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Transcript of the Student Orientation: Providing on Online Component
Webcast
Slide: WCET Presents a Webcast Series: Providing
Student Services to Distance Learners
PAT: Well, hello and welcome
to the WCET webcast series, “Providing Student Services to Distance
Learners.” I am Pat Shea, the Assistant Director for WCET, and I’m
coming to you today from our east coast office in Summit, New Jersey…
where it is rather warm. Also joining us from WCET’s headquarters
in Boulder, Colorado is my colleague Sue Armitage. Hi Sue. How is
it in Boulder?
SUE: It is one of those beautiful
Rocky Mountain West days. It is just crisp and gorgeous.
Slide: Student Orientation: Providing an
Online Component
PAT: Okay, our special guest
today is Dan Volchok, WebCT’s Manager of User Community Events.
Dan will talk with us today about online student orientation. And
Dan has kindly agreed to repeat his presentation of April 17, when
we had some audio difficulties due to the ninety-eight degree weather.
So thanks Dan for joining us again today.
DAN: Thanks Pat, it’s really
great to be here again.
PAT: Good. Just so we can
get an idea about you and the audience, I would like to ask a question.
How many of you are familiar with this U Live and Learn, HorizonLive
environment? I’d like to ask you, if you’ve participated before,
so please click on the green “yes” button on your screen if you
have, and click on the “no” if you have not. And those little buttons
are right above Sue’s head there on the black bar.
During today’s session, we invite you to make some comments related
to Dan’s presentation in the chat box. I see some of you have, have
found the chat box already. Many of you are experts in this field
of orientation and this is a good opportunity to share your knowledge
and experiences with other attendees. If you experience connectivity
problems during this presentation, please click on the “help” button,
which you’ll see also on that black bar, to send an e-mail message
to tech. support. And let’s keep talking about that black bar. I
want to mention the “tell” button that you see next to “help.” If
you’d like to send a private message to someone who’s name you see
there on the list, use that “tell” and only that person will receive
your message.
SUE: I’d like to mention a
quirk of Internet technology. This is not a television broadcast
where the visuals and audios are sent to you together. This is the
Internet, so little packets of data go out and reach you at different
times. So if our voices and what you see aren’t exactly synchronized,
please hold on and hopefully everything will get synched up eventually.
Question: Does your institution have an online
component for orientation?
PAT: Okay, so we can get a
better sense of your interests today, please respond to the question
that’s about to appear on your screen. And that question is: “Does
your institution have an online component for orientation?” And
the possible answers are, “yes,” “no” or “partial.”
While you’re voting I want to tell you that “Student Orientation:
Providing an Online Component” is the seventh in our webcast series
on providing student services to distance learners. Each month we
have tried to present a different student service and we’ll continue
to do that for the next few months. This series is part of WCET’s
work on its Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnership – LAAP —
project which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The
project involves three partner institutions and a corporate partner
in creating web-based student services for online learners. I’d
also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank ULiveandLearn,
our producer and technology sponsor. Denise Easton from ULiveandLearn
is with us today and will help people with any technology connectivity
problems they might have. So, thanks very much Denise. Sue, do we
have any results?
SUE: I see twenty-three people
have voted, so if anybody else would like to click on their screen
to respond, please go ahead right now before I publish the results.
I don’t see anymore so I’m going to go ahead.
Results: Does your institution have an online
component for orientation?
Unfortunately “no” is the big answer, but it is sort of a mixed
response. So I think we have a lot of things to talk about then,
Dan.
DAN: Yep, I think we do.
Slide: WCET: the Cooperative advancing the
effective use of technology in higher education
PAT: Great. Okay for those
of you that are not familiar with WCET, I’d just like to give you
a little bit of background information. It is a cooperative of higher
education institutions, agencies, non-profit organizations, and
corporations involved in distance learning. Our focus is on advancing
the effective use of technology in higher education. And you can
see some information there on the screen about some of our activities.
And I invite you to visit our website to learn a lot more about
it.
Now it’s time to tell you a little more about our guest, Dan Volchok.
Dan is currently the manager of user community events at WebCT where
he is responsible for the program development and management of
regional user conferences and programs. Prior to this, Dan was the
Manager of Student Relations where he was responsible for the development
and upkeep of the student resource center on WebCT.com. The student
resource center is a one-stop site for non-academic student support
resources covering many of the student affairs functional areas.
Dr. Volchok has over twenty years of student affairs experience,
mostly in residential life and student activities. He received a
Bachelor and Masters of Business Administration from Ohio University
and a Doctorate of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Welcome again, Dan.
DAN: Thank you, Pat. I’d like
to start by getting a quick idea of who our participants are today.
Rather than doing a formal survey, I’d like to just ask everyone
to use the chat box, type in your primary job responsibilities.
That is, are you an academic advisor, director of advising, director
of distance education, director of orientation, something like that.
