A Blueprint For Community College Online Orientation: From Application To Graduation - A One-Day Workshop

Tuesday, October 7 ~ 12:00–3:00pm (Eastern)

Each session is 25 minutes with a 5-minute break between sessions.

$ 0.00

Please register for this webinar using your college email to receive login information.

Registration includes institutional access to the recording for one year.

Overview

This one-day, six-session workshop offers community colleges a practical blueprint for designing, launching, and sustaining effective online orientation programs that drive student engagement and success. Together, we’ll explore strategies tailored to the unique needs of diverse community college learners, from first-gen to adult and part-time students. Sessions will cover everything from building cross-campus collaboration and streamlining content creation to using simple design tools, integrating accessibility, and measuring impact. Participants will leave with actionable templates, real-world examples from peer institutions, and a clear, phased plan for building online orientation as a lasting retention tool.

Objectives

Identify strategies to design, implement, and assess online orientation programs that address the unique needs of diverse community college learners.
Apply tools, templates, and project management practices to streamline development and improve efficiency.
Integrate cross-campus collaboration and data-driven decision-making to enhance orientation planning and delivery.
Create online orientation experiences that foster belonging, engagement, and a clear path from application to graduation.

Agenda & Sessions

12:00 – 12:25 PM: Orientation, Reimagined: Flexible Solutions For Today’s Community College Students

Community colleges serve students with a wide range of backgrounds, schedules, and technology access. An effective online orientation must go beyond the one-size-fits-all approach often used at four-year institutions, offering flexible, culturally responsive, and mobile-friendly design. This session explores why traditional models fall short for part-time, first-generation, adult, and multilingual learners, and how to ensure accessibility for all. Participants will leave with three “non-negotiables” for building online orientations that truly work for community college students.

Identify the distinct online orientation needs of specific populations such as: online, adult, international, dual enrollment, etc.
Apply accessibility and mobile-first principles to engage students with varying levels of tech readiness.
Define three essential design elements (“non-negotiables”) for effective community college online orientation.

12:30 – 12:55 PM: From Silos to Synergy: Building Your Orientation Committee Dream Team

Successful orientation requires collaboration across departments and often across multiple campuses—but large committees can easily stall momentum. This session covers how to identify the right mix of collaborators, keep the group lean enough to make timely decisions, and build trust across stakeholders. You’ll learn how to balance local needs with a shared vision, leverage shared governance for buy-in, and keep projects moving from planning to launch without getting bogged down.

Identify key stakeholders across departments and campuses and clarify their roles.
Apply strategies for achieving buy-in in politically complex or geographically dispersed environments.
Establish decision-making processes that prevent large committees from slowing progress.

1:00 – 1:25 PM: From Brainstorming To Building: Managing Your Online Orientation Project

Launching an online orientation means answering a long list of practical questions before you build a single slide. Will you use video and film on campus? Outsource production or work within your LMS? How will you get students to participate and keep them engaged? What’s the budget? This session provides a clear, step-by-step framework for making these decisions early, mapping content, selecting the right platform, and keeping projects on time and on budget. You’ll leave with a practical plan to guide your team from first brainstorm to launch without getting stuck in decision gridlock.

Apply a phased planning process to address key content, format, and production decisions up front.
Evaluate orientation formats, platforms, and engagement strategies for fit with institutional resources and goals.
Create a design timeline and workflow that control costs and keep your team moving forward.

1:30 – 1:55 PM: Smart Design, Simple Tools: Making Your Online Orientation More Engaging

Good design can make or break your online orientation—but it doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. This session will showcase our platform’s capabilities while also giving you practical, adaptable tools to create content on your own. From short campus videos and student-led screencasts to PDFs, infographics, and animations, you’ll learn how to build visually consistent, mobile-friendly, and accessible modules. We’ll also explore ways to enlist students as content creators to boost authenticity and engagement, and provide ready-to-use templates to speed up production.

