VISION STATEMENT MISSION STATEMENT LEARNING …

Last updated: December 14, 2021

VISION STATEMENT To be globally recognized and at the forefront of innovation in higher education for empowering students and creating a seamless transition for all.

MISSION STATEMENT To introduce and connect all new undergraduate students to Purdue University through student- and staff-led academic and social programming, both on campus and virtual, to prepare them for their Purdue experience.

PROGRAM ELEMENTS The Orientation Programs office provides a series of experiences that facilitate the transition of undergraduate students to Purdue, and the opportunity for student leadership.

Boiler Gold Rush (BGR) – Established in 1993 as CORN (Collegians Orientating Residential Newcomers) Camp, and as Boiler Gold Rush since 1995, BGR is Purdue’s fall orientation program. BGR takes place in and out of the classroom the week before the fall term in August and is open to all new first-year and transfer students. BGR was held fully in-person again in 2021, and served over 8,300 new students, including 172 sophomore students who spent their first year at Purdue fully online.

Boiler Gold Rush International (BGRi) – Established in 2012, BGRi is a supplemental program that supports the transition, adjustment and acculturation of international students in the days prior to Boiler Gold Rush in August. BGRi sessions were offered for its 653 registrants during the week of BGR.

Boiler Cold Rush – Established in 2021, BCR is a multi-day program for students starting at Purdue during the spring semester. The inaugural program was held over three days for 204 registrants before the start of January classes. A wide variety of populations were served, including 93 in-person students who spent their summer and/or fall semesters online, 79 in-person beginners and 32 fully online beginners.

Virtual STAR (VSTAR) – Launched in 2013, VSTAR is the online equivalent of STAR that connects students to their academic College and important University resources in the event they cannot attend the program on campus. VSTAR is available to summer and fall beginning students from May to late August, and January beginning students from November to January. All new students participated in VSTAR in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pre-Arrival Homework – This online course facilitated through Purdue's Learning Management System introduces students to a wide variety of topics (Growth Mindset, Leadership and Professional Development, Diversity and Intercultural Awareness, etc.) in an effort to engage all students in this content prior to the start of their first term.

Student Leadership Experiences – Undergraduate students can apply to participate in volunteer and paid opportunities that work closely with new students, including STAR Ambassador (paid), BGR/i Team Leader (volunteer), BGR/i Team Supervisor (volunteer), and BGR/i Student Orientation Committee member (paid). In 2021, no STAR Ambassadors were hired for the summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summer Transition, Advising and Registration (STAR) – Formerly “Day on Campus,” STAR began in 2009 and is a series of one-day programs that take place in June and July during which new undergraduate students connect with and learn from campus resources, receive academic advice, and pre-register for fall courses. STAR is available for all undergraduate students, with specific days devoted to Transfer, Summer Start, and Early Start students. STAR did not occur in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and conversations continue about the future of this program.


NOTABLE CHANGES With many changes over the course of this academic year, there is much to speculate about the future of the

orientation experience for new students at Purdue University. As we continue to reflect on our lessons learned

from the COVID-19 pandemic, decision making in the coming months and years will offer great opportunity to

grow and evolve with this new generation of college students. The sections below offer insight into changes that

were made in-the-moment, and highlight items that may have short- and-long term impacts on the work

accomplished in this office.

Virtual STAR (VSTAR) and Pre-Arrival Homework

• On Dec. 1, 2020, an announcement was made to Head Academic Advising colleagues that all new students would participate in Virtual STAR (VSTAR) for 2021 as they did in 2020.

• A VSTAR Manual was created for advising partners to outline expectations of content from Academic Colleges, and share what content was being included from partners in Orientation Programs, UUAA, and the Office of the Registrar.

• VSTAR Workshops were held for advisors coordinating Academic College content development efforts. These sessions were held in tandem with University Undergraduate Academic Advising (UUAA), and supported with staff from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) and the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE).

• Continued partnership with the DRC provided material review (video captioning, presentation and document accessibility checks) to ensure all VSTAR materials for students were formatted with accessibility in mind.

• Colleagues working with PREMIS automatically enrolled students into VSTAR sections by College, into one Pre-Arrival Homework module, and helped get Brightspace courses for each of these started.

• The Student Information Form (SIF) replaced the Certificate of Completion as the end of VSTAR mechanism to notify advisors of students who completed VSTAR. Advisors, then contacted students through BoilerConnect for appointment scheduling.

• Continued connections with advising partners opened up for automatic enrollment of Goss Scholars students, and potential involvement in VSTAR for Veterinary Nursing Distance Learning students.

• Students were able to pin themselves on a “VSTAR Map,” created in tandem with colleagues from Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Nearly 7,000 students engaged in this map, which gave students to select their Academic College and place their pin around the world.

• Incoming students were encouraged to complete VSTAR by the end of May. If completed, their action would result in a donation to the ACE Campus Food Pantry, where one dollar per completion would be donated. In total, $5,385 was donated from Orientation Programs, UUAA, and the Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning.

