WHAT VZOS® DOES | PREPARE
Preparation that reflects what each participant needs to do next.
Orientation often begins before anyone arrives.
Students and other participants may need to complete requirements, provide information, review resources, prepare for advising, or take other steps before the program begins.
VZOS® can help institutions organize that preparation around what different participants need to do and how the institution operates its orientation program.
WHAT COMES NEXT
Give participants a clear path forward.
Preparing for orientation can involve multiple responsibilities, deadlines, and next steps. The challenge is not simply giving participants a list. It is helping them understand what applies to them and what still needs to happen.
VZOS® can organize institution-defined tasks and requirements so participants can see what they need to complete as they prepare for orientation.
As work is completed, the institution can maintain visibility into that progress where VZOS is responsible for managing it.
DIFFERENT PARTICIPANTS
Not everyone needs the same preparation.
Different student populations may have different requirements, information, or steps to complete before orientation.
The institution determines those distinctions. VZOS® can support different preparation paths based on the information and rules the institution uses to operate its program.
That means participants can focus on the preparation that applies to them rather than assuming everyone must follow an identical path.
MORE THAN TASKS
Preparation can include more than checking something off a list.
Some preparation is about completing a requirement. Other preparation may involve providing information, reviewing resources, completing online content, or answering questions the institution needs before orientation.
Where those responsibilities belong in VZOS®, they can become part of the participant’s preparation experience rather than separate steps across the orientation process.
PREPARING FOR ADVISING
Some preparation helps the next conversation work better.
For institutions where advising is part of the orientation experience, preparation may begin before the student meets with an advisor.
VZOS® can support institution-defined pre-advising activities and information that help students prepare for the academic work ahead and help the institution organize what needs to happen before advising or registration.
The advising process remains the institution’s. VZOS supports the preparation around it where appropriate.
FAMILIES & SUPPORTERS
Preparation may extend beyond the student.
Parents, families, and supporters may also need information before orientation or before their student’s transition begins.
Where the institution includes supporters in its orientation model, VZOS® can help make relevant preparation, information, and next steps available to them without assuming their experience should be identical to the student’s.
CONNECTED ORIENTATION
Preparation can shape the experience that follows.
What happens before orientation does not necessarily stay there.
Information established during preparation can help support the orientation experience that follows when the institution uses VZOS® across connected responsibilities.
A participant’s preparation, requirements, or other institution-defined information may connect with what they need to do or experience during orientation.
Your institution determines which of these responsibilities VZOS® owns.
INSTITUTIONAL ADAPTATION
Preparation should reflect how your institution works.
Some preparation may belong in VZOS®. Other responsibilities may appropriately remain in an LMS, advising platform, CRM, SIS, or other campus technology.
VZOS® does not need to absorb every pre-orientation activity simply because it happens before the program begins.
The goal is to determine what participants need, which system should appropriately own each responsibility, and where VZOS should participate within that model.
EXPLORE THE WORK
Go deeper into preparing for orientation.
Pre-Advising for Incoming Students
Explore how institutions can prepare students for advising before orientation and registration.
What Student Checklists Taught Us About the Journey
A closer look at what student task lists can reveal about the preparation happening between orientation milestones.
TALK WITH US
What needs to happen before orientation begins?
Every institution prepares participants differently. We’d be interested in understanding what needs to happen before orientation at your institution, who is responsible for that work, and what you need the technology around it to own.