Having finished our last and biggest orientation on the 9th(01/09/2010) I can explain some of the pros and cons of how we run the program. For starters we are a community college. We run many different programs based on the campus attending, traditional v non-trad, etc. We do not have online orientations. We divide the students into color groups when they first arrive depending on major, with one group being learning support where all major with unmet requirements go. After a general assembly they are sent with their perspective color group where a teacher in their major talks to them. The group with unmet requirements are advised on why and what they must do to meet requirement. After that part of the program is over they are then separated into number groups, by last name, to make it more manageable. We then have orientation leaders take them to the different part of the programs based on the time assigned. An example:
Group 1 Group 2 Group...
12pm advising/registration tech lab/campus student id/parking pass
resources
1pm tech lab/campus resources student id/parking pass advising/registration
... and so on.
It must be neatly organized, our orientations normally last 5hrs. We have student orientation leaders who run the groups with professors and campus safety advising/registering and student id/parking. The cons of this program are time. If it takes a group a long time to do advising or if a particular speech last to long it throws everyone off. We have overflow rooms where we show a college video. After the session is finished all the orientation leaders meet with the programs head and discuss the day. I have found it very fun, being a student orientation leader myself. Hope this helps.
Donny Jenkins
Georgia Highlands College
cjenkin4@student.highlands.edu