• The second year of “VSTAR Live” sessions took place. This series of live webinars were hosted with the intent of having conversations with faculty, staff, and students for incoming students and their families. Eleven sessions were held live from May 13 to Aug. 5 on the Orientation Programs website and YouTube channel). Concurrent live and overall viewership was down significantly compared to 2020. 579 live viewers attended the nine sessions in May and June, with 5,420 views overall. The two pre-BGR sessions yielded 867 concurrent live viewers with 14,641 views overall.

• Overall, 10,886 students completed VSTAR by completing the SIF on or before the June 30 deadline, nearly 95% of the incoming student population to that date.

• Pre-Arrival Homework launched on July 12 for all students in Brightspace and included content such as the MyStrengths Assessment, PERTS Growth Mindset and Social Belonging modules, and other campus and community resources.


Boiler Gold Rush (BGR) and Boiler Gold Rush International (BGRi)

• Nearly 1,000 second-year students who spent their first full semester or academic year online were invited to participate in BGR and BGRi. They were put into groups with other sophomores.

• With the increased size of the incoming class, and addition of select sophomore students, a record-number 8,628 students registered for BGR with 8,327 checking into the program.

• BGRi programming continued to be during the week of Boiler Gold Rush as a “track” instead of its own supplemental pre-BGR program. Adhering to the revised university guest policy, no programming was offered on-campus for guests of BGRi participants.

• Move-in for BGR and BGRi took place over four days, from Saturday, Aug. 14 through Tuesday, Aug. 17, in an effort to adhere to Protect Purdue guidelines. Hours were extended to 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. to accommodate for the increased size of the incoming class.

• All large content sessions were held once again in Elliott Hall of Music. Slayter Center was also used because of the increased number of participants. Hall of Music and ITaP Video and Multimedia Production Services supported each session.

• Check-in for BGR and BGRi was centralized for the second year at the Cordova Recreation Center (Co-Rec). Several new and unique functions took place to enhance the student experience:

o Adding onto the VSTAR Map, colleagues from IT Solutions and GIS were able to build a live check-in map for BGR and BGRi. As students checked into the program in the Co-Rec Gyms 4-6, a pin populated on a computer in the Feature Gym indicating where on the world map they were from.

o Students picked up a “Sensory Guide” which outlined the BGR schedule in ways that acknowledged a variety of activities that may have impact on neuro-diverse students. This guide was recognized as the Innovative Program of the Year at the NODA Annual Conference in October 2021.

o A variety of buttons were distributed, including ones indicating personal pronouns, developed in tandem with the LGBTQ Center. Other buttons included regional indications (in-state, international), classification (transfer, sophomore) and Purdue pride (Boiler Up).

o The ID Card Office had a station setup where students could take a photo on site and pick up their IDs.

• In alignment with the Equity Task Force, a critical reflection looked at the composition of BGR student groups. Logic was changed in the participant sorting functions so that at least three individuals of similar status were placed in each group (i.e., three Black students were placed in the same Team Leader group, instead of using the previous logic of distributing all non-white participants evenly across all groups). This was done in hopes of improving the experience of Black Boilermakers in BGR. Post-assessment results indicate that the overall satisfaction of BGR from Black students was much lower in previous years (2019: 73.9% vs. 82.4%, 2020: 60.5% vs. 67.9%) compared to this year (2021: 82.3% vs. 82.2%). While the cause of this satisfaction increase cannot fully be associated as the cause, we believe that this change in sorting did have an influence on the experience of our Black students during BGR.

• New events during the week of BGR and BGRi included: o VIP experiences (unique opportunities with campus and community partners for individual

Team Leader groups), BGR Kickoff (a combination of Opening Ceremonies and the New Student Induction at Ross Ade Stadium), the restructure of Wednesday afternoon to include a variety of open and tracked events, Cultural Center Open Houses (on Wednesday afternoon), Movie Night (Godzilla vs. Kong) at Ross Ade Stadium, Boiler Block Party (featuring on-campus offices and


local businesses, and student organization performances during the B-Involved Fair), and BGR Send Off (at Ross Ade Stadium, capped with fireworks from Ramsey Pyrotechnics).

• In tandem with the Purdue Promise program, over $170,000 of fee waivers were awarded to students

who demonstrated financial need in order for them to attend Boiler Gold Rush in person for half or no

cost to the student.

• The shift of the PurdueGuide mobile app from Involvio to Guidebook created an opportunity to create a

more robust and engaging experience for users during BGR and BGRi.

Orientation Programs Team

• Two NODA Interns, Kate Leahy (Boston College) and Katie Kemp (Iowa State University), were hired to

assist with preparation for Boiler Gold Rush. The two graduate students conducted the majority of their

internship experience virtually and were brought together for one week in August to facilitate SOC

training.

