What Do New Students Gain from a
One Week Orientation Program?
Colin Macdonald
University of Ballarat
Introduction
Jim Elliott wrote an article in JANZSSA entitled ‘Orientation and Transition take more than a
Week’ (1994). In it he described how North American Higher Education Institutions are responding
to the issues of student transition and orientation, particularly through the implementation of year or
semester long orientation units. The title of Elliott's article suggests that the orientation week run at
many Australian universities do not actually achieve that purpose. The article does not actually
present any specific arguments against orientation weeks but it does beg the question; what effect
does a week long orientation program actually having on students?
As Elliott points out the first few weeks at university are important in terms of the persistence of
students. Several studies on Australian Universities have looked at the persistence and withdrawal
of students ( Williams and Ainsworth 1977, Mitchell 1990 and West 1986). These studies stated
that between 32% and 42% of students who withdraw from first year do so in the first few weeks.
Tinto (1975), a major theorist on withdrawals believes that "Given individual characteristics, prior
experiences and commitments . . . it is the individual's integration into the academic and social
systems of the college that most directly relates to his continuance in that college" (p 96). If this is
the case then what is the O week actually doing to assist this process. There have been few
published papers on orientation weeks at Australian universities (Foxley 1969, Isaacs 1977,
Dawson and Bush 1977). No studies identify what actual effect a week long orientation program
has on new students.
This article describes a study carried out at the University of Ballarat (UB) into the effects of a
week long 1993 orientation program. The findings showed that O week was an effective means of
assisting the socialisation of students into the university and their discipline culture. It was not so
successful in introducing students to the teaching and learning environment. A response of the
University to this limitation is also described.
The University of Ballarat, like most universities, runs an orientation week for new students at the
beginning of the academic year. It is a time when new students are introduced to their lecturers and
other students and first experience the institution. Ballarat had done partial evaluations of the
program prior to 1993. These efforts did not give a clear picture of how effective the program was
or more importantly what were the actual effects that the week was having on students.
A major concept used to structure this study was that of function. Function is defined by Merton
(1968) as "those observed consequences that make for the adaptation or adjustment of a given
system" (p105). For example, orientation week is presumably to "orient" students to university life.
Each program will also have more specific goals, aims and purposes. Merton expands on the idea of
functions by referring to manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions "are those objective
consequences contributing to the adjustment or adaptation of the system which are intended and
recognised by participants in the system. Latent functions, correlatively, being those which are
neither intended nor recognised"(p105).
Diagram 1 displays the interrelationship between purpose and function. In applying this model to
orientation the study aimed to uncover what were the intended or manifest outcomes and what were
unintended or latent outcomes or functions of the week for new students.
Diagram 1
MISSING DIAGRAM
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The orientation program
The orientation program at UB is the responsibility of the university Curriculum Committee. The
program consisted of five main parts. First there was a welcome to the new students by the Vice
Chancellor. Second, the students moved into their course groupings and were welcomed by the
Head of School and other senior academic staff. They were then divided up into smaller host
groups and introduced to each other and taken on a guided tour of the College by a senior student.
Thirdly, there were sessions presented by Registry, the Library and Student Services each morning
during the week and fourthly in the afternoon the Student Union ran cultural/social activities such
as a barbecue and various kinds of entertainment. Finally, there were the course-specific
components that focused on "course administration needs, study skills required of students in those
particular programs, timetable schedules, introductory information unit and course outlines,
assessment details, specific tutorial groupings, unit outlines and related requirements" (Report to
Academic Board of Study Orientation Week 1992). The curriculum committee stated that the O
week should focus on preparing students for the beginning of the academic year. Organisers of the
different sessions during the week each had their own aims.
The aims
To identify the aims or purposes of the orientation week materials were gathered from a number of
different sources within the university. All documents relating to the university wide program were
examined and individual course orientation documents were gathered from several courses and a
number of involved staff were interviewed. The aims of the activities that were carried out were
then identified and set out in the table below.
