Today, I was asked to speak at a Followup Orientation for international students. We are now three weeks into the Fall semester, so I think the Director of International Students wants to make sure the students are getting acclimated the American culture in general and to life at NJIT in particular. I gave a short 5 minute talk on the library services. It was a little difficult to do since they was not a computer with internet access set up in the lecture hall. I discussed the library liaison program and that students should get to know their respective liaison.
The program started with a professor in the School of Architecture lecturing on the history of Newark. He then showed a DVD of a Rutgers professor showing students many of the points of interest in the city. It was obvious that the students were not paying attention to this. The Director even cut off the DVD.
I must ask, How much orientation is enough? This has to be evaluated as to how much staff time and effort goes into this and what is the benefit to students. If they are being bored, then this entire endeavor may just be wasted.
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