THE BUTEX 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014

Narrating Education Abroad: What’s Your Story?

Session Title: STARTING AT THE BEGINNING – ORIENTATION

Julie Andrews, Essex Abroad Adviser, University of Essex

Raluca Pasare, Frontrunner, University of Essex

Item / Description
Video / “Cartoon” of Orientation meeting with bored students and exhausted staff. Enter Raluca to highlight the problem – just a light hearted way to explain the session.
Introduction / Brief introduction from Julie and Raluca
Details of what the session is about - Julie / We all, as study abroad providers, aim to provide incoming students with a comprehensive orientation and induction programme. What is the purpose of an induction or orientation programme? Well apart from making the newly arrived students feel welcome and part of their new “home” institution, we need to ensure that important information on matters such as how the academic programme works, what is required for them to complete their registration, how to change modules, plagiarism, etc (the list is endless!) and we need to ensure that they are aware of their own safety. Induction can be a long slog of information for students, whilst being aware of the importance, it can be “overload” for them.
We, as UK HEIs, need to identify what information students already know from their pre-departure briefing at home. The information given to students can vary considerably and it is a fine line between ensuring we have covered all of the important issues and not repeating what they already know. In a perfect world we would know in detail what our partners are telling students but it is not a perfect world. We need to consider carefully the information we give to students but the structure and purpose of an Induction (at Essex anyway) is to ensure students know what is expected of them academically and to help them to settle quickly (and happily) into their new environment.
In general these programmes are evaluated are tweaked each year. But when was the last time your office embarked on a complete re-evaluation of the orientation and induction process?
Over the years the induction programme for study abroad and exchange students arriving at Essex had grown stale and we realised that we were not fully engaging with students. An Orientation/Welcome programme must be both interesting and informative. Previously at Essex the programme was less structured. Students received nearly all of the information in a paper format, with a wordy handbook to wade through. To receive a thick folder of papers and to listen to one person talk on all aspects of the programme was probably guaranteed to send the most engaged students to sleep. Our social activities were limited to a film show (Pot Luck) and a coach trip – not very inspiring or likely to encourage students to talk to each other.
At Essex we recently completed a university wide overhaul of the Arrival, Induction and Orientation process, which included renaming the Freshers’ Week to Welcome Week. Essex Abroad took the institutional review of induction as the ideal opportunity to review our own induction programme.
The University generally has moved with the times and a special web site is available for “Freshers”, including incoming exchange/study abroad students. We are also using capzles - http://www.capzles.com/#/8f16ea09-dd55-4a2d-ac27-57c1d046effd (I will ask Raluca to open the link). The information for this year is currently with our Communications team but I hope it will be uploaded soon). As you can see the University has moved with the times, so Essex Abroad must also embrace the technology much loved by students.
Our handbook for students will no longer be hard copy and students will be provided with a memory stick pre-loaded with the relevant information. Raluca will give you a quick demonstration.
A couple of years previously we had undertaken an internal review of the programme and made, what we believed at the time, suitable changes. It became all too obvious that we had merely papered over the cracks, our foundations were rocky and the need to look more closely at the problem was more than a little evident. Students were still failing to attend our programme and not clearly understanding or retaining the information provided. Not only is this outcome very unsatisfactory for the students, it is frustrating for the planners and presenters. Were we wasting our time, what was wrong? If our own review was not sufficient, what else could we do?
As luck would have it, Essex rolled out a programme called Front Runners – the principle of the programme is to offer students a short work placement within the University, the emphasis being on training and increasing the student’s skills and experience. Not being one to miss at trick, Essex Abroad saw this as a wonderful opportunity to get ahead of the game and ask a “customer” (Yes, a real live student) to take a close look at the programme.
We were fortunate enough to recruit Raluca, who will now outline the methods that she used to complete the survey.
Outline of methods used for survey – power point / Raluca will outline methods used and target audience:
Slide show to assist
Side show of results / Slide show presentation by Raluca and an explanation of what the results indicate.
Slide which identifies the four biggest issues from the survey to remain on screen.
Focus Groups - Julie / We can identify four major issues from the survey and would like to throw these open for discussion. Can we break into 4 focus groups, each group to look at one of the issues. How can we address these issues, what steps would help, what is “blue sky” and what is possible.
1)  Methods of Communication
With all of the methods of communication available now, what is the best way to ensure that the information is reaching students (and will be kept). Whilst the world is now smaller, snail mail is still no quicker. Do we need to send any information in hard copy these days? Are web links enough? Are e-mails retained for future reference?
2)  Information provided
Just how much information do we need to provide, what is too much, what is too little. If too much is provided, will it be read? How do we gauge what is right?
3)  Staying active and involved
Once the students have arrived and commenced their studies, how involved should we stay with them? Should we be offering social events or should students be finding their own friends/avenues of entertainment. Again what is too little and what is too much?
4)  Support Systems
Incoming students often seem to be unaware of the support systems offered by their host university, particularly students who arrive outside of the standard arrival week. How do we highlight the services to them? Do handbooks, web links or presentations work – what is the most effect method as students are normally stressed at the time when they most need a support service.
Can I now ask you to break into 4 focus groups and discuss the problem allocated to your group. What is the solution to these problems? (Is there one!). Let’s allow ourselves 10 to 15 minutes on this.
Focus Groups / Q & A/ general discussion / Feedback from Focus Groups – can I ask for a very quick feedback from each group – just a brief outline of your discussion – can we say a maximum of 5 minutes per group?
Julie/Raluca – outcome of survey – pie charts / So what is the outcome of our survey?
Raluca to give summary of findings via slide show presentation
Julie to comment on findings and reflect where it is possible to take the suggestions forward – both blue sky and practical.
Summary - Julie / In summary, was the effort, time and cost of the review really worthwhile?
The pre-departure given at the home university and the Induction given at the host university are 2 sides of the same coin and must complement each other, not contradict or confuse. The next phrase of this project must be about how can both the host university and the home university support each other?
Yes - we have gained a valuable insight as to what students really want from an Orientation programme. It is never possible to offer each individual student the exact programme they want and there will always be students who feel it was too little or too much, but I hope that our presentation has helped to highlight problems (and solutions) that the task of engaging a disinterested, tired and jetlagged student brings.
Is it possible to distract students from their electronic devices long enough for them to participate in a programme that is for their benefit! We all know how important a good induction is, a "welcome mat" is not enough. Essex wants to provide a "welcome blanket" that students will carry with them!
I will just like to add that this presentation would not have been possible with the extremely hard work and dedication that Raluca has given to the project. Her inside story has been invaluable. – thank you Raluca.
Comments / Q & A / General discussion and questions.