That will give everybody the opportunity to see responses from each
other on what their responsibilities are.
Slide: What is orientation?
DAN: As people are typing
those things in I’ll get started and give a brief overview of what
we’ll be covering in this broadcast. The presentation will be broken
into three main areas. First, I’ll discuss on a macro level what
is orientation, a little bit of history, and what orientation programs
often entail.
Next I will look at how some institutions are providing orientation
to distance learners and then move into how these online programs
can be expanded to include all students. Finally, I will conclude
with some thoughts and observations on online orientation programs,
the opportunities and challenges they provide, and how technology
can be used to supplement student services.
Taking a look at what people have said in terms of their areas
of responsibility, it seems like we’ve got a fairly wide range of
responsibilities, some in the distance learning side and some from
the traditional student side.
PAT: And it looks like we
have people from community colleges and four-year schools. And I
saw someone here from the Board of Regents too.
DAN: Great.
PAT: And that’s a nice range
of people in different segments of higher education, because Dan
what you’re going to be talking about can be applied to many other
fields.
DAN: Right. One thing I firmly
believe is that what we do in one part of the campus and one type
of a campus can carry to all other areas.
Let’s begin by defining what we mean by orientation. Many campuses
define orientation as a program for new students to aid in their
adjustment to the college. I’d like to expand that notion to define
orientation as a retention resource that assists students as they
move admission to matriculation to graduation. That is, it’s an
ongoing program that gives students the information and community
they need as they begin their college career and continues throughout
their enrolment, aiding and assisting them throughout.
The introduction of online components to the traditional program
will assist in the transformation of these programs into becoming
an ongoing resource. The first orientation program was conducted
at Boston University nearly one hundred and fifteen years ago. In
the mid-1900s orientation directors began to meet informally and
in 1976, NODA — the professional association for orientation
directors — was chartered. Ten years later, the National Resource
Center for the First Year Experience was chartered at the University
of South Carolina. The growth and development of orientation and
first year experience programs over the past twenty-five years have
been explosive. The implementation of distance learning and online
components is, I believe, the next wave for orientation.
The goals of orientation activities often fall into two distinct
areas: information transfer and community building. In the traditional
face-to-face orientation, the information transfer is often a brain
dump of all the information that students need to know about the
institution. This is usually accomplished orally through meetings,
group activities and the distribution of the student handbook and
other campus… publications. The community-building aspect of orientation
is often viewed as the most important aspect of the student development
and one that is felt cannot be accomplished in an online environment.
In the face-to-face setting, community-building activities vary
from short ice-breaking activities to day-long community service
projects and campus identity sessions.
Now we’ll talk shortly about how both information transfer and
community building can be accomplished and enhanced through the
development of an online program.
PAT: I wonder if people might
comment about some of the activities that they might be doing online
to get students to know one another before they come to campus.
I know some institutions are doing that, introduce people to their
roommates or…
DAN: Right, and one of the
examples I’ll give a little bit later on is that exact thing, where
it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It doesn’t have to be only
a face-to-face or only an online program, but it actually can be
a blended program where certain portions are done online either
before students arrive on campus or while they’re on campus and
another part can be the face-to-face component.
PAT: Okay, great.
DAN: For distance learners,
most orientation programs only address the brain dump of information.
And then often only that information directly related to online
learning. I’ll talk a little bit more about this later.
Traditionally, orientation has taken place in the face-to-face
format, bringing students to campus for a short period of time.
The program takes place either over the summer or just prior to
the start of the semester. Even distance learning programs had students
come to campus for a face-to-face orientation — something
which I think is a little counterbalanced from being on a distance
program where you need to come to a face-to-face orientation.
PAT: Right.
DAN: Many distance learning
programs have developed online orientations. And I contend that
traditional programs should develop online components that enhance
their face-to-face offerings as I said before.
PAT: You’re not recommending
that we get rid of face-to-face?
DAN: Not at all. I’m very
much a traditional campus-type person.
PAT: Okay.
DAN: Let’s take a look at
some examples of online orientation programs, but a few notes before
we begin. First, these are not necessarily the best of the best
programs, but rather examples of how some institutions have created
full virtual orientation programs or well developed components.
Secondly, I will demonstrate the sites, these screen shots, rather
than going to a live site. Given the short amount of time we have
available, we can’t drill down too deeply.
At the end of the presentation and on the WCET website, I’ll provide
the links to these sites that you can explore on your own. Unfortunately,
some of the sites we’re going to go are password protected, only
for their students. So you’ll only see certain portions of it. But
it will give you an idea of what they’re doing.
Historically, the first online orientation programs were designed
only for distance learners. Consequently, these programs consisted
of four components: how to become a successful online student, hardware
and software requirements, the online learning environment, and
campus resources. First, let’s look at our four institutions. Eastern
Oregon, Portland Community College, the University of North Texas
and San Diego Community College have developed programs for their
distance learners. Each has approached its program in a different
way.
