Metro State’s pilot online orientation project, begun in early June and wrapping up this week, has been deemed a success.

Director of New Student Orientation Denny Boyd says that among the students who have finished the online orientation and completed a survey about the experience, “most have given us overwhelmingly positive feedback.” Online orientation was offered to 940 nontraditional (older than 20) transfer students in June. More than 150 have started the process and about half of those have completed it.

“We started developing the pilot project back in December,” says Boyd. “It was a huge project, pulling together all the different departments and people who needed to be involved. I'd like to thank Scott Houck, Kim Clark, and the five subject matter experts who worked so hard."

The online orientation takes approximately two hours to complete. It consists of a series of streaming video clips complemented by text in eight modules: Auraria campus, transfer process, assessment, academic advising, financial aid, school policies, standards and campus resources. Each module has specific learning objectives and is followed by a short quiz. In order to move on to the next module, students are required to score at least 90 percent on the module quiz, which they are permitted to retake as often as necessary. Closed captioning is available.

The current orientation policy at Metro State is that all transfer students over 20 have an option to attend a two-hour on-campus orientation. Starting in November (for the spring 2006 semester), the policy will change; transfer students over 20 will be required to complete an orientation, with the option of doing it on campus or online. The requirements will remain unchanged for new-to-college students (a four-hour orientation on campus) and transfer students under 20 (a two-hour orientation on campus).

“We’re not trying to give these students a meaningless hoop to jump through,” says Boyd. “Research shows that students who receive adequate information from a good orientation tend to do better. We think it’s beneficial for students to have a thorough orientation but, with the kind of students we have, including those working and with families, it wasn’t practical before. Now it is.”

“We consider (the online orientation) a huge success and that’s why we’re going to move forward with it,” adds Boyd.

Questions about the online orientation process should be directed to Boyd at 303-556-6931.