Student Engagement Series: Part Two...Mandatory Orientation?

Submitted by bhughes on Mon, 2009-11-02 14:34

I hope that you are having a good start to the academic year at your institution. I wanted to follow up my first blog entry on Orientation with a discussion on the feasibility of making Orientation programs mandatory for new students to attend.

According to a 2004 survey conducted by the National Orientation Directors’ Association (NODA), almost 65% of American post-secondary institutions run mandatory Orientation programs. Another interesting point from this survey is that 56% of these institutions charge between $50 and$150 in student fees to offset Orientation programs. In our current age of fiscal accountability, it is important to answer two key questions -- “How much will this cost?” and “Who’s going to pay for it?” -- prior to moving ahead with making something like Orientation mandatory.

I recently surveyed some of my peers in Orientation across Canada with a brief survey in an attempt to flush out a Canadian perspective. No institution in Canada, save one with a single event that was advertised as compulsory, conducts mandatory Orientation programs. I didn’t hear back from every institution, so if your school does, by all means add to the discussion.

If running mandatory Orientation programs is the overwhelming majority in the U.S., why is it not being employed here in Canada? Do the benefits of an informed and acclimatized incoming body of students not outweigh the dictatorial attendance approach?

As an Orientation Officer whose primary responsibility is to assist in co-ordinating programming for new students, it would be wonderful for me to know that participation will be at 100%. While this would be logistically challenging, administration would also feel more comfortable with knowing that all new students are familiar with the institution's campus, protocols, and services, and that they will be as well prepared as possible to be successful in their academic career.

So why doesn’t it happen at Canadian institutions? Is it because we’re too polite and don’t want to force anyone to do anything? Or is it because we wouldn’t want anyone to call our bluff? Let’s face it: what institution would inform a newly admitted student that they would need to drop out and go somewhere else because they missed the welcome BBQ or information session with their department’s instructors and staff?

I believe that Orientation plays an important role in ensuring that the questions new students (not to mention their parents, family, or friends) have are answered in such a way that empowers the individual to be successful. I would argue that following a successful recruitment effort, an effective mandatory Orientation program would result in more successful students and higher graduation rates. I would go on to argue that having been successful as a student would also transfer into becoming a satisfied alumnus or alumna of the institution.

I can appreciate the challenges of making Orientation programs mandatory in practice. In theory, however, making Orientation programs mandatory would ultimately serve the student and institution the best good. What do you think?

bhughes's blog

I think mandatory

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-04 09:06.

I think mandatory orientation programs are infantilizing. We should stop treating students as incapable of handling their own affairs or navigating through structures on their own. In these times of budgetary crisis, focus on the basics: more professors, smaller classes, better libraries, well-supplied labs, more rigorous instruction, and personal attention from smart people. To be honest -- if you actually ask students themselves instead of consultants, software sellers, MBA-types -- that is what THEY want too. Quality of education trumps all. Old-fashioned, yes. Less-profitable in the short-term, yes. But much better in the long run, for everyone involved.

Conscientious Objector

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-04 10:18.

Mandatory orientation sessions sound a lot like conscription or joining a cult. Why not go all the way and make them shine their boots, shave their heads, iron their uniform, and run an obstacle course before allowing them to learn. I’m sure that such a program will definitely increase the enrollment numbers enough to offset its operational costs. Given that this proposal is originating from an orientation officer I question whether it is a “justify your usefulness” type of project. In times of financial crisis needless expenses such as this program and orientation officers should be reined in.

Mandatory Orientation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-04 10:42.

How we view orientation is important to the question. Is it simply a BBQ and a band? Or is orientation best served as a real orientation to university study - a class in itself that covers off on stuff that is important to the success of new students at post-secondary insitutions. I get it that students don't want to attend another BBQ (though this hasn't been my experience). Perhaps institutions need to reconsider orientation for this day and age. What purpose does it really serve? These days students will have visited campus at least once, if not more times, before they choose to attend so familiraizing the new students with the campus may be an outdated idea. What do new students really need to get into the culture of the new institution? Once we answer this we will have the new model for orientation.

Mandatory O?

Submitted by New Student Wrangler (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-04 12:35.

There are great arguments to be made on both sides of the coin here. We also need to take into account the different types of Institutions and types of Orientation. As an Orientation Director at a Community College in one of the Canadian Metro areas I find that many of our students are not 18-24 years old, living at home with mom and dad and going to school full time. Therefore we have had to adjust our idea of what constitutes Orientation making it more about service and resource identification, early access to services such as Student ID, the bookstore, tours, library services, etc. In fact we have eliminated our BBQ, and our college has a policy against bands in our common space. Orientation is far from the "party" many people imagine, at our instituion it is mostly business. I would suggest that mandatory O targets the students who don't go to Orientation and who we know through Astin's and Kuh's research are the students we need to worry about with regards to non-completion or non-retention due to non-engagement. In fact if we were serious about student success, missing Orientation could be treated as an early flag for potential student success issues. Let me also say that as an Orientation director, if all 3750 of my new students showed up for Orientation I would have a larger problem in that I don't have space for them. I don't need to argue that my job is effective or needed, I have the data to show that students who attend orientation persist and retain better than students who don't at my institution, and having worked in both the American Private system and the Canadian Public system, I can tell you that there is a tremendous difference, mostly in the mindset and philosophy of the institution regarding the individual importance of each student. But that is a whole other blog... I personally believe that mandatory Orientation that is useful, meets student needs and is data driven in design and implementation is not only a good idea, but will become a best practice in Canadian schools as we all become more competitive, governments start implementing more performance benchmarks and we all start worrying about our students more.

