Emerging Strategies: New Faculty Orientations

Travel restrictions and uncertainty about the fall semester present challenges to new faculty orientation planning. Brainstorm solutions alongside colleagues in this facilitated discussion led by Robin Attas (Educational Developer, Queen’s University) and Erika Kustra (Chair, EDC).

To view the Google Doc produced from this webinar:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tpA5U31UR7L1KFlg7NpWKAA5v37iPv1eVl4HSHTfZfQ

Key takeaways from the webinar:

• Staggered starts, small parts, mix of synchronous & asynchronous
• Remember the key goal for new faculty you have (e.g., relationships, connecting with specific people, welcome feeling, building community of practice); can’t rely on social proximity for connecting and learning (how to structure “overhearing”: fishbowls or video of a conversation between recent faculty; shared doc creations; twitter)
• Opportunity for small groups so faculty\ can meet their “crew” – breakout rooms (max 6 people; 4-5 ideally), mastermind groups, mentor + small group.
• Remember belonging is both to campus as a whole and within their department and Faculty – may need two types of groups (within Faculty and across Faculties)
• LMS – new faculty group would be helpful