Apply simple design principles to create polished, engaging orientation materials across multiple formats (video, PDF, infographics, screencasts, animations).
Use templates and low-cost tools to produce consistent, accessible, and mobile-friendly content.
Involve students as co-creators to increase authenticity, relatability, and participation.

2:00 – 2:25 PM: Metrics That Matter: Turning Online Orientation Data Into Action

Assessment shouldn’t be an afterthought—it should be built into your online orientation from day one. In this session, you’ll learn how to design pre- and post-assessments that measure what truly matters: student readiness, sense of belonging, and resource awareness. We’ll explore practical ways to integrate these assessments into your existing systems using Single Sign-On (SSO) and LMS tools so participation is seamless. You’ll also see how to capture, track, and share data with stakeholders to drive continuous improvement, make the case for funding, and connect orientation outcomes to student success metrics.

Define the key metrics that orientation assessments should capture and why they matter for student success.
Design brief, meaningful pre- and post-assessments that are easy to embed and integrate with institutional systems (SSO, LMS).
Leverage assessment data to create actionable reports that inform improvements and support funding proposals.

2:30 – 2:55 PM: From Checklists To Connection: Using Orientation As A Student Engagement Tool

Too often, orientation is treated as a single event—a checklist item students complete and move on from. But for many community colleges, the real challenge is keeping students engaged from the moment they register until they walk into class on day one. In this session, you’ll learn how to transform online orientation into the opening chapter of a continuous engagement plan that supports students through every milestone, from application to graduation. We’ll explore practical tactics to reduce summer melt, build a sense of belonging from the start, and connect students to ongoing academic, financial, and wellness resources. You’ll leave with a 60-day digital engagement plan and a touchpoint map that bridges the gap between orientation completion and the first day of class—while laying the groundwork for long-term retention.

Develop orientation messaging and follow-up strategies that keep students engaged beyond the initial log-in.
Incorporate peer stories, inclusive language, and accessible design to create a welcoming experience for diverse learners.
Create a 60-day engagement plan and touchpoint map that connects orientation to ongoing student support from application to graduation.

Who Should Attend?

Hosted by Innovative Educators | Complimentary registration includes all sessions via a single Zoom link.

Presenter Information

Celeste Guarneri

Associate Director, Leadership Programs

Celeste Guarneri is the Associate Director for Leadership Programs at ArtCenter College of Design. Her main function is to help students to connect with experiences that promote academic success, essential-skill development, and personal wellness. In addition to coordinating orientation, she hosts traditional campus programming, manages multiple social media platforms, and advises student government and clubs.

In December 2020, Celeste was awarded the inaugural Staff Excellence Award at ArtCenter and ArtCenter’s virtual orientation program was selected as one of Innovative Educator’s top orientation sites of 2020.

Before starting at ArtCenter in 2014, Celeste worked for 9 years in Student Affairs on the East Coast of the United States and received degrees in Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts and Long Island University. In her free time, she prioritizes painting, enjoying live music, and playing mahjong!

Lee Williams III

Executive Director of Student Success, Retention, and TRIO-EOC

Texarkana College (TC)

Educator, mentor, leader and motivational speaker, Lee Williams III has passionately worked in higher education for the last nineteen years. He is currently the Executive Director of Student Success, Retention, and TRIO-EOC at Texarkana College (TC) in Texarkana, Texas. Since his arrival at TC in 2012, Lee has realigned the admissions processes, transition student orientation to an online platform, implemented, and managed multiple student success grants, and crafted the communication plan for the admissions module. Known for his ability to mobilize people, Williams has assisted hundreds of adults both young and old discover their potential through education. Established in 2016 through a federally funded Department of Education TRIO grant, the Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) at TC has placed over 3,500 students at post-secondary institutions throughout the United States and assisted program participants earn close to 1.5 million in scholarship funds.

