Describes a comprehensive summer program for freshmen at a large research university. Freshmen enroll in common courses, are housed together, attend workshops on using university resources, and receive the assistance of an upper-division mentor. Evaluation suggests that freshmen who participate in transitional programs are significantly more…

Investigated what new student orientation coordinators perceive to be the most effective strategies for incorporating technology into orientation programs. Found that coordinators agreed most strongly with the notion of emphasizing the importance of technology to new students, coupled with providing email accounts to new students immediately upon…

This study investigates the experiences of mature students across three higher education institutions in the UK. The issues arising are of relevance to academics who are involved in widening participation and in evaluating support in their own programmes for the diversity of students. The sample includes mature students from programmes in Health,…

This conference was designed to assist educators and administrators at small colleges in the planning, implementing, and refining of programs designed to enhance students' first-year experience. The conference addressed the special environments, challenges, and opportunities for success in the first-year experience. Conference presentations were…

This model presents an experimental orientation program at a computer college. Subjects were 200 freshmen students, 100 of whom participated in the experimental program and 100 of whom acted as a control group. The control group went through a traditional orientation program - three four-hour sessions in a large auditorium. The experimental…

Investigated parents' attitudes regarding the university during their son's or daughter's second semester in college as correlated with parental attendance at or absence from orientation, level of student-parent contact, and student academic performance during the freshman year. Parents who had attended the orientation program reported greater…

This paper explores the relationship between different types of college orientation programs and the students' subsequent integration into the school's academic and non-academic environments. (RWP)

A total of 137 students--72 program and 65 nonprogram participants--took part in a longitudinal study investigating the effect of an outdoor orientation program for freshmen at a small liberal arts college in the Northeast. Principal instrument was the Environmental Preference Questionnaire. Results indicated that the orientation program had a…

Discusses the integration of wilderness pursuits and outdoor opportunities with more traditional student orientation activities, an area of programming that has become increasingly popular over the last several years in response to changing student interests. Addresses the structure of wilderness pursuit orientation programs, liability issues, and…

Examined the effects on teaching techniques of faculty (n=68) at the University of South Carolina who taught a freshman seminar after completing a training workshop. Many faculty reported that they had transferred the new teaching techniques learned in preparation for the freshman seminar to their discipline-based courses. These included lecturing…

Accompanying the growth of freshman seminars and extended orientation courses has been a rich body of literature depicting the process and outcome aspects of the course. This paper provides an annotated review of the investigations on freshman seminar/extended orientation courses. The review is designed to provide faculty and administrators with…

Current freshman orientation practices among U.S. colleges and universities are described and comments upon the degree of concurrence between these practices and an evolving philosophy of freshman orientation are made. Letters requesting copies of orientation programs were sent to a random sample of 160 colleges and universities, divided equally…

Since new student orientation programs are planned to help the college assimilate large numbers of incoming students into its community with a minimum of agitation and to help the student to effectively adapt to unfamiliar surroundings quickly and effectively, orientation planners must clearly understand the manner in which students interact with…

Tests the claim to comprehensiveness of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives by analyzing educational objectives of some freshmen orientation programs and those connected with human developmental tasks. It is concluded that the taxonomy should be enlarged with a fourth domain: actual induction into tasks for which students are being…

This annotated bibliography describes resource materials on educational theory and practice related to the first college year. This edition contains nearly twice as many entries as the second edition. Works are grouped into these topical headings: (1) "Academic Advising and Student Counseling"; (2) "Academic Support"; (3) "Assessment and…