The Eastern Oregon University's division of distance education
has an orientation program for students considering enrolling in
a distance education program. This is a pre-admission orientation
to assist students in their decision-making process. Students can
either attend an on-campus session or take the online version. The
orientation is designed to provide information about distance education
at Eastern beyond what is included in the admissions packet. The
program reflects on the beautiful location of the campus by taking
students on a virtual trek through the distance education program.
For example, one page states: “before we head out on our trek and
explore the different distance education offerings at Eastern, we
need to stand on a ridge and survey the landscape. Below us stretches
the panorama of an academic world with its own ecology, shifts in
the weather and changes in the landscape as we go forward.”
PAT: That’s a nice quote,
isn’t it?
DAN: It’s a nice quote. And
it really brings students who are working online a little bit of
an idea of what it’s like to be standing on the campus.
PAT: Yes.
DAN: The journey through this
site is marked with photographs and graphics of the area to bring
students closer to the campus. Students move through a number of
pages that explain general graduation requirements, what degrees
are offered through the distance learning division, various methods
of instruction offered, such as online, face-to-face and individual
study and academic advising.
PAT: Dan, do you have to complete
each section of the trek before you move on?
DAN: This is the type where
you can actually jump from one to another and if the links that
are at the top of the web site page underneath the heading are all
the different components and you can literally jump from one to
the another if you need to.
PAT: I see.
DAN: If you want to move around.
Portland Community College has an orientation for both students
considering online learning and for those that have already enrolled.
The program is more specific to the online learning process. The
orientation is broken into modules which can be taken sequentially
or as necessary.
In addition to a number of content pages, there are also interactive
activities. The first module is online learning. It discusses what
it takes to be a successful online student and then gives an assessment
for students to self-evaluate themselves. The assessment evaluates
students on various factors and if the student answers “incorrectly”
on a question, a pop up box appears reminding the student why this
factor is important in their success. For example, for the question,
“I’m a procrastinator when it comes to school work and deadlines,”
if the student answers “yes,” a box pops up which reads: “To succeed
in online learning you must be able to set and keep scheduling goals
for accomplishing course tasks.” In addition, this section gives
students a schedule tool in which they can visually lay out how
much time they have to take an online course and then receive advice
on the number of courses they could take given their available time.
PAT: I think that’s a really
important service. I think that’s where students get in trouble
today: they haven’t been, in some cases, in school for a while and
they look at a three-hour course and think of it as the three-hour
commitment rather than, you know, the nine or twelve hours that
it really is.
DAN: Right, and there’s misconception
and misunderstanding of what it takes, both time and personally,
in succeeding in an online course. And in talking to a number of
faculty members recently, they’re really feeling that it’s not the
faculty members’ job to make sure their students succeed in their
class on those levels. That really needs to be something up front
and these orientation programs really do provide that.
PAT: Right.
DAN: And Portland's second
component is just as important. It looks at the student’s hardware
and software. It discusses what the minimum requirements are to
take an online course and then has an interactive program that verifies
the student’s browser and operating system. Finally, it has a test
to verify that any of the necessary plug-ins are installed and working
properly.
PAT: That is nice.
DAN: If you look at a lot
of the help sites for online courses, a lot of the questions are,
“I can’t see this, my browser doesn’t work,” or “I keep getting
this error message” or whatever it might be. It’s a hardware or
software issue and not a true learning issue but you need to jump
over those before you can really move on. So having students learn
about technical issues up front is very important.
The third component walks students through the information about
what it takes to communicate effectively online and what computer
skills are needed to succeed in an online class. It provides a glossary
of basic technology terms, discusses online communication tools
such as e-mail, discussion boards and chat and provides an assessment
of technical skills, offering a number of tutorials for basic computer
skills such as cut and paste, setting bookmarks, and online research.
And finally and importantly, it provides information and links to
virus protection software.
PAT: So it looks like they’re
doing a really good job of presenting information on the basics.
DAN: Right, and you know,
while traditional orientation programs never have a session on telling
students how to discuss in class and to go to class on time and
all those kind of things, when you move into an online environment,
it is a new environment and you’ll need to learn the rules of the
road for that environment. So how do I communicate in an online
discussion forum, or how do I do e-mail? And amazingly the number
of students who don’t know how to do cut and paste or set a bookmark
in their browser and those very important things to do to succeed.
PAT: You know Dan, there’s
a book out that does a good job of this for an older generation
student. It’s called Computer Smarts for Grandparents. It’s at www.computersmarts.com.
It covers all the basics that an older person who hasn’t perhaps
used a computer much might not be familiar with it. Computer Smarts
for Grandparents: Just Enough to Impress a Nine-Year-Old. Cute book.
