This content was published: July 1, 2003. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
New online orientation for students makes attending PCC easier
Photos and story by James Hill
For students at Portland Community College, getting oriented with college procedures and services just got easier. More than 500 students have already used the new service, which came online in April, and the number is expected to rise dramatically once word spreads.“It’s available 24/7 so they can do it anytime they want,” said Dennis Bailey-Fougnier, Sylvania Campus admissions coordinator and director of campus student services. “We had so many students who couldn’t get here for whatever reason and do the orientation. Here they can do it at their own leisure. A student could come in and do the orientation at one of our computers and walk in register in less than an hour.”Bailey-Fougnier also said this online orientation, which takes between 20 and 45 minutes, is especially helpful for distance learning students who had trouble traveling to a campus to participate in an in-person orientation.Once at the Web page students can click on the “Launch this Orientation” link at the bottom of the page, which brings up a pop-up menu. There, students can fill in their name, student ID number and email address to start the online orientation process. Before starting the online orientation, students must apply for admission and have completed placement testing (scores are needed to complete orientation).The online orientation has seven sections and each section has multiple pages. It will ask the student to follow links to important Web sites and to view and print important documents. After the last section, they take a brief quiz, required to show they’ve understood the information. Once they finish, they must pass a test with a score of 70 or better to continue on and select courses. When successfully finished, the student can go to any PCC campus and meet with an advisor or counselor to talk about their course selections.Click the following link to get started: Online Orientation
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »