Acclimating Students to Technology in the First-Year College Experience

The start of the college experience is often hectic as students discover their new surroundings on campus. Students must carry out several high-tech tasks on their laptops and mobile devices in order to be successful participants in the digital culture that permeates their institution of higher learning. This paper describes the implementation of mandatory JumpStart sessions, held during the first week of the semester outside of class time, for first year students enrolled in a required technology concepts course. The goal of these peer-led sessions is to set up student laptops and devices to function within the university's computing infrastructure, to install needed software for their technology concepts course, to introduce students to computing resources on campus, and to create a social learning environment where students engage with each other. In doing so, students form a community of practice which serves them well as they acclimate to their new surroundings.