Determined to be different, Lee earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, OH, the nation’s oldest private historically black college and a Master of Education with a concentration in Leadership from the American College of Education in Indianapolis, IN. Achieving Completion through Innovation Vision and Team Engagement (ACTIVATE) is a program created by Williams to improve completion rates for first-generation students at TC. ACTIVATE participants learn the importance of community engagement, communication, leadership, and networking skills by attending weekly meetings and workshops. Fighting a childhood speech impediment, Lee has had the opportunity to speak in front of thousands throughout the United States promoting the importance of striving for excellence in all aspects of life. The president of the Northeast Texas Alliance of Black School Educators (NETABSE) and immediate past president for the National Educational Opportunity Association (NEOCA), Lee believes in rolling up his sleeves and collaborating with a diverse group of people to advocate and promote education.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Lee is the son of a Baptist minister and retired social security representative who both modeled the importance of integrity, hard work and commitment. Unique in every sense of the word, Williams is the father of one dog, Simba and resides in Texarkana, Texas.

Meg Foster

FYE Instructor & Online Learning & Design Specialist

Ms. Meg Foster is a First Year Experience Instructor at Piedmont Virginia Community College and serves as an Online Learning & Design Specialist and Consultant for Innovative Educators.

An educator dedicated to student access and success, Meg has over sixteen years of online and campus-based FYE teaching experience. While at Reynolds Community College, Meg developed orientation programming for online and on-campus students and supported the Center for Teaching and Learning. Her areas of research include best practices in online learning, college preparation, enrollment and retention. She has presented at numerous national conferences on issues related to college student success.

Meg previously served as an Assistant Dean of Admissions at Salem College and Virginia Wesleyan College. She earned an M.A. in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia.

Ryan Troup

Ryan Troup is currently an eLearning Specialist at Innovative Educators. Before joining the Innovative Educators team, Ryan was a college administrator at numerous higher education institutions, including Syracuse University, MCPHS University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and the State University New York system. While working in higher education, Ryan’s focus was primarily on residential life and learning and first-year experiences. However, his passion for blending technology within higher education inspired him to lead many initiatives on college campuses, keeping technology at the forefront of progress and change. Ryan holds an M.S. in College Student Personnel Administration from Canisius College and a B.S. in Arts for Children from SUNY Brockport.

Amy Baldwin

Senior Lecturer, Literacy & Academic Success

University of Central Arkansas

Amy Baldwin, Ed.D., is the former director of the Department of Student Transitions at the University of Central Arkansas, and current Senior Lecturer of Literacy and Academic Success.

Prior to teaching at UCA, she taught at University of Arkansas - Pulaski Technical College, a two-year institution. She wrote the first, ground-breaking student success textbook for community colleges and the first student success textbook for first-generation students for Pearson Education. She is also the lead author of College Success (2020), College Success Concise (2023), and Preparing for College Success (2023), an Open Education Resource (OER) by OpenStax. She posts "bite-size" faculty development ideas, inspirations, strategies, and confessions on Instagram @thecuriousprofessor.

You find out more about her at www.itsinthesyllabus.com and www.higheredparent.com or at LinkedIn.

Dr. Cynthia Pascal

Associate Vice President of eLearning

Northern Virginia Community College

Dr. Cynthia Pascal is the Associate Vice President of eLearning at Northern Virginia Community College's online division, overseeing Faculty Services, Instructional Design, Student Services, and Educational Technology Support Services for over 550 faculty and 31,000 asynchronous students. She and her team prioritize inclusive, culturally responsive practices to promote student success through authentic engagement and open pedagogy. When not serving NOVA, she supports higher education leaders in designing holistic support services, policies, and practices to better serve marginalized and non-traditional populations.

Shellee McCullum, CAPM

Shellee McCullum is the Administrative Coordinator in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, at Waubonsee Community College, located in Sugar Grove, Illinois. Along with office management duties, she is the designated project manager for the Institutional Effectiveness Department responsible for the tracking of institutional data requests, reports and several Title V grant projects. Additionally, she serves as the liaison between Waubonsee and Innovative Educators, where she is the point person for the student registration portal and orientation management for both face to face and online student orientations.

FAQs

Live Webinars & On-Demand Trainings

What is a live webinar?