• The Orientation Programs Team was recognized for their accomplishments:

o Virginia Cabrera (Assistant Director of Orientation Programs) was the recipient of the CILMAR

Vision Award, recognizing two honorees for their vision, collaboration, and embodiment of

intercultural work at Purdue.

o Virginia Cabrera and Max Dryer (Web Developer for Student Success Programs) were recognized

with the “Innovative Orientation Program Award” at the NODA Annual Conference in Orlando,

Florida on Oct. 23. Their creation of a “Sensory Guide” for participants during Boiler Gold Rush

was built to facilitate students’ ability to make informed decisions about what to participate in

during the program. The Sensory Guide highlighted what events students could expect auditory

or visual stimulation from, what activities existed where interaction in large groups would occur,

and where physical activity would be involved. Post-BGR assessment results showed that those

who used the Sensory Guide were more prepared to navigate BGR and felt more included in the

campus community, and capable.

o Virginia Cabrera began studies in the College of Education at Purdue University in pursuit of a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies

• Two staff members departed the office in pursuit of new opportunities: o Todd Braverman, Assistant Director, accepted a position at Ford Motor Company (based in

Dearborn, Michigan, but operating remote until the fall) as an Executive Onboarding Specialist, where he will develop and facilitate the orientation process for new and continuing executives in the company. His last active day in the Orientation Programs office was on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

o Estavian Ward, Program Coordinator, accepted a position at a startup company, Snapdocs (based in Denver, Colorado, but operating remote) as a User Operations Specialist. Her last active day in the Orientation Programs office was on Tuesday, September 7, 2021.

• Additional partnerships and connections were created outside of Purdue for programmatic and professional development:

o A group of professionals who support large-scale welcome week programs was created by Craig Johnson, and met monthly through the spring to network and talk about shared experiences.

o An increased focus on building external partnerships created cost savings for apparel purchases, and generated over $100,000 towards in-kind and monetary donations that enhanced programs and provided more opportunities for participants and staff of BGR and BGRi. Continued efforts will be made to keep this momentum in the coming year.


o The Orientation Programs team attended the annual Big Ten Meeting of orientation professionals virtually, hosted by Michigan State University in September 2020.

o Cam Hoyt served on the 2021 NODA Regional Conference Planning committee with

professionals from a variety of institutions across the country.

OUR DATA Student participation retention

“The research on orientation clearly indicates that successful orientation programs have a powerful

influence on first-year social and academic integration and, furthermore, that social and academic

integration have a significant effect on student persistence and educational attainment” (Rode, 2000, p.

3).

o Rode, D. (2000). The role of orientation in institutional retention. In M.J. Fabich (Ed.) Orientation

planning manual 2000. Pullman, WA: NODA.

This connection between orientation and retention is no different at Purdue University than what the

research above suggests. As indicated by the charts listed in the Appendix (Section II. Student

Participation Retention), retention and graduation rates for students who participate in STAR, VSTAR,

BGR, and/or BGRi are higher than their peers who do not participate.

Additional data shows that participating in more than one program increases the likelihood of retention

at a greater rate than their non- or single- participating peers (Section II. Student Participation

Retention, Chart 4).

Program Assessment

Pre-post assessment methods were adopted to fully assess the impact of VSTAR, BGR, and BGRi in an

effort to further understand the impact of Orientation Programs on the new student experience. 8,316

(86.7%) participated in a pre-VSTAR survey, 5,300 (55.4%) in a post-VSTAR survey, and 3,491 (45.9%) in a

post-BGR/BGRi survey.

Data reveals that students’ agreement levels on the statement “I feel connected to Purdue University,”

on a scale from Strongly Agree to Agree, varied at 3 data points, but the overall agreement level

increased during VSTAR and BGR – from 80.4% (pre-VSTAR) to 86.1% (post-VSTAR) to 93.3% (post-BGR).

Data was also collected on session satisfaction by program, and broken down by several demographics

(College, Ethnicity, Gender, others) to develop a comprehensive understanding of the impact of

Orientation Programs.

Great strides were made in the relationship with IDA+A, and strengthening the work in this area will be a

priority going into the coming year.

Outside our own assessment work, results from the Student Experience in the Research University

(SERU) survey showed that in the question “most meaningful experience”, students’ involvement in BGR

was second only to Study Abroad. The majority of these responses came from students who

experienced student leadership positions. One of many comments shared is below:

o “BGR is where I got hands-on experience to develop my leadership skills, public speaking skills,

gained exposure to so many people from different cultures, and learned how to be honest with

myself. If I was never involved with this organization, then I don't think I would have ever be

exposed to half of the things on this campus.”


