Aims Community College

Online Orientation Proposal

Patricia Rand

n Berthoud. The college is moderately sized with approximately 7000 students, 60% of which are full-time. The coll

This proposal will

outline the need to
make orientation
sessions online as well
as a proposed model to
accomplish this task.

Aims Community College offers several Allied Health programs including Medical Assisting,
Phlebotomy, EKG Technician, Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic certificates.
Students who wish to enroll in one of these programs must attend a mandatory, on campus
orientation prior to enrollment. Enrollment requires instructor approval after providing proof of
reading level, current CPR certification and attendance at the orientation.
Typically, a student who is interested in enrolling in one of the Allied Health courses will attempt to
enroll and discover that enrollment is limited by instructor approval. The student then contacts a
campus advisor or instructor who advises the student that they must first attend an orientation
session on campus. Students do not need to register for the session.

There are approximately six scheduled orientation sessions before the start of each semester. The
orientations are primarily held at the Greeley campus with a small number scheduled at the Loveland
campus. They are scheduled for either 12:15 pm or 5:30 pm. The orientation session is typically one
hour to two hours in length based on how many students attend. Attendance varies greatly with an
average attendance of 20 students per session. The session covers the details of each program,
financial aid information and prerequisites for each program. Most of the students who attend the
session are ill-prepared and do not bring the documentation necessary to grant instructor approval to
enroll in the course. Typically, the students who attend the orientation have follow up questions for
the faculty during the days and weeks following the orientation. Additionally, most students require a
“Vivamus porta
second one on one appointment with faculty in order to provide documentation of reading scores and
est sed est.”
receive permission to enroll.

Michael is interested in becoming an EMT. He works full time at a Safeway in Brighton and heard from a co-
worker that Aims has a great program. He first looks at the Aims website to find information about the courses.
He quickly becomes overwhelmed by the information posted on the schedule and is not sure which class he is
actually supposed to sign up for. He calls the main Aims number and is transferred to someone who teaches in
the EMS department. He gets a voicemail and leaves a message.

The following day he is contacted by a faculty member who leaves him a voice message that he needs to attend a
mandatory orientation session and lists the scheduled dates.

None of the scheduled times work well for Michael but he manages to trade one of his shifts at Safeway with
another employee and drives the 40 minute commute to Greeley. At the orientation session he discovers that he
needs to return to campus to take a reading assessment test before he can enroll in the course. After he gets back
home he finds that he is still confused about some of the required pre-requisites. He wishes he had taken better
notes because he cannot remember if he needs to have his fingerprints taken before the class nor can he
remember where to get them taken.

Michael ends up contacting the EMS department three more times to clarify his questions. Ultimately, he never
enrolls in the course because he is unable to find the time to get the assessment test taken and feels overwhelmed
by all the information anyway.

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 Summary of problems inherent to the current
practice:

 Many students find it difficult to attend the on campus orientation due to scheduling
conflicts.
 Students who do not live in Greeley may have to travel a great distance to attend the
orientation.
 Students who work are often unable to attend at the specified times or arrive late.
 Many students are unprepared for the orientation and must return to campus for the
reading assessment test and instructor approval (for registration).
 Many students are unable to recall the vast amount of information that is given at the
orientation.
 Information that is delivered at the orientation sessions is inconsistent from session to
session since multiple faculty members conduct them.

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2.0 Purpose and Rationale of Planned Change

The problems that are inherent to the current practice could be solved with the implementation of an
online orientation session. An orientation website will be created. Instead of the student attending the
orientation on campus, the scenario may look something like this:

Jennifer is interested in becoming an EMT. She works full time at an elementary school in Fort Collins and
heard from a co-worker that Aims has a great program. She first looks at the Aims website to find information
about the courses. She quickly becomes overwhelmed by the information posted on the schedule and is not sure
which class she is actually supposed to sign up for. She calls the main Aims number and is transferred to
someone who teaches in the EMS department. She gets a voicemail and leaves a message.