A live webinar is an interactive online training. Participants can communicate with the presenter(s) during the event via a live chat feature.

What is an on-demand webinar and how do I get access?

An on-demand training is a previously recorded webinar available online which can be accessed anytime, anywhere. You can register for on-demand trainings at any time. You will receive the recording the week following the live event. The recording is a campus access license and is available for one year from the purchase date.

How long are the webinars?

Webinars range from 60-90 minutes. Please check each training for the exact timeframe.

How do I register?

You can register online by adding the product to your shopping cart. You can also register by fax (1-866-508-0860), email (support@ieinfo.org), or mail by completing the paper-based registration form. To register by fax or mail, click 'Print description and register by fax or mail' located below the pricing options on each product page. Be sure to include the name of the webinar when submitting your registration.

Are webinars captioned?

We automatically caption all of our live webinars.

When do I register?

You can register at any time, even the morning of the live event. If the live event has occurred, you can purchase the on-demand training (recording) of the session. You can register for on-demand trainings at any time.

What is the process for attending a live event?

The process is as follows:

You will receive the login information within 5 minutes of registering for the webinar.
The presentation materials will be available before the live event. Please check the link in the login information email.
On the day of the live event, participants can log in 30 minutes prior to the start time. Once logged in, participants can see the PowerPoint slides, ask questions, and make comments via the chat feature.
We email participants a link to the recording the Monday following the live event.

Is there a recording available? And how long is the recording good for?

Approximately one week after the conclusion of the live webinar, participants will receive a link to the recording which can be forwarded to all faculty and staff for viewing anytime, anywhere. The recording is a campus access license and is available for one year from the date of the live event.

What are the technical requirements?

Innovative Educators uses Zoom as its web conferencing provider. If you have not previously attended a Zoom event, please Join a Test Meeting to make sure your computer is compatible with Zoom. Be sure to complete this test prior to the live event.

What are the benefits of online training?

Cost-Effective: No travel required. Online Training is an innovative way to provide your entire faculty and staff with a variety of professional development opportunities for one low price! The more you train the more you save, as the registration fee is per institution, not per person.

Easy: You will receive a detailed list of instructions via email. If you run into any problems, we're always here to help.

Practical: Our training sessions focus on the most critical and relevant issues facing educators today. Our primary goal is to provide participants with the information, training, and skills necessary to immediately implement positive change at their institutions.

Top-Notch Presenters: Our presenters are subject matter experts and recognized in their field.

Value Added: When you purchase an online training, you also receive a campus-wide access license to the recording for one year. Faculty and staff can access it as often as they like from any location.

Satisfaction Guaranteed: Our online training is 100% guaranteed. If you are not satisfied, we will give you a credit for a future webinar or on-demand training of your choice (of equal or lesser value).

How can we use these trainings?

Flexible Training:

Live: Promote and attend a live webinar and debrief immediately following.
Hybrid: Distribute the recording to all faculty and staff at the beginning of each month and plan a discussion session at the end of the month to determine how you will implement the strategies presented.
On-Demand: Distribute the recording to faculty and staff so they can watch anytime, anywhere.

In-Service Training: Plan an in-service around a live webinar or schedule a day and time to show the recording in a lecture hall or large conference room and invite faculty and staff to brainstorm and discuss implications for your institution.

Online Faculty and Staff Learning Communities: Distribute the recording to faculty and staff so they can watch anytime, anywhere.

Staff Recognition: Develop a program around the webinar with monthly themes and recognize the staff members that implement the best idea related to the theme.

Team-Building: Utilize these trainings to develop cross-functional and cross-discipline teams to foster collegiality.

New Employee Training: Include the online training as part of your new employee training program to ensure consistency.

Implementation and Follow-Up: Use the guide and evaluation materials provided by Innovative Educators to plan, implement, and track your progress.

How much does a live webinar or on-demand training cost?

1 Training (Live Webinar or On-Demand Training) - $425 Unlimited connections, campus-wide access license to the recording for one year.

