Online Orientation and Online Learning (Yay..?)

 " Welcome to _________________, we are delighted to have you new students enrolled in our course and even more delighted that you have chosen this University. Please be inform that the school's mandatory orientation for new students will be held on Friday the 11th of September, 9.30 CST. Details to follow'

Details to follow has been a little bit of the theme that has been following the weeks leading to orientation. Mind you, our classes are suppose to begin on the 14th of September. That is literally 3 days to go before it actually starts. 

Given that classes are officially online and have been so, since March for most of the universities globally, one would have thought that the message and a guide to how it should all work would have been released out to new incoming students a week before orientation. Yet, here I am still fiddling through the application and student portal trying to figure it out by myself. Yeah, i have heard medical school is a self-learning program. I surely did not expect it to have been so right of the bat. 

Current status: "Lost"

I had certainly hoped that there were more information and an actual guide (translated) to help us in actually settling in on how to use the programs, where we are to watch lectures, how we attain attendance and where everything and absolutely ANYTHING actually is. 

But hey, let me just brief you through on what my current agenda for today is: 

Now on today's agenda:

        - Get Online at 11.15am (Melbourne time) to stream the Online Orientation

Hmmm... I think it's through the school's portal. Not sure though, since it was never really clarified. Just gonna assume so. *shrugs*

        - Fiddle more on the student portal to figure out where to watch lectures, download course content and review lecture recordings

Again... lets just find out the hard way.... 

        - Rant it out to a peer or several peers until we have all figured out HOW it all works

Verdict: We are all lost in a sea of confusion and have zero understanding where, why and what things are.. (Yay.)

Thoughts on Online Orientation 

Pros:

It was very thorough and detailed. I liked the aspect that they had structured each key points into 5 parts. Making it easy to follow. It was a good orientation overall. Never would i have thought that i will be orientated online for med school. BUT it is what it is. I enjoyed it. They kept it very short sweet and detailed. (BONUS: I am in comfy home clothes)

Oh i would say all the mentors that we have for our batch groups, are ALL really Amazing.. and actually cannot wait to meet them when the opportunity arises.

CONS:

There was no QnA time for students to ask our main concerns.

    1. How to access the lecture material

    2. When will we get the actual course introduction and materials

    3. We have not been added into an official course group per our courses 

    4. How to we access timetables

    5. An ENGLISH guide to use the DINGTALK application. 

So end of orientation, i am feeling very much welcomed by the University. However still very lost in all the relevant details that should have also been mentioned for us. 

We shall see how everything goes on Monday.