DAN: And certainly the nine-year-olds
know a lot more than, I don’t know if you can say the older people,
but I think we make the assumption that everybody knows everything
they need to know, and they really don’t.
PAT: Right.
DAN: And we need to tell them
those things.
PAT: Right.
DAN: The final three modules
of this site are directly related to online learning on the Portland
Community College campus. They give an introduction of WebCT, which
is the course tool they use there, where to get help on campus and
how to register and log into an online course. This brings up an
interesting point regarding orientations for distance students.
Short of bringing students to campus for face-to-face training,
how do you orient students to the online technology which they need
to master to take a distance course? Let’s look at two examples
of how institutions have developed orientations to the online environment.
Again, as I said earlier, the online environment where students
are learning, is equivalent to the classroom, but we all know how
to act in the classroom, but we don’t how to access all the information
of the online environment.
The University of North Texas has a tour of web-based learning,
virtual and campus, for all students who take online course. It’s
a self-paced course that is designed to give students an idea of
what distance learning is all about by walking them through a web-based
learning environment. As you can see from the screen shot, they
have designed the tour as if you were in a face-to-face orientation.
They begin by talking about how to log in and give an orientation
of the online learning similar to Portland’s. They move into how
to navigate and interact within the course and how to get to the
course content. Finally, the program provides information regarding
online research, getting help and the benefits of taking online
courses. This is a great example of introducing students to the
online environment without using the course tool itself.
In the reverse, San Diego Community College district has created
a sample WebCT course as a component of their online orientation
program. The course outlines course navigation, communication tools,
student tools, assessment tools and the general look and feel of
the institution’s online courses. The course also expands from orientation
to online learning. As you saw with Portland, the course included
a browser tune up, how to be a successful online student, a technology
toolkit and help desk information. Students can self-register for
the course and then proceed at their own pace.
PAT: That’s very nice. Now
do all students take this?
DAN: It’s optional but all
students should take it so that they get a feel of what the online
environment is, in a timeframe that they want to play around with
it and not in a course where they’re actually more concerned about
doing well in the course than learning how to use the tool.
PAT: Uh huh.
DAN: The past four examples
have been programs designed for distance students to orient them
for the most part to the basics of learning online. While not fully
academic in nature, they reflect the components of an on-campus
academic orientation. In the online setting, they give students
the information they need to succeed academically where are their
classes, what do they need to do to succeed in their classes and
what information they need regarding the academic requirements of
the institutions and their degree program? For the most part, these
orientation programs are run by the distance education division.
As with many on-campus program, orientation for distance students
is beginning to evolve from an academic event to a more holistic
event. That is, what are the other aspects of the whole student
that need to be addressed? At the same time, more traditional students
have begun taking online courses and want or need to same orientation
to online learning. The much larger traditional student constituent
city now requests the program which was designed for a small segment
of the institutions population. At a recent conference I was at,
a presenter was discussing their help desk for distance students
and said that she was amazed at the number of traditional on-campus
students who wanted access to the service. Students don’t see the
difference between traditional students and distance students and
expect that programs that are designed for distance students should
be available to all. This has led to the development of a more comprehensive
online orientation program that is designed for all students.
PAT: And clearly, that’s the
direction that we see most student services moving in.
DAN: That’s correct. And I
think we need to really start blurring the line when it comes to
orientation and other services on what’s provided from, from one
type of student, to another type student, and that at the same time,
providing both online and face-to-face content for all those services.
Question: What population does your institution’s
orientation primarily serve?
I’m curious about what orientation programs are already in the
institutions. Would you let me know what student population does
your institution’s orientation program primarily serve, or at least
the area that you’re responsible for, but what type of student is
it? Please select one of the options on the screen now.
PAT: And Dan, while people
are responding, we’re talking today primarily about some face-to-face
orientation programs and also about people putting some orientation
programs online, but do you know of other methods that people are
using for orientation?
DAN: Some schools are doing
things on CD-ROM and will mail CD-ROMs out to students. And that’s
often happening a lot with distance students and they want to make
sure they have all the software that they need to run on that campus,
will mail out CD-ROMs. Some are doing some videotape kind of things
and chat room and that kind of thing also.
PAT: Okay, Sue do we have
some results?
SUE: Oh, we have about the
same number of people who voted last time. If anybody would like
to vote before we publish the results, please do so right now. Going,
going, gone, here we go.
Results: What population does your institution’s
orientation primarily serve?
Ah, on campus and distance.
DAN: Well, so it look likes
a number of the audience are dealing with both types of students
and hopefully the things we’re talking about they can see how it
could apply to both distance and on campus students.
I believe that an online orientation for all students should encompass
all the components we’ve seen already for distance students, but
also include those elements which are traditionally in the on campus
program. This means the list is expanded to include community-building
activities, campus-based resources and expands the program from
a service for students entering the campus to an ongoing resource
service that I defined earlier.
