University prepares for incoming freshmen

Starting Tuesday, IU’s Orientation Programs will greet about 400 incoming freshmen and introduce them to campus life.\nThis year, more than 6,700 incoming freshmen are already enrolled in orientation and the University expects more. The programs will run through July 17.\nAssociate Director of Orientation Melanie Payne said the staff is ready and excited to welcome the new additions to the IU family.\n“We want them to know that IU is a place with plenty of resources,” she said. “We want to give them comfort.”\nNew this year, the orientation staff has revamped its program, utilizing technology in ways it hopes will increase student engagement in the learning process, Payne said. \nPayne and other orientation leaders discussed this change and other additions to the program at a meeting Friday afternoon of about 150 staff and faculty members.\nPayne said the meeting, called the Orientation to Orientation, runs about every two years and is important for the faculty to attend.\n“We’re happy to share our plans with campus,” she said. “The campus really invests in the students.”\nIncoming freshmen will also be introduced to radio-frequency response pads, commonly known as “clickers.” Clickers are remote-controlled electronic devices used in some IU classes that allow students to answer multiple-choice questions posed by professors.\nPayne said the use of the response pads will help students become more engaged in the learning process while introducing them to classroom technology.\nDuring a demonstration of the clickers in Orientation to Orientation, some crowd members complained about the complexity of the clickers.\n“I think that the freshmen will have an easier time with them,” Payne laughed.\nPayne also mentioned new programs she added to the parent orientation program. The orientation staff has created a “Dear Mom and Dad” virtual tour, which will take parents into a student’s first year at IU. There is also a program in which parents write a letter to their children. Those letters are sent to their students in the second and third weeks of the first semester.\nAssistant Orientation Director Megan Ray said the student staff went through 100 hours of training for the orientation program, which included learning about specific resources and debunking campus myths. She also said training stressed emergency response and IU-Notify, the new system installed to inform students about threats on campus.\nIU junior Chere Hunter said her academic advisor suggested that she get involved in the orientation program. She said she hopes to teach students to create their own world at IU.\n“They shouldn’t be scared of the size of the campus,” she said. “They can find a niche here and get involved.”\nJunior Jake Dawes, an orientation staffer, said he enjoyed the training, not realizing it took a total of 100 hours. He said he wants to teach incoming freshmen how to ensure success in their futures at IU and beyond their college careers.\n“Getting involved early is very important,” he said. “It shows more success in college.”\nPayne said the orientation program strives to reassure parents about their children entering IU and incoming students comfortable in a difficult but exciting time in their lives. She said in the program she is also proud to be a part of the IU faculty, who also help construct the orientation program.\n“It takes a village to put on an orientation program,” she said.