Appendix Section I. Assessment Plan

Section II. Student Participation Retention

Section III. Program Assessment

Section IV. Engagement and Retention (website, social media, messaging)

Section I. Assessment Plan

We plan to distribute pre/post surveys at three different points in a new student’s transition in order to study sense of belonging and program satisfaction and meeting learning outcomes/office mission, as a result of their participation in our programs. These surveys contribute to programmatic change, the ability to provide partners feedback on their student populations, and insight into who we need to focus on (first gen., Black/African American students, neuro-diverse students, etc.).

o Pre survey is distributed in VSTAR in Brightspace and framed as required o Post VSTAR survey is distributed in Pre-Arrival HW in Brightspace and encouraged through the

lens of “homework”. This also serves as our Pre-BGR point. o Post BGR survey is distributed to all participants who checked-in to the program. o We’ve also measured why students don’t participate in BGR through short surveys to those

students to garner feedback on barriers. For example, one barrier was the fee so we focused our energy in communicating more on fee waivers.

We analyze survey results across demographics, identities, and academic college to measure differences among populations.


Section II. Student Participation Retention

Chart 1 – Retention and Graduation Rates for STAR vs VSTAR vs STAR No-Show

The chart below indicates the number of students who participated in STAR, the number of students who

participated in VSTAR, and the number of students who registered for STAR but ultimately did not attend. In

2020, that shifted to a VSTAR experience only. These populations, then, are followed throughout their Purdue

experience to see at what rate they persist to graduation.

Cohort Year

Cohort Original Cohort

1 Year Retention

2 Year Retention

3 Year Retention

4 Year Graduation

5 Year Graduation

6 Year Graduation

2013

STAR 4979 92.63% 88.07% 83.85% 59.07% 78.43% 82.57%

VSTAR 990 93.43% 87.07% 83.64% 58.28% 78.18% 78.18%

STAR No-Show 96 92.71% 89.58% 79.17% 58.33% 75.00% 78.13%

2014

STAR 4767 93.25% 88.78% 84.41% 61.23% 79.69% 83.81%

VSTAR 1432 92.32% 87.08% 84.50% 57.89% 79.54% 83.59%

STAR No-Show 125 88.80% 79.20% 72.00% 55.20% 66.40% 68.00%

2015

STAR 5192 92.22% 88.23% 83.49% 61.67% 79.91% 83.72%

VSTAR 1481 90.68% 84.40% 81.84% 57.19% 76.77% 81.16%

STAR No-Show 106 85.85% 84.91% 79.25% 56.60% 73.58% 79.25%

2016

STAR 5695 91.66% 87.60% 82.81% 63.06% 79.65%

VSTAR 1419 91.75% 87.67% 84.71% 62.09% 80.69%

STAR No-Show 46 91.30% 76.09% 69.57% 50.00% 65.22%

2017

STAR 5958 92.20% 88.27% 83.38% 65.74%

VSTAR 1440 90.97% 86.11% 82.50% 62.64%

STAR No-Show 100 92.00% 87.00% 80.00% 59.00%

2018

STAR 6560 92.01% 88.25% 82.93%

VSTAR 1708 89.93% 84.54% 81.97%

STAR No-Show 55 90.91% 83.64% 76.36%

2019

STAR 5998 94.13% 88.85%

VSTAR 1708 92.68% 87.06%

STAR No-Show 54 85.19% 79.63%

2020 VSTAR 8622 91.72%


Chart 2 – BGR Participant vs Non-BGR Participant Retention and Graduation Rates

The chart below indicates the number of students who participated in BGR and the number of students who did

not attend. These populations, then, are followed throughout their Purdue experience to see at what rate they

persist to graduation.

