Online Orientation: Making the Most of New Student Orientation

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Online OrientationMaking the Most of New
Student Orientation

• A. Craig Dixon
• Cathy Vaughan
• Madisonville Community College
• Madisonville, KY
• National Institute for Staff and Organizational
  Development
• May 22, 2007

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Madisonville Community College

• Founded in 1968 as a part of the University of
  Kentucky Community College system
• Located in rural, western Kentucky coal fields
• 1997 Postsecondary Education Improvement Act-
  technical and community colleges merge
• Today there are 16 community and technical
  college districts in Kentucky
• Offer technical, health, and transfer degree,
  diploma and certificate programs

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MCC Challenges

• Coal hangovers
• Low educational attainment levels
• Unemployment
• Lack of preparation for college courses
• Low graduation rates
• Low retention rates

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Origins of the Project

• Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant
• Strengthen instructional programs and student
  services in order to improve student success.
• Restructure new student orientation, advising,
  and registration process to address this problem.
• Form an Advising Task Force consisting of general
  education faculty, developmental education
  faculty, and professional staff charged with
  developing the new model.
• Online Orientation Subcommittee
• First Semester Experience Session Subcommittee
• Online Registration Subcommittee

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The Challenge

• The bulk of advising takes place during open
  registration sessions, in a public setting, as
  students make their way through long lines. The
  challenge is to develop an advising
  infrastructure that uses up-to-date information
  systems and technology to deliver accurate and
  timely information to both faculty and students
  when they most need it.
• -MCC Title III Grant

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The Traditional Model
The entire process could last 4 or more hours.

• Orientation
• Sessions occurred once a day over a 2-3 day
  period, 2 weeks prior to the start of a new
  semester.
• Each large-group (100 to 150) orientation session
  lasted approximately 2 hours.
• Information about student support services was
  provided by a parade of talking heads.
• Advising
• Bullpen sessions were held in discipline
  specified rooms with 2-3 faculty assisting as
  many as 30 students on a walk-in basis in
  building a semester schedule.
• Registration
• Students stood in lengthy lines to have their
  schedules entered by Admissions staff.

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Problems with the Traditional Model

• Delivery of new student information is not
  interactive.
• Large-group setting is not conducive to
  questions.
• Information delivered did not equip the student
  to understand academic plan, build his or her own
  schedule, etc.
• No college contact person until program advisor
  is assigned mid-semester or later.
• First contact encouraged for priority
  registration mid-term.
• No guarantee contact would occur.
• Prescriptive advising model scheduling
  activity.

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The Revised Model
The entire process completed in 3 hours.

• Online Student Orientation
• Students complete an online orientation at their
  own convenience prior to attending a first
  semester experience session.
• First Semester Experience session
• Students attend a small group (10-20) session
  with a trained faculty advisor who will serve as
  their advisor for the first semester.
• The session details important information
  enabling students to build a semester schedule
  and lay out their academic plan.
• Online Registration
• Students meet with FSE Advisor for developmental
  advising schedule building.
• Students register for term classes utilizing
  student online services self enrollment.

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Benefits of Revised Model

• Students come to FSE session with questions
  in-hand.
• Student has a point-of-contact immediately. FSE
  advisor becomes a resource for the student for
  their entire first semester.
• FSE advisor maintains contact with his or her
  advisees throughout the semester to monitor
  progress and build a supportive relationship.
• Students are equipped with the tools to build
  their own schedule in subsequent semesters
  consistent with their academic plan.
• Students reassigned to program advisor at close
  of semester.

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Goals of the Project

• Eliminate the parade of talking heads delivery
  of important new student information.
• Create an self-paced, easy-to-use Online Student
  Orientation that contains pertinent information
  for a student attending their first semester of
  college.
• Ensure the student has this information prior to
  participating in an FSE advising session.
• Monitor student completion of orientation
  utilizing exit email.
• Collect information on new students via entering
  student survey.

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Project Development

• Develop outline of content to be covered in
  orienting new students to college.
• Solicit information from the appropriate college
  departments.
• Structure the material into modules and order
  appropriately.
• Create module quizzes to verify mastery of
  information.

