Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

I watched Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, and I have to say it surpassed my expectations (excluding that my expectations weren't very high).  But really, go see it.  A fun film with a great cast and lots of fun.
 
Which brings me to work (my mind works in mysterious ways).  The first day of work was exciting, welcoming, and a little like Mission Impossible.  You are given your big task, told what's at stake, who the key players are, what dangers are involved, and then you get to work (only your instructions don't self-destruct in five seconds).  This project has many different aspects, we could probably spend the whole two months just working on one or two of them.  But we're going to make it happen in two months, because that's what Tom Cruise would do.

Actually, I think there are a lot of things Tom Cruise would do,
but that's a conversation for a completely different day.  And blog.

Currently, the University of Auckland's core idea of first-year transition is a two-week long orientation.  Week 1 is a collaborative effort between the service divisions (the non-academic units) and the faculties (or as we would call them, "colleges" within a university.  Campus Life (the department I'm in) helps coordinate the overall sessions that are designed to benefit all students, while each faculty coordinates specific sessions designed for its students (in the areas of art, science, engineering, etc.).  Week 2 has much more of a social focus and is really designed to help students get to know other students.  That's a basic summary, I know, but that sums it up pretty well at the current time.

This is where Vivienne (my fellow comrade) and I come in.  We'll be interviewing over 35 different people across the university to learn what they are doing to help first-years transition to university life, and cross this with best practices that are being done around the world and make recommendations for the upcoming 2013 & 2014 academic years (because academic years happen completely within the calendar year and is therefore FAR LESS CONFUSING!!!).  But I digress...

Since orientation is currently the University's primary tool for helping students transition into college life, Campus Life is looking for other ways to achieve this goal beyond compressing all the necessary information they need into one week at the beginning of school. As our supervisor described, they get talked to so much that eventually they stop listening and then this happens:

Auckland has had great success with "UniGuides," which are six-week long orientation-esque leaders, but is looking to learn of other options such as first-year seminars, learning communities, etc.  One of things we are keeping in my constantly, however, is that since each of the faculties have played a strong role in crafting their own versions of orientation that weave in and out of the university-wide sessions, any changes to these kinds of programs will only work with their support.  The concept of academic and student affairs partnerships once again comes into play, only this time, the academic staff have a strong part to play already in student affairs-esque work.


The rest of this week is going to be jam-packed with AWESOMENESS.  The odds are in my favor this week, as I'll be attending a Lady Gaga concert this Friday (only 20 minute walk from where I live) and then I'll be attending an All Blacks rugby match on Saturday.  Rugby is a BIG DEAL here, and the All Blacks are THE BIG DEAL here.  A student advised that I wear black to ensure that I come back in one piece (and I'm pretty sure he was serious about that last part).  Here's a glimpse of what I might be seeing...

My next blog post will indicate if I came back from the match.  Until next time.