with reassurance that they have everything they need without feeling anxious or worried if they don't.
I learnt about Buyer's remorse that it also happens in students. Students need to be reassured that they made a right decision. Being in a new environment and not knowing where to go can make them think that they wasted their money but if there is staff to teach and guide them can assure them that they made a a good decision by enrolling which is why orientation is very important. During orientation it's very important to make it funny so that students can have the opportunity to interact with each other and the staff. Long speeches can be very boring especially for mature students with busy schedules. Lastly, I learnt about collecting student information especially that of their goals and barriers. When they start considering withdrawing you can always remind them the reason why they chose to enroll and this will encourage them to stay.
Orientation is a great foundation.