The following day she is contacted by a faculty member who leaves her a voice message that she needs to first
“watch” an online orientation tutorial and gives her the web address for the tutorial. She tells her to feel free to
call back if she has questions afterward.

Jennifer then goes to her computer and watches the tutorial. She ends up reviewing it a few times to make sure
she understood the information. When she is done she watches it a second time because she thought the pictures
and music were cool. She is more excited than ever to become an EMT.

The next day she makes an appointment for a reading assessment test as the tutorial instructed her to do. She
then calls the faculty member in the EMS department who is able to access her reading scores online. She sees
that they are satisfactory and gives her online permission to enroll. She asks Jennifer if she has any questions
and she says “no”.

As the story illustrates, an online orientation would eliminate the need for multiple trips to campus and
eliminate much of the confusion that students feel after the orientation. Students can watch the
orientation at a time that fits their schedule and can review it if they are unclear on the information.
Ultimately, this will result in increased enrollment in the Allied Health Programs.

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 2.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of eLearning

While there are several advantages of using an online (eLearning) format there are also some
potential disadvantages. The following table outlines the advantages, disadvantages as well
as proposed solutions to the disadvantages.

Advantages Disadvantages Plan to Address

Convenience: students can
view the orientation at a time
that suits their schedule.
Commute: students do not
need to travel to campus to
view the orientation
information.
Cost: the college will not
need to pay instructors for
after hours orientation
sessions.
Current: the information
regarding prerequisites and
vaccinations can be easily
updated as it changes.
Consistency: the same
information will be presented
consistently.
Technology Access: students
who do not have access to a
computer and/or internet will
be unable to view the
orientation.
Technophobes: students who
are less familiar with
technology may be
uncomfortable with the
presentation format.
Tenacity: student with low
motivation to learn may ignore
the orientation requirement
and attempt to register without
having viewed the session.
Disadvantages
Students will be invited to use
designated computers on any
of the three campuses at a
variety of work hours on any
day of the week.
Students will be invited to
view the orientation at any
computer lab on any campus
where personnel will be on
site to assist them.
A password will be provided
at the end of the orientation
session that students will
need to use to obtain a
prerequisite packet.

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stability for the college. Other goals include increased customer satisfaction, increased student compliance with pre

Goal Intended Outcome

Increased convenience and accesiblity for Increased customer satisfaction

students

Increased accuracy and consistency of Decreased time needed by faculty to clarify

information given prerequisites

Increased accuracy and consistency of Increased student compliance with

information given prerequisite fulfillment

Clarity of information Increased customer satisfaction

6
ing (2009) as being typically created in less than a month with minimal financial investment. This technique does no

ne orientation will be created by faculty members who currently conduct the on campus orientation sessions. These
The proposed model offers an
amazingly rapid, low-cost solution to
the current problem.

practices of web design (see section 6 Feasibility and Planning). Since the content and delivery will be handled by S

ly distributed between men and women. Approximately 75% have never taken a class at Aims Community College w
 5.1 Audience Needs

 More information about the course in which

the student would like to enroll
The current orientations
 Assistance with registration and enrollment are not meeting the needs
 Information about course pre-requisites of our students.
 Information about job outlook
 Instructor permission to enroll in the course

the Need
f holding on campus, face to face orientations pose several gaps. That is to say, the objectives of the orientation ses

 Students are often unable to remember all of the information that is

supplied to them.
 Students often have remaining questions about the registration
procedure after the orientation session.
 Students consistently fail to produce the required prerequisites or
are late in producing them prior to the start of the courses.
 Students receive inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate
information about job outlook.
 Students often need to return to campus for a second or third visit
to obtain instructor permission to enroll.
 Students have difficulty attending the sessions at the scheduled
times due to work and family obligations.
by myself. The website will feature many design characteristics that will create an emotional impact for the student.

will need to be endorsed and defended by leaders in both the Allied Health and Academic Advising Departments.

ot be utilized. No additional software or hardware will be needed.

