Practical tips and suggestions on creating an orientation course for college students.

1. Putting Together the Pieces of
a Successful Student
Orientation
Julie Owen
Vice President of Client Relations
SmarterServices
All participants will receive:
1.Feedback survey
2.Recording of session
3.Slidedeck
4.Sources used in presentation
5.Orientation Creation Worksheet

3. Getting Started
Determine
Goals
Learn your
students
Measure
readiness
Discover
challenges
Evaluate
current
resources
Create
new
content
Implement

4. What is the GOAL?
Improve
Retention
Enhance
Enrollment
Support
Students

5. GROUP LIKE PIECES…
know thy student
• Adult - technology
• Working - flexibility
• Traditional - responsibility
• Transfer - community

6. know thy student…
The SmarterMeasure Learning Readiness
Indicator measures non-cognitive skills &
learner readiness in 7 areas:
1. Individual Attributes
2. Life Factors
3. Learning Styles
4. Technical Competency
5. Technical Knowledge
6. Typing Speed & Accuracy
7. Reading Rate & Recall

7. Review Student Data-
Weaknesses/Challenges

8. Provide Resources &
Interventions

9. LOCATE & ORGANIZE
PIECES
• Check repositories
• Research content from
consortium/service centers
• Participate in ListServs & Ask for
resources
• Review your school’s website/links, etc

10. CONTENT CREATION
• Vimeo
• VideoScribe
• Animoto
• Quizlet
• Wordle
• MindMeister
• VoiceThread
• Social Networks
• Comevo
• Screencast

11. COMEVO
Think of Comevo as the mechanism
which helps you link all those pieces
together to a finished work of art!
Monica Carinio
» 800-748-0975 x 809
» monica.carinio@comevo.com
» www.comevo.com

12. Helping staff create orientation programs that are more effective.
About Comevo
The Market Leader in
Online Orientation
» Founded 2006
» 600,000+ users
» 100+ College & University clients
» Market Leader
12

13. Versatile, flexible, affordable.
The Comevo Difference
What Makes Us Unique
» Hosted software service
» Affordable
» Customer-supplied content
» Subscription pricing
» Unsurpassed Customer Service
» CMS and LMS
» SIS interface
» Responsive template
» Campus-wide tool
13

14. Optimal user-experience no matter what the device.
Responsive Template
14

15. Scale up with unlimited modules!
Campus-Wide Applications
15
» New Student Orientation
» Student Success Program
» Title IX – VAWA/SaVE
» Academic Probation
» HR Staff Onboarding
» Financial Aid
» Special Populations
» Parent Module
» Prospective Students
» Diversity

16. A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is
not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every
situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure
for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for
making some determination.

17. Rules of Thumb
• SIMPLE (now is not the time to impress
your student)
• ORGANIZED (be concise and deliberate)
• ENGAGING (ask for feedback)
• PROVIDE OPTIONS (Offer 2 delivery
methods per piece of information)

18. TIPS
LESS IS MORE
WE ALL LEARN DIFFERENTLY
BE THOROUGH BUT DON’T OVERWHELM
MATCH DELIVERY
FEEDBACK
INTERVIEW STUDENTS

19. LESS IS MORE

20. WE ALL LEARN
DIFFERENTLY

21. BE THOROUGH; DON’T
OVERWHELM
1. Is it NECESSARY?
2. Is it NICE?
3. LEARN MORE
button
4. THINK like a first
time college
student

22. MATCH DELIVERY
Online
Classes
Online
delivery of
orientation
F2F classes
F2F delivery
of orientation
Scheduled
time for class
Specific
time/date for
orientation
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN

23. MATCH DELIVERY

24. FEEDBACK
Test with
students
Test with
family/friends
Make
Adjustments
Test with
colleagues
Compare to
similar
programs

25. INTERVIEW STUDENTS

26. CRITICAL PIECES
Communicati
on
Achieving
sense of
community
Familiarity
with
Technology
Support
Resources
Strengthenin
g Non-
Cognitive
Skills
Accountabilit
y
Follow up
Logistics
Instructions
Requiremen
t

27. MOTIVATION, SUPPORT,
ENCOURAGEMENT

28. CONTACT/SURVEY
Julie Owen – SmarterServices
julie@smarterservices.com 334.356.8353
Monica Carinio – Comevo
monica.carinio@comevo.com 800-748-0975 x
809
COMPLETE SURVEY & BE ENTERED INTO
A DRAWING FOR A $50 DONATION TO
CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE

29. RESOURCES
• SmarterMeasure Learning Readiness Indicator - http://smartermeasure.com
• Online Orientation Bulider - http://comevo.com
• https://d-commons.d.umn.edu/bitstream/10792/280/1/McClure,%20Jo.pdf
• https://www.higheredjobs.com/higheredcareers/interviews.cfm?ID=402
• http://www.newfoundations.com/OrgTheory/Schupp721Sp06.htm
• LIST Serv - http://www.sc.edu/fye/listservs/subscrib.html
• https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/redesigning-first-
year-orientation-course
• https://bucks.instructure.com/courses/36545/pages/understanding-the-
dashboard?module_item_id=147004