Package Pricing

3 Trainings - $900 Unlimited connections, recording for one year (campus-wide access)
6 Trainings - $1500 Unlimited connections, recording for one year (campus-wide access)
12 Trainings - $2200 Unlimited connections, recording for one year (campus-wide access)

What type of payment do you accept?

You may pay with a credit card (American Express, MasterCard or Visa), PO, check, or electronic transfer of funds. You can email us (support@ieinfo.org), call 303-955-0415 or fax 1.866.508.0860.

Payment terms are net 90 days.

Where do I send payment?

Please mail checks and POs to our mailing address:
Innovative Educators
3277 Carbon Place
Boulder, CO 80301

What is your cancellation policy?

Below is a breakdown of our cancellation policy.

30 days prior: Full refund
14 days prior: $100 processing fee
Fewer than 14 days: Credit toward another IE event. Please note that registration for the live webinar includes access to the recording which you can share, as it is a campus access license. We email the recording the Monday following the live event. For questions, please email us or call 303.955.0415.

Go2Knowledge (Go2K)

What is included in the Go2K Membership?

Go2Knowledge is your turnkey solution for ongoing professional development in higher education. Your yearly membership includes unlimited access to approximately 150 live webinars and over 350 of our best on-demand training videos. Go2Knowledge can be customized in numerous ways (add your videos, curate our content, custom tracks, etc.) to meet your professional development needs. If you are interested in a customized option, please schedule a call.

Is the price for Go2K a one-time fee or an annual fee?

The purchase price for Go2K is an annual fee, which includes access to approximately 150 live events/year and 350+ on-demand training workshops.

Are certificates of completion available?

If you have a Go2K membership, your personal dashboard includes automated certificates of completion and can be printed or downloaded after completing the training. You also have a certificate summary that acts as a transcript for all of your completed training. If you do not have a Go2K membership, you can request a certificate of completion from support@ieinfo.org.

What kind of reporting is included?

We provide a monthly usage and evaluation report to the designated admin. Upon request, we can provide annual or bi-annual reports. Additionally, designated college administrators have full access to pull reports in real time.

How do staff members access our Go2K site?

After you purchase Go2K, we create a college site and send your specific Go2K url which you can distribute to everyone at the institution. College personnel then simply create a user login to access their personal dashboard. From the dashboard, they can search for specific training topics, register for upcoming live webinars, and view/print certificates of completion.

How do staff members access the on-demand training videos?

All on-demand training is available in a user’s personal dashboard. You can search for specific titles or use the catalog feature to find topics.

Can the Go2Knowledge platform be customized to include college created content or to create learning paths?

Yes. The Go2K platform is fully customizable. You can add your content, curate our content, and/or creating learning paths. This is a custom upgrade and comes at an additional cost. To learn more about custom options, please schedule a demo.

Go2Orientation (Go2O)

How are colleges using Go2O?

Colleges are using Go2O in a variety of ways:

As a stand-alone online orientation
As an online complement to their face-to-face orientation
As an online orientation for their distance learners
As an online enrollment checklist to ease the registration process
As an online orientation for specific groups (TRIO, Transfer, International, etc.)

Does purchase of Go2O include completion reports?

You can receive completion reports two ways:

Automated delivery (ftp dump, email, webhook)
Instant access via administrative login

What is the registration checklist and is it included in my Go2O purchase?

The online enrollment checklist is designed to walk students through your enrollment process ensuring they make it to the first day of class! The registration checklist is one of the modules available with Go2O. Based on your purchasing level, the module can be a selection or will be included.

Are there various pricing options available for Go2O?

Yes, we have 4 pricing levels available.

Starter
Pro
Premium
Custom

Is Go2O ADA compliant and responsive?

Go2O is ADA accessible and fully responsive on any mobile device, tablet, or computer.

StudentLingo (SL)

How are colleges using SL?

Which workshops are your top rated?

We take quality seriously, and so all of our workshops are top notch in terms of content and look. However, if we know how you plan to use StudentLingo (FYE, Retention, Probation, TRIO, etc.), we can make workshop recommendations.