We’ll take a brief look at two programs that I feel illustrate
the potential of online programs. The University of Dayton has developed
a virtual orientation program that supplements their traditional
four-day on campus program prior to the start of the Fall semester.
The orientation is an innovative service which connects students
to the institution prior to their arrival. Students log into the
site, indicate their preferences for their first semester classes
and they take math and foreign language placement tests. Once the
student indicates their major and interests, the sites then becomes
personalized. That is, an education major receives information about
the education program, including required courses, possible electives,
faculty members and major specific service learning projects. Campus-wide
information such as counseling and medical services, clubs and activities,
meal plans and housing information are made available to all students.
The virtual orientation is also a community-building and social
interaction site. Students can post a personal profile, including
a photo and their likes and dislikes. The profile can help the first
year students to make friends and then communicate via e-mail. During
the course of the summer, the site also hosts chats with campus
officials to discuss topics of interest to incoming students.
PAT: Now how long is that
available, Dan? I mean, does that become their personal page throughout
their relationship with the institution, or is this just something
they use until they arrive on campus?
DAN: It’s pretty much used
until they arrive on campus and then it’s not available anymore.
It’s really an orientation piece and not an ongoing piece. But one
of the things it does, is it starts building that community amongst
the students and a number of students have met each other virtually
and then requested each other as roommates and things like that.
PAT: Wow, that’s interesting.
DAN: So it does carry on.
PAT: Uh huh.
DAN: One of the components
of the virtual orientation program is the virtual room program,
an interactive site for on campus residence students, the sites
allow students to communicate with their roommate, that are there
already and others that live on the residence hall floor.
SUE: Dan, I have a question.
And this really appeals to me. Do you know if the University of
Dayton used vendor software to develop this or was this just a home-grown
product that they perceived their own student’s needs were?
DAN: I don’t think they used
a vendor provided program. I think they developed it on their own.
I don’t know that for a fact, but I’ve looked at it and the things
I’ve read about it never indicated that it came from any vendor
that I’ve seen.
SUE: Interesting, a lot of
great features.
DAN: Oh right, there really
are. Unfortunately, for our audience, this site isn’t available
to the general public. Obviously at this time of year, students
are in there meeting each other and you know, because they’ve been
admitted to school already. And because it’s so personalized and
contains so much personal information about Dayton students, it’s
not open to the public and it’s tough to access. But you can get
some idea of what the program has by going to it and looking at
a few things and reading some of the press releases and other information
on the site about the program.
The University of Connecticut has developed two online components
to supplement their face-to-face first year experience course. First,
through WebCT they’ve created an online supplement which expands
the course into a twenty four/seven program. In addition to having
students attend the one-hour per week FYE face-to-face course, the
online component augments the learning skills, and faculty/student
discussions. Students are encouraged to log on and communicate outside
of class, while faculty also log on to monitor and participate in
the discussions. The added benefit of creating this online component
is that students learn how to use the course tool, which nearly
70% of their first year students use in some other course during
the first semester. The FYE online component encourages students
to use the technology and resources on an everyday basis. Secondly,
the FYE portal entitled FYI — for First Year Interactive —
provides first year students with a range of student-specific information
including, as you can see on the home page of the portal, a calendar
of events, news and interactive components such as ask the experts
or talk to your orientation leader. There are various discussion
lists which are open only to first year students and selected faculty
and staff. As with the FYE course, this takes the orientation program
out of the classroom and brings it to the student desktop. It also
takes the orientation and the First Year Experience program out
of just the program time and really carries through the entire first
year, even if they’re no longer taking the FYE course.
PAT: That makes it available
twenty-four hours a day.
DAN: Right, right. And one
piece that I’m not showing here, but they also have a piece about
faculty members that are teaching the FYE course. Often times, FYE
courses on campuses are taught by administrators, residence hall
staff, a number of different people so that they’re very small classes.
And in order to do that and have some consistency and communication
amongst all those people teaching the class, they have a faculty
side to their site also, where faculty talk to each other and they
can pull resources off there to use in their classes.
PAT: Nice.
DAN: We’ve taken a quick look
at a number of programs that have implemented online components
in many different ways. Let’s talk a few minutes about the opportunity
of providing online components to an orientation program.
First, the online program makes the orientation program available
to students who cannot travel to campus for the traditional program.
This is especially true for international students and those from
great distances who may not be able to attend a face-to-face program
over the summer, and of course, those that are enrolled in a fully
online program. Online orientation will give those students the
same opportunity for summer program without traveling. And online
orientation programs being available any time and thus students
can begin the program at their convenience. As at Dayton, students
can be given access to the program as soon as they’re admitted and
begin to learn about and make connections to their new school. So
those students that are anxious about this transition, they can
begin early and can spend as much time as they need to becoming
acclimated.
