Orientation
Project review - summary statement
The objective of the Orientation project was to develop an integrated and streamlined approach to orienting newcomers to Concordia’s environment in line with the responsibilities of their new role. Members of the community would be guided through a timeboxed series of activities that would ensure that the necessary knowledge and skills would be acquired in a useful and timely manner.
The impact of the pandemic has initiated a re-evaluation of the ways that Concordia’s digital strategy can support the orientation initiative through activities from some of its other projects. As part of the university’s digital transformation of its Human Resources, the ongoing project UNITY will provide faculty and staff with comprehensive onboarding activities and tools.
Background info
During the initial research and consultation phase of the Digital Strategy initiative one of the main challenges identified by our community is the absence of formal orientation processes. New students, faculty, and staff are often called on to figure out how to navigate Concordia’s complex environment on their own while simultaneously adjusting to their new roles and responsibilities. Similarly, there is a need to offer orientation support for existing members of our community who transition into new roles such as a staff member changing jobs, a student being given a research assistant contract, a graduate student taking on a teaching assistantship, or a faculty member taking on an administrative role.
Because there is no formal onboarding process (…), new members have to rely on veterans within their social network to show them the ropes.
- Public consultation report
I didn’t know the information. If you know the information, like you should do 1-2-3-4, it’s easy. If you don’t know what to do, you miss it. I missed a lot of pre-readings because of this.
- A student about his biggest challenge