Table 1. Aims of activities categorised
CATEGORIES
WELCOMES
ADMINISTRATIVE
TEACHING AND LEARNING
SOCIAL
ENCULTURATION
ACTIVITIES
Vice Chancellor’s address, Heads of Schools address
Assigning of lecture rooms, informing of HECS cut off dates
Maths diagnostic test, staff study expectations of students, provision of
assessment guidelines
Staff/student cricket match, host groups , pub crawl, bands, Student
Services "getting to know you" activities
Introduction to the professional cultures
The functions
To identify the functions of the week two focus group interviews with students were held. After the
data from these groups had been examined, follow up individual interviews were held with several
students. The data from the interviews was examined for possible functions.
The major functions identified from the data were; the development of pride in being a student;
getting to know other students; being influenced by and being able to identify different cultures
within the University and finding out about the immediately relevant workings of the University.
The finding that was most unexpected was the strong sense of pride that several students expressed
in being a university student, in being a student at BUC and in being a student in their particular
discipline (teaching for example). The event that students connected most with this latent function
was the welcoming address by the Vice Chancellor. Given that a proportion of BallaratÕs students
had been unable to get into the course of their choice some disappointment would not have been
unexpected but none was mentioned by the interviewees. Students were also outraged at cynicism.
For example an article in the student's diary presented a cynical approach to study. This was
regarded with distaste by several students.
The next finding, which was not unexpected was that students were interested in getting to know
other students and in particular, students from their own course. This was a manifest function of the
program. Some of the reasons that interviewees gave included, so that they would know if they
were in the right class and so that they would know someone to ask if they did not have the
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appropriate information. They were also interested in getting to know staff. The reasons they gave
for this were that if they needed help they would feel comfortable in approaching the lecturer. There
was less desire to get to know students from other courses.
The third function identified was that of introducing students to the different cultures within the
university. Many students could identify several of the discipline cultures within the university.
They already knew that Òyou did not speak to engineers if you were a business student and that the
trakkies (human movement and sports science students) were snobbishÓ. It appeared that the
students interviewed were mainly being socialised into discipline cultures rather than a university
wide culture. Course Orientation Co-ordinators of the O week aimed to enculturate students into
discipline cultures. Students were talking about student culture that were connected with discipline
cultures.
These first three functions are all related to the socialisation of new students into the university.
Given the way that students were able to talk about the effects of the orientation week it seems to
have had a strong impact on those interviewed. For those who attend the O week program it seems
that their integration into the social system of the university will be enhanced which according to
Tinto(1975) is a factor related to students' continuance in the institution.
The final function mentioned related to finding out about the immediate workings of the university.
Students were presented with enormous amounts of information in the week. Students interviewed
commented that if they did not identify the information as immediately relevant then they would not
bother remembering it. The interviewees were also interested in getting Òthe low-downÓ on
lecturers and on subjects. This subjective information was obtained mainly from the later year
students who ran the host scheme. Students reported receiving information such as, which lecturers
did not relate well with mature age students and that with a certain lecturer you had to write quickly
because he did not leave the overheads on the projector for long. Whether what the students
regarded as important matches what the staff thought was important was not examined. While the
university aimed to provide students with specific information it seems that it was not necessarily
the information that the students chose to store This function to have both latent and manifest
characteristics.
This finding provides some guidelines for staff presenting information in orientation week. If it
does not have relevance to the first few weeks of the academic year then there is little point in
giving the information to students for they will reject it. This raises a challenge for staff who want
to provide information to students that they, the staff, regard as important but which students may
not see as immediately relevant.
One of the goals of orientation week was to focus on the teaching and learning aspects of the
university life. Apart from the Òlow-downÓ information and some comments from lecturers, the
UB orientation programs seemed to be of limited value in introducing and integrating students into
the academic systems of the university.
