From Orientation to On-boarding: An Elaboration of a Redesigned Orientation for Virtual and Resident Graduate Systems Engineering Programs
Abstract: This brief paper will describe ongoing efforts to transition from an orientation to on-boarding activities for graduate students in systems engineering. The original orientation primarily focused on administrative, academic, and developmental activities which provided students with information on learning styles, problem solving, and critical thinking at the onset of their program. Given greater access to students in our resident graduate Systems Engineering programs, we essentially made the case to beta an onboarding approach where we would introduce additional material throughout the life-cycle of the student’s program. We are now incorporating on-boarding exercises in our distance education programs. The important message from our experience is that we have refocused our efforts from an “event”, the orientation, to a “process”, with on-boarding efforts that span the student’s program life-cycle.