1. High-Impact Practice: Mandatory New Student Orientation
Sarah Hannes, Director of Admissions
Alli McCown, One-Stop Coordinator

2. Outline
History
How?
Why?
Data & Statistics S

3. History
Originated in Student Life area, very student- involvement focused
Transitioned to Admissions in Summer 2013
At the time, Orientation was not mandatory
Offered only in the summer
Attendance was not tracked
Mandatory Orientation began in Spring 2014, for students starting Summer 2014 and after
Admissions staff initially split Orientation responsibilities
Implemented position of One-Stop Coordinator in 2015, part of that role is coordinating Orientation S S

4. Why? Research shows that students who complete Orientation are:
1.51 times more likely to pass a developmental math class
1.61 times more likely to pass a developmental English class
1.3 times more likely to pass a gatekeeper English class
1.3 times more likely to persist fall-to-spring
1.24 times more likely to persist fall-to-fall
Source: Center for Community College Student Engagement. (2014). A matter of degrees: Practices to pathways (High-impact practices for community college student success). Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, Program in Higher Education Leadership. A

5. Strategic Plan
Because Orientation has been shown to be so successful, LCCC incorporated it into our Strategic Plan:
“Implement research-based, high-impact practices for early and ongoing student engagement in the educational process”, including mandatory New Student Orientation
Staff were noticing that students were not prepared, and weren’t aware of resources to be successful
Transitioned Orientation to be more resource- focused, to help students’ preparedness S

6. LCCC Mandatory Orientation
Orientation Learning Outcomes:
Connect with fellow students
Explore resources available both on campus and online
Be introduced to our holistic advising system and learn about tools for your success
Discussion of campus resources
Fun – food, mascot, prizes, chances to interact with other students A

7. How?
Retooled the enrollment process S S

8. How? – Internal Process Changes
Adding an NSO PERC hold at time of application to prevent registration prior to Orientation
Custom sub-routine was created in Recruiter to add these holds at time of application submission
Communicating with all stakeholders in Student Services
Consistent messaging to students from all staff A

9. How? - Collaboration
Campus-wide communication with faculty and staff about process changes
Consistent contact with faculty and staff across campus to keep content within Orientation updated and relevant
Idea-sharing with various campus departments to learn about their specific student needs (i.e., Athletics, Dental Hygiene program) S

10. How? Collaboration with Local High Schools
Each spring, invite service-area high school seniors to a special event: Orientation/Registration Day
Building relationships with high school counselors and staff
Demonstrate the importance of the college process to students before they are on summer break
Proactive in getting students ready, to avoid the last-minute August frenzy with these students A

11. Continuous Improvement
Started out 20 people per session max, due to registering at Orientation – this resulted in many sessions/week
Opened up Orientation to more students but removed registration component
Helped with student attention – when registering after Orientation, students were too burned-out and overwhelmed
Less sessions/week – less staff burn-out
Live online sessions via Blackboard Collaborate began in October 2014 A

12. Online Orientation
Asynchronous online orientation started in August 2015
Current model is a D2L course
Students get D2L experience
Ability to change/update content quickly and easily
Budget
Sign up process is the same
Completion quiz at the end – 70% required
Content presented in multiple formats (PowerPoint, video/voice-overs, etc.) A A

13. Connection to COLS 1000 Hand-off from Admissions to Advising
Introduction – overview to COLS 1000 curriculum S

14. Increase in fall-fall persistence (2014-2015 compared to 2013-2014)
Data & Statistics
49%
17%
Increase in number of students utilizing Disability Support Services ( school year), credited in part to students learning about the resource in Orientation
Increase in fall-fall persistence ( compared to )
1,844
Fall 2015-Spring 2016
Total number of students who completed Orientation: 1844
Yield rate (percentage who then enrolled in classes for their start term): 79.5%
79.5%
Total number of students who completed Orientation for Fall 2015 and Spring 2016
Yield rate for Fall 2015-Spring 2016 (students who completed Orientation enrolled in classes) S
~80% yield rate for completion of Orientation to registration in classes
Total, approximately 4,043 students have completed Orientation since mandatory Orientation was implemented in Spring 2014
13% of 15/FA students that have completed Orientation have completed the asynchronous online Orientation
We expect that to increase
For 16/SP Orientations, 2.5 times more students have signed up to do online Orientation over in-person
We offer sessions on both campuses and use different coding for the two campuses and the online so that we can work on tracking data specific to each Orientation modality as needed
Increase in resource usage by students…
Fall-to-spring persistence rate 14/FA-15/SP: 71% (17.4% increase over 13/FA-14/SP persistence)

15. Overall Success
62%
Total OVERALL persistence rate for Fall 2015 to Spring 2016
73%
Total persistence rate for students
For Fall 2015 to Spring 2016
who completed orientation S

16. Questions?
Thank you for coming! S