Orientation and Retention

Submitted by ken on Wed, 2009-11-04 13:25.

Certainly I saw a very compelling, data-driven presentation by the lead investigator of the CCSSE (Community College Survey of Student Engagement) at the League for Innovation in the Community College conference last year -- she argued that mandatory orientation correlated well with retention and success, and in fact she showed video clip after clip of students telling us why they WANTED the colleges to make orientation mandatory.

Infantilizing, perhaps, but don't underestimate the degree to which students (and plenty of other adults) want more limits and requirements spelled out clearly to them. We wouldn't have just passed laws outlawing text messaging while driving, if people were prepared to use their own common sense...

Ken Steele
Senior Vice-President, Education Marketing

ken@academica.ca | 1.866.922.8636 ext. 205

Designing an "outside the box" orientation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 08:31.

This debate is certainly interesting. Speaking from my own experience working in student affairs at an institution which does not have top down buy-in regarding the usefulness of a comprehensive, institution driven orientation program, I can tell you that it can be frustrating to have to make the case that student experience impacts retention and needs to be considered in conjunction with the quality of academic programming offered. Orientation programming is our first real opportunity to impact the student experience. Of course it is important to be fiscally responsible and keep our institutions accessible; but the tendency seems to be to put most financial resources in to academic areas because the link between positive experience and degree completion is less than obvious - though the data exists to support it's importance. Campuses currently have a plethora of resources and support programs in place to enhance student success and retention - which is to be applauded - however more and more we struggle in communicating with an often large and disconnected student body about their mere existence, much less how to access and make the most of them. Mandatory orientation (and the subsequent fees to facilitate this type of program) have been an issue of discussion at our university; they have yet to meet any real support. It is interesting that some institutions (mostly in the US) are delivering essential information in the form of an online tutorial which students must complete prior to registering for their first year courses. This may be less personalized and detrimental to social integration, but it gets the basic information out and allows students to choose the time and place that works for them to complete the program - it's also fairly easy to enforce as "mandatory". Online delivery is less resource dependent, once in place logically it could run fairly autonomously with minimal staffing required to keep the information up to date and troubleshoot. This may not be the answer but it presents an opportunity for administrators to think outside the box and a design a program that meets the needs of their audience and can be delivered efficiently to the masses.

Orientation Is Important

Submitted by Brendan Hughes (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 09:07.

Well by looking at the content and tone of the responses to whether or not Orientation should be mandatory, there are obviously some strong opinions and perspectives on the subject. As one commenter eluded, there are a number of factors to also consider in order to make a more informed decision on the topic. What kind of programming is being offered during Orientations? BBQs and bands are events but don't necessarily engage the students in the academic sense that most would post-secondary administrators or professors would want. However I hope that anyone reading this can appreciate that whenever you are in a new environment like a conference or city, it's preferable to feel comfortable than alone and scared. The same applies to incoming students. They want to know what's happening, where they'll be resting their head and who might they be living with for the year to four years. They will eventually be on their own and most humans desire social contact and the feeling of security that goes with that. So while social events may not necessarily be academic, they do provide the kind of basic human needs that uncle Maslow would say is required if they were to move up the pyramid aspiring to self-actualization. One fiscally shrewd commenter suggested that orientation programs and officers like me are 'needless' and should be reigned in. This person also suggested that as an Orientation officer I might be justifying my usefulness. While I might be biased towards promoting the positives of my profession (which I see as a positive thing) I believe the research defends the need for good orientation programming. I can appreciate these comments, as I used to wonder how does someone have a full time job planning only five days of events in a year? Well, walk a mile in another person's moccasins and you might appreciate that behind the scenes there is more that goes on backstage then on stage. Plus, if fall orientation is the only programming time of year, lost opportunities to assist and engage new students could result in lost students who fall through the cracks.

Cause and Effect

Submitted by Adam Z (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 12:32.

I think citing correlation between academic success and attending orientation as reason for enforcing mandatory orientation is missing the cause-and-effect relationship. I would hypothesize that a student who is more academically inclined and engaged with their campus is more likely to attend orientation, rather than the converse.

"Mandatory" Orientation exists at UBC

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 12:44.

Hello all, Interesting comments - very thought provoking. I'm of the mindset that while students may not think they need orientation, they do. Research tells us this. Students tell us this. I absolutely don't agree with infantalizing our students, but I do believe in delivering a service that will help them to get connected socially, and better understand academic expectations. I will also comment that most American institutions offer mandatory orientation during the summer - and this orientation model is actually driven by the academic advising staff from Academic Colleges who have proactive academic advising models. Don't get me wrong-the event coordination is done by the Orientation staff, but much of the programs during these summer-month, overnight orientations is delivered by academic advisors; these advisors will meet with new students and help them select courses. This is how they can make their orientation mandatory - student doesn't attend orientation, student doesn't get to register for classes. (It is also worth noting that in the USA, Academic Advisors are Student Affairs professionals - folks with Masters' degrees in Student Services Administration or something of that nature. I would argue that in Canada, many of our advisors are not on this professional track) UBC's model is such that orientation takes place on the Tuesday after Labor day - what is typically the first day of classes across Canada. It is marketed to students as mandatory, although there will always be a handful of students who do not attend. So, I guess my question is - what does mandatory mean in the Canadian context? Do we have collaborative working relationships with Academic Advisors - to the extent that they want to drive orientation, or make advising for new students mandatory ?

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