Academic Year

Cohort One Year Retention

Two Year Retention

Three Year

Retention

Four Year Graduation

Five year Graduation

Six Year Graduation

2009 BGR 4843 89.90% 83.58% 79.93% 47.86% 72.06% 76.81%

Non-BGR 1323 85.56% 78.53% 73.77% 42.71% 65.23% 70.37%

2010 BGR 4930 91.22% 85.07% 81.05% 50.06% 73.94% 78.07%

Non-BGR 1423 86.79% 78.92% 72.73% 46.31% 68.03% 73.16%

2011 BGR 4684 91.27% 86.02% 82.75% 52.39% 75.73% 80.36%

Non-BGR 1976 88.92% 80.36% 76.67% 49.34% 70.55% 74.90%

2012 BGR 5010 91.58% 87.25% 84.09% 56.69% 78.36% 82.34%

Non-BGR 1319 88.86% 81.73% 78.47% 52.69% 72.78% 76.80%

2013 BGR 5163 93.07% 88.57% 84.72% 58.92% 79.20% 83.38%

Non-BGR 1156 90.66% 83.74% 78.03% 56.75% 73.44% 77.10%

2014 BGR 5199 93.50% 88.86% 84.94% 61.47% 80.23% 84.13%

Non-BGR 1209 89.58% 84.45% 79.98% 55.00% 75.10% 79.57%

2015 BGR 5784 92.44% 88.11% 83.96% 61.27% 79.89% 83.80%

Non-BGR 1071 88.05% 82.73% 77.78% 56.68% 74.60% 78.90%

2016 BGR 5996 92.19% 88.19% 84.11% 63.76% 80.90%

Non-BGR 1233 88.97% 83.78% 77.62% 57.18% 73.80%

2017 BGR 6153 92.62% 88.62% 84.56% 66.07%

Non-BGR 1395 88.96% 84.16% 76.56% 60.36%

2018 BGR 6577 92.47% 88.57% 84.19%

Non-BGR 1751 88.18% 83.15% 76.93%

2019 BGR 6444 94.44% 89.25%

Non-BGR 1567 89.85% 82.64%

2020 BGR 6447 93.36%

Non-BGR 2331 86.66%


Chart 3 – BGRi Participant vs Non-BGRi Participant Retention and Graduation Rates for International Students

The chart below indicates the number of students who participated in BGRi and the number of international

students who did not attend. These populations, then, are followed throughout their Purdue experience to see

at what rate they persist to graduation.

Academic Year

Cohort One Year Retention

Two Year Retention

Three Year

Retention

Four Year Graduation

Five year Graduation

Six Year Graduation

2012 BGRi 316 91.77% 86.71% 83.54% 55.06% 79.75% 82.91%

Non-BGRi 691 91.46% 86.11% 83.94% 55.72% 77.86% 82.63%

2013 BGRi 497 94.57% 89.94% 87.53% 61.77% 82.29% 85.31%

Non-BGRi 482 92.53% 84.44% 80.29% 55.39% 74.69% 79.46%

2014 BGRi 620 96.13% 92.74% 89.52% 65.00% 85.48% 89.19%

Non-BGRi 525 89.33% 82.86% 81.14% 53.52% 76.19% 80.00%

2015 BGRi 716 93.85% 87.99% 85.89% 58.80% 80.84% 84.62%

Non-BGRi 346 84.97% 78.32% 76.59% 56.65% 72.25% 77.17%

2016 BGRi 635 93.39% 89.76% 87.87% 64.40% 85.20%

Non-BGRi 305 89.51% 85.57% 80.98% 59.18% 74.10%

2017 BGRi 624 93.59% 89.90% 86.06% 66.35%

Non-BGRi 264 87.12% 83.71% 80.30% 60.23%

2018 BGRi 513 92.98% 86.74% 87.72%

Non-BGRi 280 85.00% 80.36% 79.64%

2019 BGRi 741 92.71% 87.72%

Non-BGRi 316 88.92% 81.01%

2020 BGRi 388 90.98%

Non-BGRi 478 86.82%


Chart 4 – Orientation Programs Participant Levels (zero, one, or two programs) and their Retention and

Graduation Rates

The chart below indicates the number of students who participated in a combination of Orientation Programs

during a given year. Students who participated in both summer and fall programs are highlighted in three ways:

“STAR+BGR”, “VSTAR+BGR”, and “VSTAR+BGRi”. Students who participated in STAR and not BGR or BGRi, but

did participate in another pre-arrival event (Purdue Musical Organizations, All-American Marching Band, and

Intercollegiate Athletics) are indicated with “STAR no BGR/i”. Students who participated in STAR or VSTAR, but

did not participate in any pre-arrival event in Orientation Programs or other units are indicated with “STAR no

Other Program” and “VSTAR no Other Program.”