PAT: You know, in our LAAP
project, Regis University is working on an orientation program —
and this is sort of an interesting philosophy about what orientation
should be like — and they sort of view it as a slow-release
medication that a student gets, little bits and pieces all across
their relationship with the institution. So it starts with the early
phase, and that’s the part they’re working on developing now, but
gradually they will build something that goes across that entire
relationship.
DAN: Yep, and, and my own
feeling of orientations I’ve been involved with and planned is you
try to get as much information as you can to the students in a very
short period of time because it’s the only chance you have, to have
them all together. And this way they can spread it out over a longer
period of time and literally slowly release the information.
PAT: Right. That’s “just in
time” information.
DAN: Right. The online program
also provides the ability to convey the information in different
formats than a face-to-face program. Such as we were saying, you
can selectively release information based on giving it to them in
slow-release that they’re not overwhelmed with it. But you can also
give them the information based on their progress through the program.
Time-sensitive reminders such as housing and deadlines can be sent
to the student as they’re in the program. Finally, as Dayton illustrates,
individualized or personalized information such as housing and roommate
assignments, academic advisor information and academic requirements
can be sent to specific students. An online orientation site also
becomes a focal point for students to access the information they
received during the formal program. Rather than needing to rely
on remembering what was said during the verbal face-to-face sessions
or looking through printed handbooks and brochures, an online program
provides the opportunity for students to access this information
in the same place they originally received it. For distance students
and those not residing on or around campus, the online component
makes information available without having to return to the campus.
I think it’s real important, when I worked in residence halls, you
always said to a student, “Well didn’t you read that in the student
handbook?” And if you ever went to a student’s residence hall room,
the student handbook was always buried under everything because
they got it the first day they moved in, they put it down, and it
then just got completely covered up. They never really read it.
This way, it provides an easy way for them to find that information,
because they know where they can find it.
PAT: Right.
DAN: The online programs allow
staff the opportunity to provide a continuous orientation program
rather than one that’s available only at static times during the
academic year. They can refer students to the program for review
of what they were originally told and provide the same programs
to students who were admitted or arrived after the start of the
academic year. It always amazed me when I was on campus that the
most at-risk students were those that were the late admits because,
for whatever reason they were admitted late, usually they were on
a waiting list, and they often missed orientation and so they immediately
started from a behind point, compared to all the other students.
And there really was no way to provide them with full orientation
after the program took place. This way you can.
PAT: I never even thought
of that Dan, but I’m sure that’s a common problem.
DAN: It always frustrated
me and there wasn’t much I could do about it back then. From the
workflow perspective, the orientation program is no longer that
dreaded event that requires the involvement of all new staff on
campus at a specific time. The online program can be built and updated
in modules during the individuals office’s slower times. Students
will participate in the program at their most convenient time and
thus spread the student interaction load over a longer period of
time. If you ever said to staff, “Okay we’re going to run orientation
all summer long,” they’d go crazy. But if you’re running it all
summer long on an online environment and e-mails and discussion
lists are the main methods of communication, it isn’t all that overwhelming
to the individual staff people.
PAT: But the real point here
is though it doesn’t really reduce the workload.
DAN: It’s not going to reduce
the work. It’s going to spread it out. It may actually increase,
if you looked at the actual amount of work. It may increase a little
bit but it spreads it out over a longer period of time. But the
increased workload is probably going to involve more questions from
students up front, that may be resolved and less questions later
on.
PAT: So it may be more efficient,
even though it’s more paperwork.
DAN: Initially. Institutionally,
the orientation program is the last step of the admission process
and the first component of a retention program. Consequently, creating
activities that bring students into the campus community makes them
feel part of the campus culture and create links between the student
and the campus are some of the keys to student retention. An online
orientation helps build those bridges prior to the arrival on campus
and maintains those links throughout the college experience. An
online orientation program also becomes a public resource guide
for students considering enrolling at the college. In addition to
the resources available on the institution’s website and in printed
material, the orientation program shows very clearly what services
are provided by the college and how they work with their students
to ensure their success. Now everybody always loves to be able to
look at not the PR pages that are on a website, but what they feel
like — it’s some inside thing, it’s only really available
to students on that campus. And this is one way to do that.
PAT: Uh, huh.
DAN: The orientation site
can also become a resource for on campus staff to use when working
with students and an academic and student support information center
for the campus. Rather than relying on other means of communication,
to communicate changes in policy, course requirements or changes
in services, the orientation site can be the site that faculty,
students and staff use for campus information.
PAT: Well, I think it’s really
important as we build student services, to keep in mind that we
also need to provide the student services staff with the tools to
support those services and sometimes that can be done on this public
site, but sometimes it requires doing it on an Intranet site.
DAN: Yep.
PAT: It’s important to add
it.
