Welcome to the Penn State World Campus Returning Student Orientation (RSO) 101! We're very excited that you've chosen to come back and continue your education with us!

This Orientation course will provide you with knowledge and skills that you'll use continuously throughout your time with World Campus. From developing academic goals to knowing how to schedule courses and buy books and materials, this course will cover many important topics that will help you to be a successful World Campus student.

In addition, the course will give you a glimpse into what it's like to take a World Campus course. You're using the same technology and resources that you'll use when you take courses. You'll have the opportunity to interact with your classmates and complete assigned activities. Even if you've taken online courses at Penn State before, this is your opportunity to refresh your memory at World Campus.

One important difference between Orientation and a course you might take for your degree is the time it will take to complete the course. You can complete Returning Student Orientation in roughly 3 to 5 hours, and you can return to and reference the course information throughout your time at World Campus. A course for your degree, on the other hand, will require work to be completed by specific deadlines and would be 15 weeks long in a typical semester.

While all of the modules in this course are valuable, and it's in your best interest to work through each of them, you may also choose to personalize your experience by starting with the modules that most apply to your situation. For example, if you're a veteran or an active-duty military student, there is specific information for you regarding financial benefits, deployment, and academic support that you can choose to access right away. Regardless of your circumstances, each module contains important information and how-tos that will help you to be successful at Penn State.

Course Format

As mentioned earlier, this course has been designed for you to be able to work through all of the content in about 5 hours; however, we realize that every student's situation is different and want you to have the freedom to move through at your own pace. This means that if you would like to go through all of the content in one sitting, you can do that. Alternately, if you would like to really take your time with the material and research every opportunity for additional learning in the course, you can do that too.

This open-ended layout isn't typical of the courses that you'll be taking through World Campus, as they'll all include hard deadlines and will follow the University's academic calendar. Our goal for this course is to help you ease into online learning and internalize the important tools and information that we're providing you.

Expectations

In this course, you'll be able to access information about getting started at World Campus. While you won't receive an official grade for this Orientation course, the more you put in, the more you'll take away.

Throughout the Orientation, you'll continue to hear the message that you are responsible for your education and learning. This is true for your Orientation and your academic courses. We expect that you'll use this Orientation to continue developing the skills you'll need for success—like communication, organization, financial literacy, and resources search.