Ask An OL!

Ask an OL Facilitation Guide Materials needed: • Pieces of paper • Bag to put pieces of paper in • Pens Background of the session After 4 packed days of orientation programming, adjusting to life at Bentley, soaking up so much new information, meeting tons of new people, AND so much more, we know that baby falcs may have lingering questions that haven’t been answered yet or hadn’t thought to ask previously. With that being said, we wanted to create a dedicated space on the last official day of the program to have baby falcs reflect on things they may still be wondering about and answer them! As you can imagine, the questions likely fall in a wide range of everything from tips for navigating your first semester of classes, to how to navigate their social life outside of class and what students do for fun on the weekends. During this time, it is important we remind you and for you to remind your baby falcs that while it is a time to hear from a student’s perspective about the Bentley experience, it is not a time to discuss any knowledge you may have about activities or information that is against university policy. As student employees and Orientation Team staff members, it is important that we each recognize that we not only represent ourselves, but also the Orientation team and the University. In the facilitation guide below, we have outlined some examples of questions that we have deemed relevant to and appropriate for the “Ask an OL” discussion. While we ask that in your discussion with your baby falcs you draw upon your personal Bentley experience, please be mindful of communicating that your experience at Bentley is just one experience and take opportunities (within reason) to highlight the knowledge you have of what other possible experiences are. With that being said, please do not use this time to share rumors or information you have only heard through the grapevine. “Ask an OL” Session Facilitation Outline 1. Introduce the “Ask an OL” session a. Explain the purpose and expectations of the session i.After the first 4 days of life at Bentley, it’s likely baby falcs have some lingering questions about the Bentley experience. Whether it’s about academics, social life, etc. this is a space designed for baby falcs to gain a student’s perspective and hear about different experiences. ii.Share with baby falcs that as a staff member you are unable to allow any discussions about activities that are against University policy. If they submit a question about university life that you cannot address as a staff member, you will have to skip over it. iii.Although everyone in the group might not each have a bunch, if we’re also thinking about this as a period of reflection after orientation, each person has to have AT LEAST one thing they want to learn more about or have a question about. Challenge everyone to write at least one to hand in. They can write more than one as well. b. Explain the outline of your time together i.Distribute writing materials ii.Give 5-10 minutes for everyone to think about what questions they may have & then hand out paper for students to write questions on iii.Collect all folded up questions