Dr. Mark Smith

Location - Temple, TX
 Main Campus est. 1926
 5 Centers: Downtown, Cameron, Taylor, Hutto,
and Texas Bioscience Institute
 Serve 17 ISDs

Achieving the Dream College – 3 Years

Enrollment – Fall 2011
 5,692
▪ 755 FTIC (13%)
▪ 1,193 First Time at TC (21%)

Enrollment – Spring 2012
 5,454
▪ 311 FTIC (6%)
▪ 584 First Time at TC (11%)



Gender - Male = 33%, Female = 67%
Average Age = 27 years (Not including DC
learners)
Race/Ethnicity
 White = 52.5%
 Hispanic = 20.9%
 Black = 20.9%
 Asian = 1.9%
 Other = 3.8%

Mandatory College Orientation
 Starting Fall 2012
 All FT@TC Learners
 Learners on academic probation
 Board mandated

Continuous Orientations
 Delivered throughout the semester to reinforce
topics covered in College Orientation


Continuously remind learners of available
support services
Weekly present one-to-two minute
“infomercials” to:
 Provide learners with just-in-time information
about available support services
 Orient learners to college life
 Help learners develop skills that encourage
student success
1st Version of the Time
Management Orientation
Temple College
Continuous Orientation
Build a Calendar
 List assignments and deadlines for ALL classes on to a
calendar or into an electronic calendar
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Prioritize your tasks
 List all activities due for the week and rank them in
order of most important to least important
 Complete assignments based on the priority placed
on each task
 What are your priorities for this week, this month, this
semester
To-do list
 List the tasks you you want to complete today
 Take this list with you
 Cross items off of your list as they are completed
February 2007
SUNDAY
7
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
1
2
3
ENG HW
PSY HW
Library time
8
9
10
11
Meet with study
Study
ENG Test
Labor Day
Spend time
with family
4
FRIDAY
5
SATURDAY
6 Review
English notes
12
13
group
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Research Paper
Due

First-time learners
 Spring 2011 CCSSE: 26.5% of sample entered
college for the first time at Temple College

Academically underprepared learners
 Spring 2011 CCSSE: 42.1% had developmental
need in at least one area

First Generation learners
 Spring 2011 CCSSE: 29.4% said that neither
parent had attended college
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Student Handbook Awareness & Time
Management Skills
Computer Lab locations, Loaner/Donor
Program & Testing Center
Leopard Alert
Student Accommodations
Financial Aid and Scholarships
Tutoring Services
Online Registration
Survey 1
Library
10. Withdrawing from Class/6-Drop Rule
11. TRiO
12. Writing Center
13. TurnItIn
14. Student Clubs & Athletics
15. Survey 2
9.
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

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Increased awareness and use of available
support services (Focus group and CCSSE)
Increased learner retention
Increased course completion
Low budget strategy
Very replicable strategy

Initial team met to discuss orientation topics
and goals of the strategy
 Added new members based on chosen topics
▪ New volunteer members joined the strategy team




Just-in-time sequencing of segments
Scripts and PowerPoint development/revision
Survey instruments developed
Re-sequenced segments based on faculty,
learner, & SME feedback


Revised sequence of segments based on
previous semester feedback
Reduced number of segments from 15 to 13
 Merged some segments together
 Eliminated conflicts with final exams
 Provided sufficient time to complete Survey 2



Added voice narration to PowerPoint
Added 1-hour follow-on expanded workshops
Added information to Scuttlebutt newsletter


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Reviewed sequence and list of topics
Added professional level audio to PowerPoint
Identified need for two versions of
orientations
 F2F classroom version without audio and
automatic slide sequencing of PowerPoint slides
 Online version with voice narration and auto slide
sequencing

Developed website for faculty and learner
access to orientation segments

Scalability across the College
 All developmental education classes, all Composition I
classes, and Career/Technical classes

Maintenance of orientations
 Keep presentations as general as possible
 Build a short version of orientations and an expanded
version that provides more detailed information
 Multiple formats to accommodate F2F and online
classes


Variety of audio voices
Online New Comer orientation - Mandatory



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No orientations or surveys during last week of
semester
Voice narration by developer - Variety of
audio voices
Find a way to generalize the presentations to
hopefully extend the useful life
Be selective in the courses where the CO
strategy is offered to prevent oversaturation
of the information



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Just-in-Time expanded orientations from the
experts, such as FA
Compliance with ADA
Pre-plan well in advance!
Sell the strategy to get faculty buy-in!
 Use of anecdotal learner and faculty feedback
valuable
 Faculty champions

