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Published
2021-05-27
Section
Perspectives
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Copyright (c) 2021 Alison Hughes, John Tilley, Leah Mudd, Courtney "Pearson" Pearson , Lindsay Ramos, Casey Ford, Arnez Wallace
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright of all articles published in JCOTR belong to the author(s) and are published under a CC BY-NC license.
How to Cite
Preserving Engagement: Orientation amidst a Global Pandemic
Alison Hughes
Florida State University
Courtney "Pearson" Pearson
Florida State Univeristy
Lindsay Ramos
Florida State Univeristy
John Tilley
Florida State Univeristy
Leah Mudd
Florida State Univeristy
Casey Ford
Florida State Univeristy
Arnez Wallace
Florida State Univeristy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/jcotr.v28i2.3756
Keywords: orientation, COVID-19, student engagement, family engagement
Abstract
When we met in November of 2019 to hold our annual orientation brainstorming session, our New Student & Family Programs (NSFP) staff dreamed of additional small groups, affinity group spaces, revamped evening programming, and increased opportunities for student connections. Four short months and many hours of planning/training later, we found ourselves in a similar brainstorming session. Except this time, it was late March, we were facing a global pandemic, and we had just shifted our orientation season completely online in response to COVID-19. Like most orientation, transition, and retention professionals around the world, we found ourselves devastated and overwhelmed. We had a very short turnaround time (18 days), but one thing was essential for us—we would preserve as much student/family engagement and interaction as possible.
In this article, we explore the decision-making process, methods, action steps, and considerations for implementing a virtual orientation that embraced student and familial engagement despite the global pandemic.