 Promotional photographs of the Allied Health facility and students

 Contrast-the color scheme will be black, red and white.
 Alignment-material will be aligned vertically in a three column layout.
 Repetition-very important links and information will appear repeatedly in
the same location on each page. The black and red color scheme is also
featured on all Aims promotional material including the logo.
 Proximity-related information will be strategically placed near each other.
 Navigation-movement from one page to another will be intuitive with the
ability to revisit previous pages.
7.0 Roles
Key personnel who will be utilized in each phase of design, implementation, marketing and evaluation
are listed below.

Personnel
Project Manager Patricia Rand
Content Development Allied Health Faculty (Allee,Rand, Skala)
Website Design and Management Allied Health Faculty (Rand)

Website Management Training Allied Health Faculty (Rand)

Marketing Allied Health Faculty, Allied Health

Department Chair (and staff), Academic
Advising Staff
Evaluation EMS Coordinator (Rogers) and Allied Health
Faculty (Rand)
8.0 Budget

According to Kruse (2002-2004a), in order to develop the most accurate budget predictions, both
direct and indirect costs should be considered. Direct costs include technology requirements, student
materials and employee salaries. Indirect costs include costs associated with maintenance of the
website.

Technology Costs

ITEM COST TOTAL

Website Free 0

Website Hosting Free 0

Student Materials

ITEM COST PER ITEM QUANTITY TOTAL

Prerequisite Packet* $1.16 100 $116

Copies $0.04 500 $20

Burdened Compensation for Instructor

AREA ANTICIPATED HOURS TOTAL

Content Development 4 $170

Website Development 4 $170

Website Maintenance 1 hour per month $42

Evaluation 1 hour per month $42

20% of the employee’s salary. Therefore, the actual one year cost per employees is $56,400. If this annual cost is

9.0 Project Timeline

Activity Date of Completion

Content Development November 15, 2009

Acquisition of media/graphics November 20, 2009

Website Development December 2, 2009

Marketing Distribution December 10, 2009

Launch January 5, 2010

Data Collection and Survey May, 2010

Repeat December 2010
prerequisite packet is a notebook which organizes the student’s prerequisite forms such as vaccinations, backgroun

10.2 Training Management

Immediately prior to the scheduled launch date an informal meeting will be held with all
stakeholders. This will include department faculty and staff, the EMS coordinator, and
academic advisors. The meeting will review the information contained in the orientation as
well as the procedure for directing students to the website and packet distribution. Most
importantly, however, the goals of the initiative and evaluation process will be reviewed. As
explained by (Ajzen, 1988). it is imperitive to convince stakeholders of the importance of
accepting the change. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to ask questions.
 11.0 Marketing and Promotion

The online orientation will be marketed to key personnel who have interactions with potential
students. Typically, students who are interested in enrolling in one of the Allied Health programs
will contact the college and ultimately speak with either an academic advisor or faculty member.
At that point students are informed that their first course of action is participation in an orientation
session.
Key personnel include:
 General Academic Advisors
 Allied Health Advisors
 Allied Health Faculty and staff
 Allied Health Department Chair and ancillary staff

Key personnel will be informed of the online orientation via email. The email will include a link to the
orientation as well as a basic tutorial describing how to use it and the intended audience.
Additionally, the email will explain the reasoning behind the change from face to face orientation to
the online format.

12.0 Evaluation of eLearning

In order to determine if the proposed change is in fact beneficial to the college, formative and
summative evaluations will be conducted at the conclusion of the Spring 2010 semester and again
at the conclusion of the Fall 2010 semester.

It is important to recognize that some of the expected benefits of the proposed online orientation
are intangible in nature and therefore difficult to quantify. Intangible benefits include customer
satisfaction which may translate into increased brand loyalty, decreased stress among staff and
decreased confusion among students (Kruse, 2002-2004b).