Buniwise
Two points that the University Orientation Co-ordinator at UB focused on from this study were:
Firstly, that students, while proud to be university students, identified more with their disciplines
than with the university as a whole. This was reflected in al lack of participation in cross discipline
activities such as student clubs and activities. Secondly teaching and learning as a function was not
identified as important by the students. These findings led to changes being made to the 1994
orientation week. Students, in the 1993 study, wanted information that would be useful to them in
the short term. They were also interested in the low-down on lecturers, subjects and other aspects of
the university. The BUniwise program was introduced to address these needs. The BUniwise
activity was a voluntary program offered in the afternoons of the Tuesday and Wednesday of the O
week. It consisted of 13 sessions, 9 of which were teaching and learning related. These activities
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were aimed at giving students information that was immediately useful to them, to help them to get
to know students from other course and to develop a culture of participation among students.
Approximately 50% of students attended at least one of the O-week activities. The three most
popular sessions were the tour of Ballarat, Orientation to the Computer Network and Basic Word
Processing. These activities, being only ninety minutes long provided only broad brush
introductions, but that was seen as appropriate for the week. Any more detail and students would
have been overloaded and Òturned offÓ. The detail is what they would receive in the following
weeks. The most unexpected outcome emerged from the BUniwise session, Working on the
Student Newspaper. The student newspaper that had been quite moribund but as a direct result of
interest from the session a team of twelve students as opposed the normal one or two has been
working on the newspaper. The evaluation of the overall O week program showed that BUniwise
was the most successful activity at helping students to get to know students from other courses and
was also successful in introducing students to some aspects for the tertiary learning environment.
The program has been deemed so successful that it will be expanded next year. Three of the
teaching and learning activities will be expanded to run in the first few weeks of the academic year
to pick up new students who have not been present during the O week.
Conclusion
The one week orientation program run in most Australian universities is particularly useful in
helping students in specific ways. It has an important role in helping students to find their bearings
in what is most likely a totally new environment for them This socialisation is of real importance in
assisting the affiliation process for students. Without the positive development of this process the
anxiety of being in a new and strange society may lead to alienation and increased attrition. The
orientation week also assists students to find their way around the campus, they can meet other
students and some of the lecturing staff. They receive relevant administrative information and they
can familiarise themselves with the teaching and learning process that they will soon begin.. It is not
possible however to provide the learning skills necessary to survive university learning in the space
of a week
From the experience of Ballarat University the learning skill of tertiary study cannot be learnt until
the lectures and laboratories have begun. Until then the student will have little or no context in
which to relate such learning. With the ongoing focus on retention rates Australian universities will
continue to explore activities that assist students to cope with the teaching and learning aspects of
university life. The American semester, or year long, orientation program, is one possible way of
achieving this. The investment required by the university has made this difficult to implement in
Australia. no doubt it was difficult to implement in the United States but the benefits appear to have
outweighed the costs. Such program would complement the functions that the week long orientation
week can provide.
References
Dawson, R. W. K and Bush, K. J.(1977) Orientation Procedures: A Counselling Service View, Vestes. Vol. 20, 6-9.
Elliott, J. (1994) Orientation and Transition Takes More Than a Week, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand
Student Services Association. No. 4, Nov, 15-19
Foxley, C. H. (1969) Orientation or Dis-orientation, Personnel and Guidance Journal. Vol. 8, No 3, November, 218222.
Isaacs, G. (1977) Students Starting the Year, Vestes. Vol. 20, 16-19.
Merton, R. (1968) Social Theory and Social Structure. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Mitchell, C. J. (1990) The First Year Experience. Master of Social Work Thesis, University of Melbourne.
Pascarrella, E. T., Terenzini, P. T, and Wolfe, L. M. (1986) Orientation to College and Freshman year
Persistence/Withdrawal Decisions. Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 57, No. 2, 155-175.
Report to BUC Academic board on orientation week, 1992.
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Tinto, V. (1975) Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research, Review of Educational
Research. Vol. 45, Winter, 89-125.
West, L. H. T., Hore, T., Bennie, C. N., Browne, P. A., and Kermond, B. M. (1986) Students Withdrawing from Fulltime Higher Education. Higher Education Advisory and Research Unit, Monash University, Melbourne.
Williams, C. and Ainsworth, G. (1977)Influences Affecting Student Discontinuations, Vestes. Vol. 20, 20-23.
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