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Online Orientation Content

• Module 1
• Getting Started
• Student Email
• Selecting Classes
• Managing the Class Load
• Your Advisor
• Quiz Instructions
• Quiz

• Module 2Paying for College
• Financial Aid Assistance
• Business Office
• Barnes Noble Bookstore
• Quiz

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Online Orientation Content

• Module 4
• Serving Students
• Academic Counseling Services
• Job Services Cooperative Education
• Ready to Work
• Disability Resources
• The Learning Center
• Library Services
• TRIO Student Support Services
• Registrar/Admissions
• Quiz

• Module 3
• Being Prepared Academically
• Role of Class Instructor
• Your Role as a Student
• Quiz

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Online Orientation Content

• Module 5Student Activities - Career-Oriented
  Activities - Service-Oriented Activities -
  Academic Activities
• - Social Activities - Quiz

• Module 6Policies Procedures that Students Need
  to Know
• Student Right-to-Know Policy
• Drug-Free Policy
• Sexual Harassment
• Student Records FERPA
• Student Code of Conduct
• Compliance Statement
• Quiz

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Project Implementation

• Fall 2005 applicant correspondence included
  Online Orientation information.
• At completion of orientation, the student was
  asked to provide information that was emailed to
  a designated email box.
• Student completions monitored by Student Success
  Coordinator and forwarded to appropriate FSE
  advisor.
• FSE advisors assisted students in completing
  registration process upon notice of student
  completion.

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Technical Considerations

• Originally used client-side Javascript to ensure
  a linear progression through the orientation.
• Students browser configuration could allow this
  mechanism to be bypassed.
• Restructured orientation in Spring 2006 to
  utilize server-side code.

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Project Evaluation

• Students (approximately 625 responses from Fall
  2005)
• 97 agreed or strongly agreed that the
  orientation answered many of their questions
  about MCC.
• 96.5 agreed or strongly agreed that the
  orientation information would be relevant to them
  during their college career.

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Project Evaluation - Quotes
How to register for classes was the most
helpful section because no one in my family has
been to college and we are all clueless to
anything pertaining to college.
All sections were very helpful for my future
with Madisonville Community College. The
information presented was vital to my success in
the coming years.
The whole thing was very helpful, even if I
thought I knew all about it, it still helped me
learn something new.
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Most and Least Helpful Sections

• Most helpful
• Financial aid (96)
• Programs/registration (54)
• Bookstore (29)
• Advising/CAP Center (22) College units
  contacts and operating hours (22)
• Policies (16)
• Tutoring and support services (11)

• Least helpful
• Policies (36)
• Financial aid (29)
• Student activities (27)
• Sexual harassment (25)
• Disability (14)
• The parts that didnt apply to me/The parts I
  already knew/The things everybody already
  knows (10)

281 students said there was no least helpful
section!
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Least Helpful Section Student Rationale
I would say the least helpful section for me was
the financial aid because I have already taken
care of that before completing this orientation.
The section on FAFSA was not helpful because Im
not going to receive that type of government aid.
The student organizations (were least helpful).
It was very informative, but with working
possibly two full-time jobs and being a full-time
student, Im not going to have the time to
participate in any organizations.
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Technical Considerations

• 99.5 agreed or strongly agreed that the
  orientation was easy to use and navigate.
• 94.2 agreed or strongly agreed that the
  orientation instructions were clear and easy to
  follow.
• Reported problems
• Local computing problem (14)
• Redirect problem (13)
• External link problem (2)
• Script error (2)

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Questions Remain AfterOrientation Completed

• When?
• Registration (8)
• Choose a major
• Letter of acceptance
• Financial aid
• Where?
• Class locations (2)
• Obtain Student ID number
• Satellite campuses

• How?
• Advisors selected (2)
• Access financial aid info
• What?
• Placement exams (2)
• Part-time jobs
• Transfer
• Tutoring
• Tuition
• Class attendance

And our personal favorite What do I do when I
go to college and have forgot (sic) all of this
orientation?
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Project Improvements

• Deleted entering student survey since information
  is being captured in another way.
• Student issued a Certificate of Completion rather
  than tracking student completion by email.
• Removed student activities module to decrease
  size of content and decrease time needed to
  complete quiz.

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Planned Retooling

• Add a graphical timeline of the orientation,
  advising, and registration process.
• Include overlooked factual information (tuition,
  etc.).
• Add information about distance learning courses
  and delivery media (ITV, online, telecourse,
  etc.).
• Streamline module quizzes to reduce programming
  complexity and shorten time needed to complete
  orientation.

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Questions?
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For More Information

• Online Student Orientation
• http//www.madisonville.kctcs.edu/orientation
• OLO Slides available
• http//www.madisonville.kctcs.edu/facstaf/cdixon/