By Cathrine Guldstrand, Project Manager, DITECH
The new onboarding process has been designed by DITECH (Diversity and Inclusion in TECH) in collaboration with CS Deputy Head of Department Uffe Kjærulff and CS Communication Officer Lars V. Schmidt with the aim to give all new TECH bachelor's students the best possible start on their education.
The new onboarding process consists of activities run by a corps of tutors governed by a Study Start Coordinator, who at CS is Lars V. Schmidt.
The new onboarding process
The new onboarding period will extend over the entire first year of study. The onboarding will begin in August based on a digital study start course called "Get ready for Uni" and will then slide into motivation-strengthening activities that are planned and executed by the tutor corps and the Study Start Coordinator.
We want to focus on inclusion and diversity and on cultivating strong professional communities. In addition, we will base this on Professor Vincent Tinto's principles for increasing student retention by strengthening student motivation through Self-Efficacy (I believe I can), Sense of Belonging (I feel I belong), and Perception of Curriculum (It makes sense to me).
DITECH's onboarding recommendations are primarily aimed at areas that the tutor corps takes care of. We have therefore not touched upon the areas that VIPs are responsible for e.g. teaching, but we will of course keep close contact with semester coordinators.
"Get ready for Uni" is a new, digital study start course that is offered to all new students in AAU's bachelor programs before the actual study start in September. The course is intended to help the students cope with the questions and challenges they face, as well as making them aware of what is expected of them as students. The purpose is to strengthen their sense of autonomy through reflection on their own role and what it means to be a good student. Furthermore, it gives the students an overview of their study start and knowledge of where they can get help / find information.
Activities
The successful onboarding of a bachelor student is a long-term process in which the student gradually builds an identity as a university student, both academically and socially and thereby achieves a solid motivation to complete the education.
To support this process, the tutor corps conducts a series of activities for the new students designed to strengthen various aspects of the student's motivation.
It is essential that all new students can see themselves participating in most of the activities. Therefore, we have looked at the activities with new eyes and suggest, among other things, that there should be different types of activities, so these would appeal to many different types of students. A large proportion of our new students do not like drinking alcohol. This does not mean that alcohol should be banned, but when planning activities, one should make sure that alcohol is not the primary focus.
Examples of activities could be a relay on campus including control posts with academic tasks to be solved, a group excursion including a company visit and social activities, meet-ups with CS alumni or a barbecue evening with an academic quiz.
We expect a smooth transition from the "old way" to the "new way", which may take some time, but the tutors we have hired for the job are all in.
Further information
If you want to know more or have questions about CS' onboarding process, please direct your inquiries to:
Lars Vinther Schmidt
Communications Officer
Department of Computer Science
Aalborg University
Email: larsvs@cs.aau.dk
Phone: 2565 4607
Cathrine Guldstrand
Project Manager, DITECH
Department of Computer Science
Aalborg University
Web: ditech.aau.dk
Email: cgt@cs.aau.dk
Phone: 6196 7415