Now that we’ve spent some time discussing the idea of induction, particularly for estudents, what actually makes for good practice?
The answer is, it entirely depends on your student body. In her case study discussing online study skills for Student Pre-arrival Induction for Continuing Education (2011), Dr Monika Foster of Napier University points out the educational backgrounds of students from various countries, including China and India, results in a different set of expectations from our academic practices than those of UK students. While her initial focus is predominantly upon the study habits that the students bring with them, it can be easily extrapolated that there will also be different expectations set upon the induction and orientation process.We need to understand what the expectations are from our students, and also clearly identify what we expect from them during this initial phase of their studies.
Let’s take a moment to first address one key aspect – what do we mean by induction? What do we mean by orientation? And what is the difference between the two? In her online article “Difference Between Induction and Orientation” (2011), blogger Olivia explains that (in the scope of a corporate environment) induction is a shorter, less formal process which introduces the individual to the people, rules, regulations etc of their new environment, most likely through the form of a presentation and casual discussion. Orientation, she goes on to say, is a process which follows on from the initial induction and is more of a learning process. It allows the individual to familiarise themselves with the aspects of the environment which directly affect them, through organised training sessions that allow the individual to engage with the environment directly and allows for mistakes that can be corrected as part of that learning process. By the end of orientation, Olivia tells us, “the program makes the [individual] ready to take on the challenges” of their new environment.
Tying this back to our previous discussion on short vs long form induction, we can probably state that good practice will focus more on a developed programme of orientation than on a short induction.
It is still important for there to be an aspect of induction, however, particularly for estudents. After all, we are introducing them to a new online environment, and we need to know they can access it before the full orientation can begin. So perhaps the most pressing aspect of induction is providing the students with their login details and some direction on what to do first. A lot of institutions fall down here by giving their students half a dozen things to try and achieve when they first log in (“Find your first module”, “Access the Library pages”, “Answer this survey” etc…), and this can be confusing for the first-time eStudent. While we might assume that anyone deciding to study through an online delivery mechanism should have at least basic IT skills, each institution’s VLE is unique to them – one University’s good Moodle design will be vastly different to another’s. One University’s good Blackboard design….um….ok, there are exceptions!
The point being that even a well-versed technophile still needs some direction when confronted with a new system.
But do we need to include anything else within the induction process? For our pstudents, they are often made to sit through talk after endless talk about programme design, elective modules, library systems, careers opportunities and much, much more. Should we be factoring this into our induction?
In my mind, at least, the answer is mostly no. These are all aspects that the students need information about in a more defined and time-critical way, so should be built into the orientation process.
Best practice can probably be developed by first identifying what we want our induction and orientation process to cover, in other words what are the learning outcomes? By clearly defining what our estudents need to take away from the induction, and what we expect them to learn during orientation, we can clearly lay out the activities and support necessary to achieve our ultimate aim – that of an estudent able to engage with their learning in the most effective way possible.
My approach to best practice (and again, this is subject to massive change based upon your student body) would be a short induction process where the eStudent is shown the basics of the VLE, given contact details for technical support, and then directed to the start of the orientation process. Setting up the obligatory “tell us about yourself” forum activity (or some variation thereon) is a good way to start building up your academic community (more on that next time), and you should build into this some aspect of expectation gathering/management. Upon completion of this activity a short piece of information giving an overview of the programme and what (and how) it will cover.
Then, move the students on to their first taught module.
The key element here, of course, is that orientation has only just started. This process should now last the length of their first module, at the very least, and tying in key skills and technologies as they will be needed for teaching (have I mentioned this before?!). So around the time that the assessment is revealed, begin the library orientation, for example. This could be part of the taught module itself, or within an orientation-specific area of the VLE, but clearly linked to from within the taught area.
As an academic teaching on that first module, how would you ever begin to cater for all of this? The answer (my third of this post) is that you don’t. Library, TEL, Careers and other departments are there to produce this material and engage with your eStudents, but this does mean that when you are designing your curriculum it is vital that these teams are part of the development process from the beginning. Allowing them to develop your activities with you will allow a greater feeling of inclusion within the curriculum and help ease the students through that difficult first semester.
One final thought – we’re all really good at focusing on induction and orientation for our new students, but what about those returning to study (for example after a summer break)? What do they need to know about the new module/stage/direction of their studies? Good practice would make us consider them as well.
Next time, we’ll expand more upon the community aspect of orientation, and look at how we might develop our disparate learners into a cohesive community of inquiry.
References
Olivia 2011. Difference Between Induction and Orientation.
(Featured image courtesy of Anthony Kelly licensed under CC BY 2.0)
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