Academic Year

Cohort

One Year

Retention

Two Year

Retention

Three Year

Retention

Four Year Graduati

on

Five year Graduati

on

Six Year Graduati

on

2013

STAR+BGR 4205 93.08% 88.85% 84.71% 59.29% 79.14% 83.50%

VSTAR+BGR 693 93.80% 88.31% 86.29% 59.02% 80.38% 83.84%

VSTAR+BGRi 496 94.56% 89.92% 87.50% 61.69% 82.26% 85.28%

STAR no BGR/i 185 98.38% 94.05% 89.19% 68.65% 84.86% 87.57%

STAR no Other Program 589 87.61% 80.65% 76.06% 54.50% 71.31% 74.36%

VSTAR no Other Program 285 92.63% 83.86% 77.54% 55.79% 72.28% 77.19%

2014

STAR+BGR 4150 93.52% 89.20% 84.99% 61.83% 80.21% 84.17%

VSTAR+BGR 900 94.67% 89.11% 86.44% 61.00% 82.11% 86.11%

VSTAR+BGRi 627 96.17% 92.66% 89.47% 64.91% 85.49% 89.15%

STAR no BGR/i 227 92.95% 87.67% 85.02% 62.11% 79.74% 84.58%



2015

STAR+BGR 4489 92.40% 88.53% 83.94% 62.01% 80.15% 84.01%

VSTAR+BGR 1181 92.97% 86.54% 83.83% 58.25% 78.83% 82.98%

VSTAR+BGRi 705 94.04% 88.23% 85.82% 58.58% 80.71% 84.68%

STAR no BGR/i 235 95.74% 92.77% 88.09% 61.28% 85.53% 88.51%

VSTAR no BGR/i 17 82.35% 94.12% 82.35% 64.71% 82.35% 82.35%



2016

STAR+BGR 4814 92.02% 88.10% 83.65% 63.88% 80.43%

VSTAR+BGR 1121 92.77% 88.85% 86.35% 63.78% 83.23%

VSTAR+BGRi 641 93.29% 90.02% 88.14% 64.74% 85.18%

STAR no BGR/i 210 92.86% 89.05% 83.33% 57.62% 80.48%


VSTAR no BGR/i 16 100.00% 100.00% 87.50% 56.25% 87.50%

STAR no Other Program 671 88.67% 83.61% 76.60% 58.87% 73.77%

VSTAR no Other Program 282 87.23% 82.27% 78.01% 55.67% 70.21%

2017

STAR+BGR 4966 92.65% 88.96% 84.53% 66.45%

VSTAR+BGR 1111 92.35% 87.13% 84.70% 64.72%

VSTAR+BGRi 641 93.45% 89.86% 86.43% 66.30%

STAR no BGR/i 269 91.82% 87.36% 83.27% 61.71%

VSTAR no BGR/i 27 92.59% 88.89% 85.19% 66.67%

STAR no Other Program 723 89.21% 83.82% 75.52% 62.38%

VSTAR no Other Program 302 85.76% 82.12% 74.17% 54.64%

2018

STAR+BGR 5263 92.57% 89.13% 84.08%

VSTAR+BGR 1277 92.09% 86.30% 84.65%

VSTAR+BGRi 533 92.87% 86.49% 87.62%

STAR no BGR/i 290 94.48% 91.72% 87.59%

VSTAR no BGR/i 68 86.76% 79.41% 64.71%

STAR no Other Program 1007 88.38% 82.62% 75.57%

VSTAR no Other Program 363 82.92% 79.34% 75.76%

2019

STAR+BGR 4876 94.97% 90.03%

VSTAR+BGR 1388 93.52% 88.04%

VSTAR+BGRi 691 93.78% 89.00%

STAR no BGR/i 351 92.02% 84.90%

VSTAR no BGR/i 51 90.20% 90.30%

STAR no Other Program 771 89.75% 83.14%

VSTAR no Other Program 269 88.85% 81.41%

2020

VSTAR+BGR 6359 93.38%

VSTAR+BGRi 445 91.24%

VSTAR no BGR/i 392 88.52%

VSTAR no Other Program 1870 86.74%


Section III. Program Assessment

To further understand students’ experience across programs, a pre-post assessment method was adopted to

fully assess the impact of VSTAR, BGR, and BGRi on students’ satisfaction, learning outcomes, and sense of

belonging. These can be viewed through three points of data collection: Pre-VSTAR, Post-VSTAR (also considered

to be Pre-BGR), and Post-BGR.

A total of 7,731 and 4,833 valid responses were collected from VSTAR pre and post surveys respectively, which

equal to 79.9% and 49.9% response rates. Analysis of the data continues in an ongoing and intentional way to

share with appropriate campus partners and make continuous improvements on the program.

Of the 4833 respondents, data shows 1501 participants were Very Satisfied (31%), and 2823 were Satisfied

(58.4%) with their Virtual STAR experience. Altogether, 49 were Dissatisfied or Very Dissatisfied (1%).

For BGR, of the 2853 respondents, data shows 920 participants were Very Satisfied (32%), and 2823 were

Satisfied (36.7%). Altogether, 230 were Dissatisfied (8%) and no students were Extremely Dissatisfied. Overall,

“online” students on average had a higher level of satisfaction towards BGR 2020 than their “in-person” peers.

In relation to the statement, “I feel connected to Purdue University,” data reveals that students’ agreement

levels on Strongly Agree and Agree varied at 3 data points, but the overall agreement level increased during

VSTAR and BGR – from 78% (pre-VSTAR) to 86% (post-VSTAR) to 87% (post-BGR).


Section IV. Engagement and Retention (website, social media, messaging)

User Demographics

Section IVa. Website (special acknowledgement to Max Dryer, Web Developer for Student Success Programs,

for this information)

Three major categories are taken into consideration when discussing user demographics on websites: age,

gender, and location of users.

Age: We observed a significant rise in the number of users ages 18-24 (up from 25.4% to 33.6%), and a

minor decrease in every other age group. In the graph below, blue represents 2020-21, and orange

represents 2019-20.

Location: We observed a fair rise in users in the United States (up from 88.6% to 91.7%), and a minor

decrease in users from our other Top 5 countries (in order: India, South Korea, China, and Taiwan). The

largest decrease came from China, who moved from the #3 most users to #4, and lost nearly 60% of its

viewers form the previous year.


Gender: There was no significant change in the past year on male vs. female visitors to the website.

