Peer mentoring has shown beneficial effects in facilitating academic and social integration among first-year students in higher education. Previous research is, however, limited by the exclusion of a comparison group, to examine whether the integration process still occurs among non-mentored students, independently of peer mentoring. By using…

Outdoor orientation programs (OOPs) use wilderness or adventure experiences as a transition of incoming first-year students to college and university settings. We explored resilience and flourishing outcomes from two OOP trips in Virginia and North Carolina using the Brief Resilience Scale, the Mental Health Continuum Short Form, and a thematic…

As community colleges create or enhance their online learning programs, campus leaders must find ways to make these experiences equitable for all students, so that everyone has a fair chance at success. Colleges are using a wide array of innovative strategies to do this. These methods include designing online courses with inclusion in mind,…

Peer socialization agents (PSAs; e.g., resident assistants, orientation leaders) are trained to facilitate belonging through formal socialization initiatives. We used secondary qualitative data analysis, in combination with a critical constructivist approach, to explore PSAs' sense of belonging and the contexts in which they experience it through…

Despite their aim to foster belongingness, a small percentage of incoming college students (1%-2%) report feeling excluded (not belonging) during their outdoor orientation program. Feelings of exclusion are often highly consequential to a person transitioning to college. This study explores the experiences of students reporting low levels of…

This article reports on data collected from a study of 101 students taking a first-year experience course. Using a mapping methodology in an effort to understand what resources students could identify and what relationships they saw between resources, the study showed that resources associated with a specific location or connected with people were…

When students are initially immersed into the academic and social community of their program, they are more likely to succeed than if left to navigate graduate school on their own. As such, well-crafted onboarding initiatives are among the highest impact retention practices and key to enhancing the graduate student experience. While George Mason…

Traditional ecological models are promising for making sense of international student experiences, but the assumed monolithic nature of the structuring systems is inadequate for explaining development that occurs across multiple systems. We present and expand a model called the Spanning Systems Model that recognizes multiple ecologies. The model…

Switzerland, like other countries in Europe, has long depended on migration and mobility for its economy. Facilitating the integration of migrant children in school, primarily through the acquisition of the local language, has therefore been a priority for policymakers. In recent years, mobility has been on the increase and mobility trajectories…

Virtual reality (VR) applications have displayed remarkable development in the past two decades and have now been used vastly across the world for various educational purposes. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of a three dimensional (3D) desktop VR-based orientation for new online university students. The research study adopted…

The primary-to-secondary school transition is a milestone for children because of the multiple changes they must navigate. Although most adjust successfully, approximately 30% of children have difficulties during this transition. Intersecting identities are also likely to influence how children navigate the adjustment of the school transfer, but…

This paper considers the topic of student wellbeing using the lens of a different type of support mechanism -- 'dog borrowing' -- which builds on prior research about emotion work and human-animal interactions but in the context of student transitions and pastoral care in higher education. This novel study was about the experiences of students…

This research explores the effect of orientation advice (OA), which is an instrument aimed at supporting pupils during their first transition from middle to high school. We investigate whether being 'ambitious' (i.e. rejecting OA and choosing a more challenging track) influences grade 9 retention probability. Data from 28 schools from Piacenza…

Research routinely suggests that international students often struggle in engaging with other student groups. This study, therefore, examines to what extent and how the intercultural attitudes and intentions of new international students in three Dutch educational institutions related to their acculturation orientation preferences (AOPs) during…

The current study examines if participants completing an early online academic orientation display significantly higher levels of achievement in anatomy and physiology (A&P) compared to those who do not complete this orientation. The study involves a sample of first year nursing students in a private Catholic college in a major midwestern city…