Fanshawe Orientation and Onboarding

Fanshawe onboards students three times each year in Fall, Winter and Spring.

I have acted as the communications lead for Orientation and Onboarding for nearly ten years.

Orientation and Onboarding communications is targeted primarily at incoming first year students, though there are some necessary staff communications that must occur as well.

For staff we've created a Sharepoint site that houses all necessary information about times, locations and resources (like a PPT template, a FAQ document, how to reset their password and MFA etc.)

For students, communications work focuses on social media, as email communications is handled by the marketing team. Social Media communications falls into three categories.

1) Pre-Orientation Communication
• Promotion of a pre-orientation calendar of events

2) Orientation Day Communication
• Promotion of Orientation Day activities

3) Onboarding Communication
• Everything students need to know from the time they sign their acceptance through their first month of classes. This include information about: key dates around payments and document submissions; information about how to get set up with different systems and services; getting them familiar with campus, commuting and balancing school and life.

One tactic I developed was a two week countdown with 14 of the most important actions students should take as they prepare to start at Fanshawe.