DAN: Very true. As the orientation
center grows into a student’s first and essential point of contact
for information regarding campus and academic services, the online
orientation program may evolve into a one-stop shop for student
support. And this could lead to a restructuring and re-engineering
of how services are provided on campus and how students access these
services. Basic information dissemination can become centralized
both online and on campus. As we move to more online environments,
the students can go to one place to get information about financial
aid or registrar or student housing but yet if they go on campus,
it’s three separate offices. And as the information becomes more
centralized online, campuses could also look at reengineering to
have that information centralized on campus also.
PAT: And that would be a real
student service.
Slide: Challenges
DAN: Pat, there you go. However,
as with any programmatic changes, the opportunities that the online
program provides are counterbalanced with the challenges. And I
see three major challenges in creating an online program. Orientation
is viewed as a very personal event. While information dissemination
is important and not very personal, it’s often felt that the team-building
and community connection components must be hands-on and face-to-face.
Consequently, it’s felt that the online orientation is not feasible
or effective to meet all the goals of orientation. While the personalization
of an orientation experience is vital, this can be easily adapted
to the online environment through individualized components and
the use of online collaboration tools. As you’ve seen, individualized
components can include login and registration leading to personalized
portals and resources, individualized checklists and evaluations
and links to specific academic resources. Online collaboration could
include chat rooms, e-mail communication and bulletin boards, discussion
groups with students of like majors and interests or online meeting
spaces for students living on the same residence hall floor, or
with the same advisor.
For the traditional campus, an online orientation will not and
should replace the face-to-face orientation necessary to build community.
However, online components certainly can enhance the support of
the traditional programs. I think if you talk to faculty who teach
online courses, sometimes they feel that the students communicate
more with each other, there’s more of a community within the class
and they certainly know the students better through the online discussions
than they do in the face-to-face class. And I really think that
can translate into an orientation program also.
PAT: Yeah, I think we’re hearing
more and more of that.
DAN: The digital divide is
a major issue in providing online services. All students may not
have access to a computer or the Internet at home and may not have
the same basic training necessary to access the programs. As institutions
develop these programs they need to be aware of the access capabilities
of their students and work to ensure that all students are getting
equal access if they do provide online services. For those campuses
without a full-time orientation coordinator or at least a person
who can devote year-round attention to the program, an online program
may be difficult to implement. While an asset of the program is
the year-round access of the service, this results in the need to
provide year-round maintenance of the program. Rather than have
the program end at the start of the semester and having students
utilize service offices on campus, the online program may become
the first stop for questions and thus may need year-round attention.
But again, it may be shifting some of the work from the face-to-face
offices to an online environment. So it may just be a shift in some
responsibilities.
PAT: And I would think with
some planning you could create an orientation program where some
of the information would be generic and apply from, you know, semester
to semester.
DAN: Right.
PAT: You would know what areas
you needed to update.
DAN: Right. And as building
an online course, the first time you do it is the toughest, but
when you teach that course the second time or the third time, you’ve
got a lot of the information in there and you it’s the same thing
as an orientation program.
PAT: Right.
DAN: As I said at the beginning
of the presentation, I see orientation not as a one-time program
but an ongoing resource center. As you move the programs from your
on campus as you move the program on your campus from a first year
student program to a four-year retention or resource service, think
about creating online components. There are a few major points to
keep in mind. The first are related to how you use the technology.
First, use the technology to expand opportunities for community
building and discussing not just between students, but between students
and faculty and staff. Use the technology to provide twenty-four/seven
service. I’ve heard numerous times that the only way to meet the
needs of students on a twenty four/seven basis is to expand office
hours. Rather than expanding face-to-face hours, use the technology
to provide access to the information. Integrate and use the existing
technologies on your campus. Don’t look at reinventing the wheel.
Talk to technical folks on your campus and see how existing technologies
can be used for orientation purposes. How can you use your course
management system, your portal or your student information system
for your purposes? And often, people only think of course management
systems, for example, are for academics and we can’t use them for
anything else; and in reality there’s a lot more flexibility there.
And importantly, don’t assume that the technology will solve all
your issues, but use the technology to supplement the program. But
be cautious how you use the technology. Don’t assume it will make
life easier or solve problems you currently have, or to reduce your
workload.
Slide: In Conclusion
The second set of points revolves around how we look at students
and how we provide service to them. First, I think it’s important
to blur the line between printed materials, face-to-face resource
and the online environment. Use the online components to provide
new and acceptable methods of information dissemination. This is
especially meaningful if your online information is personalized
for the individual student. And secondly, blur the line between
services for distance and traditional students. And this is my biggest
point because I’ve said it three or four times already. Let’s not
go on different systems and services for distance students and traditional
students. They all need and deserve the same services and want the
ability to utilize the service that is most convenient for them.
If a traditional student wants online services, let’s provide those.
In the same way, distance students who may live near campus may
want face-to-face student services.
