The anytime, anywhere way to a proper start to George Brown.
Talha salick
Assitant editor
For every student, the chance to attend a New Student Orientation is the first step to success at GBC. It offers a chance to visit and get information from the countless services on campus, helps students meet fellow students, staff and faculty, create connections, build community, and get familiar with daily campus life. Of course there are also numerous social engagement activities and a free lunch.
In many cases, students are not able to attend their orientation day. Until now new students at GBC had the choice of attending in-person orientation to acquire the information they needed or try to navigate through the college’s website. With in-person orientation, the Student Life team see just under half of all incoming students. This means more than half of all new students may start their time with George Brown College with little guidance or direction to get started.
In November 2019, George Brown’s Student Life team introduced an online orientation. Behind this innovation is the energetic team of Joe Stapleton and Peter Koutsokeris from Student Life, Alison Burns, Maryam McKenzie and Glenn Kuly from the Office of the Vice President Student Success, Liz Romero from TLX and Miguel Roman and Jimi Rockley from the Blackboard team. This was created in collaboration with departments across the college as well as several external partners with an innovative mindset.
Launched the first week of November for the upcoming winter 2020 term, students starting in January will be the first new students to have the opportunity to benefit from this tool. Students will have access to the Online Orientation via Blackboard and will gain access after the fee payment deadline for each intake. The Online Orientation includes six modules. Each module provides an encouraging platform for students to feel connected, supported and informed. Each module includes clear outcomes and a short quiz at the end to ensure students have the right information.
This innovation is a first at George Brown College and across Canada using technology that marries the BlackBoard platform and an integrated microsite, providing the ability to collect and analyze a robust set of data. This includes both high level data such as user analytics, and more importantly granular data that allows the Student Life team to see on an individual student level what exactly they are accessing, completing, and where they need additional support through the Online Orientation. This can have significant implications for student retention, can assist with early alerts, and increase overall student success.
The addition of the online orientation to existing orientation programming allows students the flexibility to prepare for College on their own schedule, on any device, anywhere in the world. All first semester students will have access to the critical information, tools, and resources they need to become familiar with the college community, policies and carry out practical and administrative tasks (e.g., Student ID, locker rental, fitness membership) to best prepare for a successful start to their time at college.
The Online Orientation is accessible by all staff and faculty at the college. Staff and faculty can use it both as a reference to further assist students and as an employee onboarding tool to orient new employees to the many college services and supports available to students at George Brown.
“The Online Orientation was developed with future capabilities in mind. This includes but is not limited to using this platform for students to complete all necessary steps from time of acceptance through to registering for class and beyond. There is potential for students to confirm they have read documents, policies etc. deemed important by the college (e.g. Sexual Violence Policy, Student code of conduct, Academic Integrity, Truth and Reconciliation)” said Joe Stapleton