Technology Usage

Device Type: We saw a slight shift away from desktop and tablet devices, and a move towards mobile

devices when using the Orientation website (up from 48% to 51.5%).

Browsers: We saw a significant change in which browser people were using most often on the

Orientation site. Most notable is the drop in IE down to .2% of all viewers (just 273 total uses in the last

year). This essentially means we no longer need to worry about Internet Explorer specific web features,

which are many and incredibly taxing.

Safari: 42.3% -> 47.1%

Chrome: 40.4% -> 38.9%

Edge: 3.7% -> 3.8% (no significant change)

Firefox: 1.8% -> 1.9% (no significant change)

Samsung Internet: 2.8% -> 1.3%

Internet Explorer: 1.5% -> .2%


Acquisition: In the past year, far more people have found the Purdue Orientation site simply by

searching for it in the browser (up from 53% to 61% of all users). Far fewer people used direct links from

other sites (down from 28% to 23%) or from social media posts (down from 10.2% to 8.7%).

Other Interesting Statistics

Website Usage by Month, October 2020-21, compared to October 2019-20

Top 10 Most Used Pages

Unlike last year, our Orientation home page is not the #1 most viewed page. In fact, it did not even crack the Top

10 this year. This is an interesting development and something to consider going forward.


Site Speed

The University goal is to have an average page loading time of under 2 seconds for every website. We are well

above that at 3.04 seconds, but are trending in the right direction (down from 3.80 seconds last year).

Section IVb. Social Media (special acknowledgement to Cameron Hoyt for coordination of these efforts)

Orientation Programs Social Media Channels Continued efforts were made on social media channels to increase followership and engagement. This was the second full year of these channels and great strides were made in their impact.

Platform Program Overview 2020 Program Overview 2021

Instagram ~4,000 followers and 131 posts 8,622 followers and 213 posts

Facebook ~1,700 likes and ~2,500 followers 3,189 likes and 4,340 followers

Twitter 837 followers and 82 tweets 1,506 followers and 185 tweets

Tik Tok 511 followers and 13 posts 842 followers and 19 posts

YouTube 922 subscribers and 58 videos 1530 subscribers and 76 videos


Section IVc. Messaging (special acknowledgement to Andrea Mattingly, Communications Director for Student

Success Programs, and Virginia Cabrera, Assistant Director of Orientation Programs, for coordination of these

efforts)

Chart 1 – Messages and impact for spring beginners – numbers in bold and italics indicate the highest performance measure for that category compared to all other messages

Chart 2 – Messages and impact for summer and fall beginners – numbers in bold and italics indicate the highest performance measure for that category compared to all other messages

Date sent Subject line

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11/6/2020 Complete the next steps in your orientation to Purdue

University

270 2,648 88.6 241 299 92 33.8

1/6/2021 Today is the day to sign up for Boiler Cold Rush!

282 2,143 93.7 266 174 93 33

1/11/2021 Get a strong start at Purdue with these key resources!

252 964 85 215 28 22 9

1/11/2021 Purdue's Boiler Cold Rush Orientation Program starts

soon!

174 1,406 91.2 156 139 59 34.5


soon!

33 121 90.9 30 8 7 21.2

TOTAL Total impacts for all messages were as follows:

1,011 7,282 NA 908 648 273 NA

AVERAGE Averages for all messages were as follows:

202 1,456 90 182 130 55 26

Date sent Subject line

De

liver

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Op

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Clic

ks %

3/1/2021 Log in to your Purdue New Student Task List and take

care of important tasks today!

11,731 89,283 94.5% 11,117 11,967 4,357 37.0%

3/9/2021 Learn more about Purdue's Orientation Programs!

11,744 75,899 91.9% 10,794 4,672 2,348 20.0%

4/5/2021 Your're invited to BGR 2021! (for second year students who

spent their first year online)

970 2,289 66.6% 646 472 145 14.9%


4/29/2021 Get ready for Purdue’s VSTAR orientation program!

11,264 85,085 91.0% 10,272 6,200 2,301 20.4%

5/19/2021 Get ready for Purdue's VSTAR orientation program! (same

message sent on rolling basis)

689 3,710 84.8% 586 291 586 20.5%

5/19/2021 Get started on Purdue’s VSTAR program to connect with your academic advisor

(vstar nudge)

8,430 65,159 93.9% 7,919 7,175 3,036 36.0%

5/19/2021 Complete Purdue’s VSTAR program to connect with your

academic advisor

1,435 10,549 98.1% 1,410 354 220 15.3%

5/28/2021 Complete VSTAR today to connect with your academic

advisor

7,707 60,397 94.8% 7,328 7,069 2,858 37.0%

6/8/2021 It’s not too late to register for Boiler Gold Rush!

11,294 78,819 94.4% 10,692 6,853 3,263 28.8%

6/11/2021 Earn a free swag bag by completing VSTAR early! (BCC

VSTAR nudge)

92 116 54.2% 52 12 10 10.4%

6/16/2021 We're excited to FINALLY welcome you to Purdue!

