Abstract

The Bama Ready Orientation for Distance Students at The University of Alabama begins with two key themes: self-reflection and community connection. While campus-based students experience an orientation in which they meet others, consider their educational and career trajectories, and come to see themselves as members of the academic community, distance students at UA did not have access to these kinds of opportunities. In the development of the new Bama Ready online orientation we offered opportunities, using Slack, a cohort map created by the Innovation Team, and other online tools, for distance students to identify the personal values and career goals that motivated them to enter an online degree program, to share these values and goals with other students, and to make connections with fellow students, professors and staff at The University of Alabama. Piloted in Spring 2017 and offered in each term since, this approach to orientation for distance students has already been shown to be beneficial to students who participated, based on assessment data from two term-based student cohorts.

Bama By Distance at The University of Alabama has recently embarked on a constellation of efforts to increase distance students' connection to UA, to ensure that distance students in all programs have access to the resources and personnel they need to be successful, and to improve retention and matriculation in distance degree programs. The Bama Ready orientation is one piece of this larger effort, and the data we collect as students complete the orientation is becoming part of the first phase of a long-term retention study. The data we collect on distance students is designed to help us understand distance students as real people--to gain insight into their life situations, concerns, needs, study preferences, technology use and other elements that affect their ability to be successful students. In time, what we learn from this data will be used to shape every element of a distance student's experience, from course development and instruction to student services and recruitment. 

Objectives

• Building academic community online
• Orienting distance students to college study
• Using assessment data on new students to improve academic and student services

Presenters

Jennifer L. Roth-Burnette, Ph.D.
Jennifer Roth-Burnette holds a PhD from New York University, and began her career directing an academic program and teaching at Birmingham-Southern College. She moved to The University of Alabama in 2009 to help build a new academic initiative “Early College“ from the ground, up. After seven years in that role, Dr. Roth-Burnette was tapped to head the University’s Innovation Team at UA’s College of Continuing Studies, where she works with faculty from across the university to incorporate emerging technologies, implement new pedagogical approaches, and increase student engagement in online Bama By Distance courses. Dr. Roth-Burnette is energized by her work with UA faculty, and finds her active teaching role with Honors College to be an essential part of the “idea factory” for innovation.

Sonya Dunkin
Sonya Dunkin has worked in higher education administration for over 13 years. She began her career in distance program development and marketing, then moved to the UA Early College initiative, where as Assistant Director she had a hand in most aspects of the program and spearheaded the Summer Residential program. In 2015, she stepped into the role of Associate Director of Bama By Distance Student Services at The University of Alabama, where she is motivated by her work with distance degree students and programs.