Need to begin tracking usage of services after
orientation presented



Learners completing online orientation
increase by 5% each fall
Learners satisfied with the implementation of
minute orientations - 3.5 or greater using a 5point Likert-like scale
Learners will be satisfied with the
implementation of online orientation - 3.5 or
greater using a 5-point Likert-like scale

Term-to-term retention rates increase for
developmental English learners
 79% to 81% in year two
 84% in year three
 89% by year four

Year-to-year retention rates increase for
developmental English learners
 49% to 51% in year two
 54% in year three
 59% by year four

End-of-course retention rate will increase for
courses employing minute orientations
 88% to 90% in year two
 92% in year three
 94% by year four

Successful course completion rates in
developmental English will increase
 78% to 80% in year two
 83% in year three
 86% by year four
FA2010
Survey 1
Survey 2
SP2011
Survey 1
Survey 2
FA2011
Survey 1
Survey 2
SP2012
Survey 1
Survey 2
Sample Size
243
155
62
821
199
164
1,329
248
104
1,659
162
104
Answered
Satisfaction
121
55
3.96%
4.02%
173
144
3.90%
4.14%
218
88
3.90%
4.18%
133
93
4.20%
3.99%
Percentage of Fall 2011 Students Rating Each Session as “Excellent” or “Very Good”
100%
90%
80%
78.4%
80.3%
80.0%
74.1%
Average
78.3%
73.3%
74.6%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Student
Handbook
Awareness &
Time
Management
Skills
Computer Lab,
Loaner/Donor
Program &
Testing Center
Leopard Alert
Student
Financial Aid & Tutoring Services
Accommodations Scholarships
Online
Registration
Term to Term
Dev. English
FA2009-SP2010
76.40%
FA2010-SP2011
78.10%

Year to Year
FA2010-FA2011
71.60%
End of Course
FA2009
87.80%
FA2010
89.80%

FA2011
86.60%

Successful Course Completion (A-C) Dev. English
FA2009
74.40%
FA2010
71.50%

FA2011
67.20%

Retention may not be enough, what
about course completion?
"I just viewed the FA orientation...I thought it
was simply great! I would have liked to see
something like that when I first started
college. It's very informative and touches on all
the key points...yet doesn't take all day to
read."
"i am a first year student and all the
information was helpful but at times i do
think it is boring and i hear it in my other
class to, but i know it has to be done so i listen
just in case there is information that is good for
me to know or hear."
"For those who are wanting to take summer
classes, the orientation on registration was very
helpful. This is the first time that I have heard
about it."
"This is the best power point so far, Easy to
follow. Information right to the point with lots
of pictures if you don't care to read. Well done.
Did I learn anything new? What's new to learn,
it's a library? "
"I looked over the TurnItIn orientation. I learned
a bit from it, because I never really thought
about how to prevent plagiarism. I think it's a
good thing, and I think it's good to make
students aware of it. I did find some things to
nit-pick about though: slide 2 - image is blurry,
slide 4 & 5 - logo changes from white to black
(maybe they are testing to see which looks
better...I vote for white)"
"Continuous orientation is good for new
students who have never stepped foot on
this campus, even for students who have
been here a couple of semesters, because
there are a lot things students don't know."
“I presented the orientation and it went over
really well. In all classes, the orientation acted
as an icebreaker as the students opened up
discussions into other services that 1. they
heard about and weren't sure of. 2.they felt
they might need. (i.e. tutoring, math lab, help
writing papers) ”
“I was able to answer a lot of questions that
might not have been asked had we not
presented the continuous orientations.”
“…I think it is very valuable to complete these
throughout the semester. Most of this is
included in my discussion with students
during the first two days of class. However,
because so much information is thrown at
them at the beginning, it is helpful to use
these as reminders once they are more
settled.”
“Students liked this orientation. I took all 17
students to the lab and half were already
signed up for leopard alert. The other half, I
assigned extra credit if they signed up. They did
appreciate the alert, especially with the terrible
cold weather we were having last week.”
“This week's CO was well received; most did
not know that if they had a temporary disability
they could get accommodations.”
"After giving the Financial Aid presentation, the
classes really picked up when they saw the $20
million number, and when they heard there
would be a workshop."
Mark Smith
mark.smith@templejc.edu
254-298-8341
Learner Access Website
http://www.templejc.edu/dept/cis/ccollins/common/co/cont-ori.html