PAT: I think if people use
the distance student as their primary audience when they’re building
these services, they’re more likely to be able to service the traditional
student of the future, because I think that student is increasingly
going to look like our today’s distance students.
DAN: I agree. I really think
that the online orientation is just the first piece in providing
the full gamut of online student services and really can be an example
of how to do it in other areas because it touches so many of the
other areas.
PAT: Right.
Slide: Resources
DAN: There are a great number
of resources on the web regarding orientation in general and online
services in particular. NODA and the First-Year Resource Center
have resources directly related to orientation and the first-year
experience. The WCET guide has some great information about online
services both orientation and others. This presentation will be
posted to the WCET website and you can use these links to explore
the sites that I discussed today.
PAT: Well, thank you Dan,
very much for doing this presentation again and I want to thank
you also for writing a new section that we have of our website about
orientation and you provided us with lots of links to additional
resources out there. And I hope our attendees today will check the
site out and find all the resources there about orientation, but
also about our other student services.
DAN: That would be great.
SUE: You know Pat, what I’d
like to do now is go ahead and I’m going to open up a new window
in everybody’s monitor.
PAT: Okay.
Slide: WCET webcast page
SUE: And this is the new WCET
LAAP site and I’ve opened it up to the webcast page so people could
grab the scroll bar and pull it down and see all the webcasts that
we’ve done and the resources that are available. So if you go down
the page a bit you see Dan’s PowerPoint slides, his URLs, his comments,
are all available right now on our website and I hope people will
add this to their favorites files or bookmark and come back and
look throughout this site when it’s convenient for them.
PAT: Well, thanks Sue. Sue
manages the site here and she makes sure that all the information
is available for everyone and does a great job. So thanks for all
of that Sue.
SUE: Oh, you’re welcome. You
know, I’d also like to change the slide now back to the main screen.
If everybody could close out or minimize the WCET slide so we can
back to Dan’s. I’m posting his contact information. He’s an incredible
resource for orientation and all kinds of student services. That’s
how people in the audience can reach Dan.
Slide: Dan’s contact information
DAN: And feel free to drop
me an e-mail.
Slide: WCET Evaluation
SUE: Okay, thanks. And Dan,
if what we’d like to do is ask people to participate in a little
evaluation to tell us about this presentation and also any ideas
for future webcasts that they might have. And then we’ve got a few
minutes left if you wouldn’t mind, could you hang in there with
us for a few more minutes and perhaps people who might have questions
could enter them in the chat box and you could respond to those.
DAN: That would be great.
PAT: So let’s give people
a couple of minutes here to fill out the evaluation. It would be
especially helpful if you can tell us what other topics you’d like
for us to cover in future presentations and suggestions for speakers,
if you have any.
SUE: Do you want to talk about
the next broadcast?
PAT: Yes, thank you. The next
webcast is June 24 at noon Mountain Time and it’s going to be on
student financial aid. And we have Marianne Phelps and Norm Finlinson.
Norm is from BYU and Marianne Phelps originally headed up the demonstration
project at US Department of Education. So we’re looking forward
to their presentation on how to provide financial aid for distance
students.
SUE: And I’d like to emphasize
that June 24 is a Monday. All of our other webcasts have been on
a Wednesday, but this is one, the student financial aid will be
on Monday, July 24.
PAT: Great.
DAN: We’ve got, I see two
questions up there. One: where are the PowerPoint slides, and a
question about my contact information. The PowerPoint slides will
be up on the WCET site right after this, Sue?
SUE: Oh, they’re all ready.
DAN: For this one?
SUE: Yeah, they’re all ready.
It’s in there. It’s in the far right-hand column in that table on
the webcast page.
DAN: And the second question
was my contact information. It’s also at the end of the slide. If
you go to those and flip through my e-mail address is dan.volchok@webct.com.
As a matter fact, I’ll put it in the chat box.
SUE: Great, ‘cause says she’s
just printed off the Power Points and that’s great.
DAN: Denise asks about any
chance of seeing the University of Dayton orientation. Like I said,
it’s very personalized and, and there isn’t a public site, but I
would think, — though they may kill me if I say this —
if you just go to the University of Dayton and ask someone there
if you can get a little tour of it, maybe they’ll give it to you.
SUE: I wonder if our audience
has some other sites they’d like to recommend, Dan for good orientation
sites. If anyone in the audience knows of a good site, and would
like to recommend it, just please enter that in the message box
now.
DAN: Any other questions that
people may have?
SUE: I hope everybody has
finished up the evaluation because I’m going to take that down very
shortly. So if you haven’t finished the evaluation, please do so
now. Okay.
Slide: Thank you for joining us.
SUE: Okay, well thanks very
much for joining us. And we look forward to meeting you online on
June 24 to learn about financial aid.
DAN: Thank you very much.
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