976 2,097 71.6% 699 348 125 13.0%

6/17/2021 Still working on VSTAR? We're here to help!

439 506 55.1% 242 77 40 9.0%

6/25/2021 Time is running out to schedule your Purdue courses

1,246 1,791 57.9% 722 313 186 15.0%

7/6/2021 Time is running out to register for Purdue's welcome week

938 1,425 72.6% 681 99 65 7.0%

7/6/2021 Important tasks to complete before you arrive at Purdue

138 1,244 96.4% 134 163 65 47.0%

7/13/2021 Purdue Pre-Arrival Homework now available!

11,403 93,142 96.9% 11,066 11,908 5,748 50.3%

7/26/2021 Only one week left to register for Purdue's orientation

program!

121 149 60.3% 73 8 5 4.0%

7/26/2021 Connect with Purdue's Black Cultural Center during BGR!

166 237 73.5% 122 5 5 3.0%

8/1/2021 Important tasks to complete before you arrive at Purdue

36 290 97.2% 35 42 15 41.7%

8/4/2021 Get ready for your week-long orientation to Purdue!

8,553 35,168 80.9% 6,922 5,704 2,569 32.0%

TOTAL Total impacts for all messages were as follows: 89,372 607,355 1,627 81,512 63,732 27,947 462

AVERAGE Averages for all messages with 7,000 deliveries or more: 10,266 72,869 92.3% 9,514 7,694 3,310 32.7%


Chart 3 – Messages, what platform they were delivered, and to which audience.

Date sent Subject Line Platform Audience

11/6/2020 Complete the next steps in your orientation to Purdue

University Slate all new/transfer (spring)

1/6/2021 Today is the day to sign up for Boiler Cold Rush! Slate all new/transfer (spring)

1/11/2021 Get a strong start at Purdue with these key resources! Slate all new/transfer (spring)


soon! Delivra students registered for BCR


soon! Delivra

online students registered for BCR

3/1/2021 Log in to your Purdue New Student Task List and take

care of important tasks today! Slate

all new/transfer (fall and summer)

3/9/2021 Learn more about Purdue's Orientation Programs! Slate all new/transfer (fall and

summer)

4/5/2021 You're invited to BGR 2021! (for second year students

who spent their first year online) Delivra

sophomores who spent first year online

4/29/2021 Get ready for Purdue’s VSTAR orientation program! Slate all new/transfer (fall and

summer)

5/19/2021 Get ready for Purdue's VSTAR orientation program!

(same message sent on rolling basis) Slate

recently accepted new/transfer (rolling)

5/19/2021 Get started on Purdue’s VSTAR program to connect

with your academic advisor (VSTAR nudge) Slate

nudge for those who had not yet started VSTAR

5/19/2021 Complete Purdue’s VSTAR program to connect with

your academic advisor Slate

nudge for those who had started but not completed

VSTAR

5/28/2021 Complete VSTAR today to connect with your academic

advisor Slate

second nudge for those who had not completed VSTAR

6/8/2021 It’s not too late to register for Boiler Gold Rush! Slate all new/transfer (fall and

summer)

6/11/2021 Earn a free swag bag by completing VSTAR early! (BCC

VSTAR nudge) Slate

black and African American students who had not

completed VSTAR

Averages for all messages with between 400-1,500 deliveries: 956 3,195 72.4% 712 279 195 13.5%

Averages for all messages with less than 400 deliveries: 111 407 76.3% 83 46 20 21.2%

8/22/2021 Get a strong start at Purdue with these key resources!

11,432 13,510 64.7% 7,393 281 238 2.0%


Date sent Subject Line Platform Audience

6/16/2021 We're excited to FINALLY welcome you to Purdue! Delivra sophomores who spent first

year online

6/17/2021 Still working on VSTAR? We're here to help! Delivra VSTAR nudge for first-gen

students

6/25/2021 Time is running out to schedule your Purdue courses Delivra urgent nudge for all non-

VSTAR completers

7/6/2021 Time is running out to register for Purdue's welcome

week Delivra

sophomores who spent first year online

7/6/2021 Important tasks to complete before you arrive at

Purdue Slate

late admits (orientation and tasks summary)

7/13/2021 Purdue Pre-Arrival Homework now available! Slate all new/transfer (fall and

summer)

7/26/2021 Only one week left to register for Purdue's orientation

program! Delivra

black and African American students NOT registered for

BGR

7/26/2021 Connect with Purdue's Black Cultural Center during

BGR! Delivra

black and African American students registered for BGR

8/1/2021 Important tasks to complete before you arrive at

Purdue Slate

late admits (orientation and tasks summary)

8/4/2021 Get ready for your week-long orientation to Purdue! Delivra all BGR registrants

8/22/2021 Get a strong start at Purdue with these key resources! Slate all new/transfer (fall and

summer)

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