Funding is a little tight, how many workshops can I get for $XX?

You can buy the entire StudentLingo package (50 workshops) or we offer several a la carte options. Unlike a lot of other software companies, we don’t charge per user, so we can work with any budget. We recommend talking to other departments on campus to increase your purchasing power and to share the cost. Also, we do have a pay model whereby students pay directly. If you are interested in learning more about this option, give us a call.

Is there an admin view?

This is a feature of our platform, but comes at an additional cost. With the admin view, you get access to more advanced reporting, and you have it in real time. With the standard membership, you get monthly reports.

How have other schools leveraged reporting?

One of our partners, College of Southern Nevada, used StudentLingo to measure learning outcomes. in a study, one class had access to StudentLingo and the other cohort did not. 92% of the cohort with access to StudentLingo earned a whole letter grade higher than the cohort without StudentLingo.
A lot of our partners use the data to justify funding for grants, operating dollars, or for new program development.
The evaluation data is particularly useful in identifying what type of learning students prefer and the qualitative takeaways from viewing the workshop.
Some of our partners use the data to connect with their student information system, like Banner or Peoplesoft.
I think a great way to get started on how you want to use the data is to ask yourself some questions:
1. How will I know if StudentLingo was successful?
2. What do I hope students will gain from access to StudentLingo?
3. What data is important for me to know in order to show that StudentLingo is a worthwhile purchase?

TutorLingo (TL)

What is TutorLingo?

TutorLingo is a flexible tutor training plaform and can be purchased at the Bronze, Silver or Gold level to meet your training needs. Every level consists of a series of 9 Core online training modules that prepare tutors by providing the basic skills necessary to support their peers in becoming more independent and strategic learners. The Silver & Gold purchasing options include TLNow training and our Additional Level 1 or Level 2 training topics, all of which help to achieve Level 1 & 2 of the CRLA Certification. See our pricing guide for details.

Should the TutorLingo trainings be viewed in any particular order?

No, each training is a stand-alone workshop, and they can be viewed in any order.

Do you offer micro-credentialing for Tutoring Center staff?

Yes, we offer multiple micro-credentials which would serve Tutoring Center teams including Tutoring Center Administration, Mastering Service Excellence, Fostering A Culturally Responsive Campus Through Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Supervisory Leadership: Maximizing Productivity & Staff Development.

What is the CRLA?

The CRLA is a group of student-oriented professionals active in the fields of reading, learning assistance, developmental education, tutoring, and mentoring. In 1989, the CRLA created a training program that is considered ‘best-practice’ for tutor training. A fews years ago, Innovative Educators partnered with the CRLA to create supplementary training modules. Our training supports learning centers in achieving level 1 certification through CRLA.

Do CRLA members receive a discount on TutorLingo?

Yes. CRLA members receive a 10% discount on TutorLingo.

Is there an Admin View?

Yes. The admin view is an upgrade and costs $500, but gives you the ability to access completion data more efficiently and in real time. If you don’t want the admin view, we provide monthly usage reports.

ParentLingo (PL)

What is ParentLingo?

ParentLingo is a go-to resource that institutions can easily share with parents to encourage student independence, growth & success. ParentLingo is a shared resource that recognizes and includes parents as partners in the educational process.

What is the cost?

Please contact us for pricing information. Email alex@ieinfo.org or 504-206-6585.

What features are included?

Standard package:

8 Targeted Modules For Parents Branding (Logo On Every Page)
ADA Compliant & Responsive Design
Promotional Materials
Registration (First Name, Last Name, Email)

Premier Package:

8 Targeted Modules For Parents Branding (Logo On Every Page)
ADA Compliant & Responsive Design
Promotional Materials
Completion Reports & Standard Evaluations
Custom Branding (Logo & Institutional Photos)
3 Additional Registration Points
Add & Edit Custom Content
Customizable Evaluations & Surveys Advanced Reporting
Designated Instructional Designer
Flexible Pricing (College Payment Option Or Parents Pay Directly)