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Succeed at UNT, a larger institutional focus on retention and supporting students’ personal and academic development, launches with Intro to Success during orientation.
The University of North Texas
Orientation can be an overwhelming time for new college students as they face a variety of changes to their environment, social circles and daily responsibilities. The amount of information students have to receive can feel like drinking out of a fire hose, doused with details.
To ensure students are aware of campus resources but not overwhelmed, administrators and staff at the University of North Texas established an online course that all incoming students complete. The course has three modules that help students identify their goals in college, identify practical skills and strategies and learn where to seek help if they need it.
Survey Says
A fall 2023 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found 44 percent of students believe their orientation helped them feel more comfortable accessing resources for students, and this was more true for learners at four-year institutions (46 percent) compared to their two-year peers (32 percent).
Among all students, 40 percent of learners said orientation helped them feel more prepared for college, and a similar number said orientation helped familiarize them with the institution’s online portals or campus app.
How it works: Intro to Student Success, a requirement for all incoming students (both first-years and transfers), supplements the UNT orientation program.
The three-module course on Canvas is focused on academic, social and personal thriving at UNT, helping students get connected to resources early so they can feel confident on day one, says Allicia Washington-White, communications strategist for student retention.
“We help students define their vision of success, introduce practical strategies to assess time management, illustrate ways to find campus services [and] how to ask for help when there,” Washington-White says.
At the end of the course, students will be familiar with academic support services, campus facilities and extracurricular activities at UNT, as well as how to access those resources.
Course content was developed, and continues to be refined, by the University Brand Strategy and Communication division, with support from orientation and transition program staff members. The team utilized artificial intelligence to create the course and migrate it into UNT’s system.
The impact: Over 2,000 first-time-in-college and transfer students have completed the course, and postsurveys indicate students over all are satisfied with the materials.
“Students reported feeling more confident; they appreciate our proactive approach and love that we present the information in a digestible format,” Washington-White says.
Embedded in the course are QR codes, so students can get follow-up information. Staff are able to track how many learners scan the QR codes to see which resources were most needed.
A bigger picture: Intro to Success is part of a larger institutional focus on student success, Succeed at UNT, which hopes to foster support inside and outside of the classroom, Washington-White says.
Succeed at UNT has seven keys—show up, find support, get advised, be prepared, get involved, stay focused, get hired—with an accompanying webpage where each area has a video testimonial from a current student and links to relevant resources for additional information.
In the future, staff plan to scale the program to target various campus populations who could benefit from onboarding information, including graduate students, parents of undergraduates and transfer students, and they plan to tailor transfer information to be more relevant to their circumstances.
Other inspo: Other institutions have utilized their learning management systems to serve as an onboarding tool for students in a variety of ways.
- Wichita State University created an online course shell to provide a summer bridge experience to incoming adult learners, accommodating their time constraints while still ensuring they receive relevant information. The self-paced course has eight modules focused on wellness, which take around 15 minutes each to complete.
- Georgia Tech students and staff created an aggregate Canvas site that makes information more visible in a frequently trafficked location. These resources include emergency financial support, the Office of Minority Educational Development, the LGBTQIA Resource Center, the Veterans Resource Center and transfer student support, among others.
- DePaul University students in the neuroscience program are added to a resource hub on the LMS, which opens new modules throughout the year, creating tiered support. Each module includes a video filmed by upper-level neuroscience students who serve as near peers.
Do you have an academic success tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.
