Rapid Orientation of Students for Emergency Remote Learning during the Covid‑19 Lockdown

In response to the spread of the Covid‑19 pandemic, the President of South Africa declared a national lockdown that commenced on 27 March 2020. This posed numerous challenges to the higher education sector, one of which was the preparation of students forced to stay at home to be able to study remotely under unique and often unfavourable circumstances. This article outlines and reflects on the conceptualisation, development, and implementation of an online orientation programme aimed at preparing students to rapidly move to emergency remote learning as a result of a nationwide lockdown. Teaching and Learning Centre staff in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at a South African university rapidly created a short online orientation programme in the institutional Learning Management System, using Salmon’s five-stage model as a conceptual framework. The objective was to enable students to acquire the skills and knowledge required for continuing with the university academic programme from 20 April 2020 via emergency remote learning. The orientation programme covered the priority areas of how to get started in emergency remote learning, broad study skills, how to use the required technologies for learning, and managing personal well‑being during social isolation and emergency remote learning. In this article, the conceptualisation and development of the orientation programme is analysed, before reflecting on its implementation, challenges, mitigating measures, and lessons learned. Feedback from students indicates that the majority of students felt more prepared for continuing the academic programme, although they still reported feeling anxious about the many uncertainties. The intervention emerges as a useful strategy for helping students transition during a crisis and contributes to the understanding of how to prepare students for rapid transition to Emergency Remote Learning.

Designing Effective Online Orientation Programs for First-Year University Students

While asynchronous, self-paced online orientation programs are not brand new in the field of orientation, transition and retention, COVID-19 forced many institutions to rapidly create a program for the first time to help welcome fall 2020 students. Using the community of inquiry model as a framework, this literature review explores the research related to orientation and online learning in an effort to identify the principles, practices and processes that can help a student affairs professional to design an effective and engaging online orientation program, or enhance an existing program.

Pilot Study to Implement a Resident and Family Decision Guide

In this first stage of an 8 state initiative designed to assist nursing homes in reducing unnecessary hospital readmissions, 16 nursing homes were identified and invited by CMS and state agency advisors to participate in the pilot study of the effects of intervention (use of the Guide). Selected facilities received an online orientation to the project and onsite visit from project team leadership prior to launch. Pre and post implementation data were uploaded to a secure section of the project website by the facilities. Three facilities withdrew due to change in top management and a fourth facility provided incomplete data resulting in data for analysis from 12 pilot facilities. Results show the average reduction in readmissions was 31.2% for the project period as compared with the 3-month pre-project period. This presentation will include facility reports of the effect of Guide use on resident and family decision making.

The Role of Orientation Programs to Prepare Students for Online Learning: A Case Study From an Executive MPH Program

The coronavirus pandemic has caused many colleges and universities throughout the United States to pivot from in-person teaching to distance-based instruction, and while this form of education offers many advantages, one challenge facing institutions of higher education is how to best prepare their students for success in the online environment. This article describes the approach used by a hybrid executive Master of Public Health (MPH) program to orient its students, who are all working professionals, to the online environment. In addition to a description of the online orientation course, quantitative and qualitative evaluation findings are shared. The article includes recommendations for establishing an online orientation program. Although the orientation described was developed for working professionals earning an MPH degree, the approach can be applied or adapted to other online programs as they face the need to prepare students for online delivery, whether during a time of emergency like the coronavirus pandemic or during a period of natural programmatic growth.