Orientation programs, while unique in their own design and implementation across campuses, offer incoming students the opportunity to become acquainted with the institutional environment. A particularly important element of orientation programs is the component of orientation leaders who serve as peer mentors and guides to incoming students. These students fulfill several responsibilities of the institution and develop a lasting rapport with incoming students. Orientation leaders have the opportunity to personally develop and gain valuable skills as a result of working the orientation program.
Kolbs experiential learning model provides a framework that explains an orientation leaders personal development. Kolbs model consists of a spiral of four modes of learning concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Individuals learn by cycling through each of the four phases. Throughout the summer orientation program, orientation leaders in this study had the opportunity to work seven sessions where they encountered a concrete experience, reflected on those experiences, conceptualized those experiences within group discussions, and actively experimented with new ideas and techniques.
In this study, the researcher found that working the orientation program had a significant impact on the personal development of orientation leaders. Themes that emerged corresponded with Chickerings seven vector model of student development. During times in higher education when budgets are tight and funding is limited, it is important to know the lasting effects that orientation programs can have on the orientation leaders. Therefore, colleges and universities must continue to utilize and understand the role of orientation leaders in orientation programs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-09142011-165624 |
| Date | 20 September 2011 |
| Creators | Roberts, Kimberly Dottolo |
| Contributors | Fox, Janet, Johnson, Earl, Verma, Satish, Bernerth, Jeremy, Machtmes, Krisanna |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-09142011-165624/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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