Tangible benefits will be quantified by assessing:

1. Enrollment figures prior to and after implementation of the online orientation.
2. Student compliance with prerequisites prior to and after implementation of the online
orientation. (see appendix B)
3. Student satisfaction with the orientation and enrollment process which will be obtained via a
survey tool. Unfortunately, no prior data exists for comparison. (see appendix A)
13.0 Change Effort/Leadership Factors

13.1 Full Participation, inclusion, and respect for participants

It is important that the EMS Department, as a whole, embrace a shared vision for the proposed
online orientation. A shared vision is key to a successful change and ensuring that every stage
of product development is inline with the final goal of the online orientation (Gill, 2003). Input
from every member of the EMS department will be included in the development and evaluation
of the proposed change to promote a feeling of inclusion for all stakeholders. Additionally,
using faculty members as SMEs will demonstrate a feeling of respect for their knowledge base
and contribution.

13.2 Technical/Procedural/Informational support for participants

Students will be instructed to call any faculty member if they have difficulty accessing the
website or if they have questions about the content of the site. Students who do not have a
computer or internet access will be able to use any of the student computers on any of the
three campus computer labs. The computer labs are staffed with knowledgeable support
personnel who can assist students if needed.

13.3 How will resistance be dealt with?

The most important factor in dealing with resistance is to expect it. According to McVay Lynch
and Roecker (2007), even the best managed implementations are likely to be met with
resistance. Most often, resistance is a manifestation of a perceived threat. Individuals who
express resistance will be invited to express their concerns and fears. By actively including all
stakeholders in the change process, their fears and concerns will be minimized.

13.4 How will success be gauged?

As outlined in section 12.0 “Evaluation”, information regarding enrollment, student compliance
with prerequisites and student and faculty satisfaction will be gathered by the project
coordinator. This data will then be evaluated collaboratively by the EMS Department Chair and
associated faculty. At that time the group will make a judgment about the relative success or
failure of the project and decide whether to continue using the proposed change.
 References

About Aims. (n.d). Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://www.aims.edu/about/index.php

Ajzen, I. (1988). Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen). Retrieved from
http://www.12manage.com/methods_ajzen_theory_planned_behaviour.html
Fee, K. (2009). Delivering eLearning. London, UK: Kogan Page Ltd.
Gill, R. (2003). Change management-or change leadership? Journal of Change Management,
3(4), 307-318.
Karrer, T. (2006). Rapid eLearning-more definition: eLearning technology. Message posted
to http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/09/rapid-elearning-more-definition.html
Rapid eLearning briefing. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.kineo.com/elearning-
reports/rapid-e-learning-4.html
Kruse, K. (2002-2004). Measuring the total cost of eLearning. Retrieved from http://www.e-
learningguru.com/articles/art5_2.htm
Kruse, K. (2002-2004). Measuring eLearning’s benefits. Retrieved from http://www.e-
learningguru.com/articles/art5_3.htm
McVay Lynch, M., & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-Learning: A handbook for
successful design, delivery and management. New York, NY: Routledge.
Williams, R. (2004). The non-designer’s design book (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: Peachpit
Press.
 Appendix A

Student Survey

Answer using the following scale:

1=Strongly Agree
2=Agree
3=No Opinion
4=Disagree
5=Strongly Disagree

1. I understood how to access the online orientation.

2. I had access to a computer and internet connection in order to view the

orientation.

3. After viewing the online orientation, I understood the prerequisites that

would be required for the program I am interested in.

4. I appreciated the convenience of viewing the orientation online instead

of coming to campus.
 Appendix B

Faculty Survey

Answer using the following scale:

1=Strongly Agree
2=Agree
3=No Opinion
4=Disagree
5=Strongly Disagree

5. More of my students completed their prerequisites accurately after

implementing the online orientation than before.

6. More of my students turned in their prerequisite packets on-time than

after implementing the online orientation than before.

7. Less of my students had questions about prerequisites and registration

after implementing the online orientation than before.

8. I felt that my opinion and assistance was valued and appreciated during

the development of the online orientation.