Student Early Alert (Starfish) Frequently Asked Questions

Student Early Alert (Starfish) Frequently Asked Questions Q. What is the Student Early Alert System (Starfish)? A. The Student Early Alert System (Starfish) is a tool that provides a new way to connect students to their advisors, instructors, and student services resources. Q. Why is the University offering this system? A. Connecting students with advisors, instructors and other services has been shown to contribute to student success, learning and satisfaction. Q. What is some basic terminology to the System? A. The system has several terms that will be used including: Tracking Items, Services (Student Services on a Campus), Roles (Roles that include employees or instructors within a University that have been associated with Tracking Items or Services), Office Hours, Students, etc. Q. What is a Tracking Item? A. A tracking item is a notice or action item to notify a student of a pending need, concern or commendation Q. How many Tracking Items are there? A. There are four major tracking items. They are: Manual Flags – The following flags currently exist – Attendance Concern, Low Participation, Low Test/Quiz Scores, Missing an Assignment, No Show in First Week, Behavioral Concern. These flags may be manually raised by an instructor or advisor/staff in the system. These flags were created to initiate a concern with a student or an academic advisor to provide for student success. Automated Flags – The following flags currently exist and are limited in their use based on role privileges. They are: 3rd Flag, 6th Flag, Grades in D2L/Pearson, Overdue Assignments in D2L/Pearson. For the pilot of the student early alert system, the D2L and Pearson auto flags are only visible to success center staff for review and discussion and will not be used to notify students. The 3rd and 6th flag is to notify advisors and success centers when 3 or more flags have been raised manually on a student. To Dos – The following To Dos that currently exist include – ADA Accommodations Letter Reminder, Complete FAFSA, Complete Success Contract/Success Plan, Complete FWS Employment Paperwork, Contact Instructor on Missing Assignments, Meet with your Advisor, Meet with your Instructor, Pay your Tuition and Feels, Resolve a Hold or Restriction, Schedule a Tutoring Session, Schedule your Academic Probation Meeting, and a general Student Contact. These tracking items were created to create an action item for a student once an advisor/success center employee had reached out or contacted the student. They provide for follow up to outstanding requests or needs the student might have. Referrals –The following To Dos that currently exist include – Attend Tutoring, Career Center, Disability Resources and Services, Diversity Resources and Services, Financial Aid Resources and Services, Health and Counseling Resources and Services and a General Referral. These tracking items were created to initiate a referral to a department or employee working in the services area. Kudos –The following To Dos that currently exist include – Outstanding Academic Performance and Showing Improvement. These tracking items were created commend or encourage a student on their success. Q. Who can raise a tracking item for a student? A. Depending on the Tracking Item (Flag, To Do, Referral or Kudos) will determine who can initiate. All instructors will be able to manually raise flags. Advisors/Success Center and other staff could raise a behavior flag, to dos and referrals as they relate to their duties as assigned. All roles in the system can raise a kudo at any point throughout the semester. Q. When should instructors raise a flag (tracking item)? A. Instructors can flag students in Starfish any time they have an academic concern (below average performance, missing assignments/tests, low test scores, etc.) or if a student needs additional support in the class. Q. What happens when a student is flagged? A. When a student is flagged, he or she will receive an automatic e-mail from the Student Early Alert System (Starfish). This e-mail and notification will also display on the student’s Starfish page. The student will then have the option to e-mail, call, or meet one-on-one with the Instructor, Advisor, or Success Center for additional support and guidance. In addition, each campus will have initiated workflow based on their campus structure. For example, the Advisor/Student Success Center may contact a student after the 3rd flag is raised. To learn more about your campus workflow, contact your success center. Q. Who is notified when a student is flagged? A. Based on the flag and the privileges assigned to the roles in starfish, a role will be notified within the Student Early Alert System. All Academic Advisors and Success Centers will have access to view all tracking items. Other related roles specific to referral services will have access to those services unique to their duties. Q. Can students flag other students for non-academic reasons? A. No - only instructors can raise flags. Q. I just raised a flag on a student. How will I know if the issue has been resolved? A. At any given point, you can view your students in the Starfish; if the flag has not yet been cleared, it will still be listed under "Flags I’m Managing” channel under the Home Tab or under the Students tab, Tracking. Students whose flags have been cleared will no longer appear in that list. The person who resolved the flag will also have the option of “closing the loop" which automatically e-mails a note to the appropriate staff when the issue has been resolved. Please keep in mind if a student's flag is not cleared, it does not mean that they have not met with someone or been referred to a resource on campus. Remember that every student receives an e- mail with details for how to successfully overcome his or her obstacle. Q. Will other faculty members receive reports on the performance of students in other classes? A. Any faculty member who also has an academic advising role on campus will have access to all of their advisee's flags. Advisors can then use the flags as important information when meeting with advisees. Otherwise, the system has strict security that prevents access when the employee’s role is not directly tied to the performance or success of the student. Q. What is the instructor’s role and what should they expect from this Student Early Alert System? A. The instructor’s role is to raise flags when appropriate and complete the Week 3 progress survey. Instructors can also set up online office hours so students can easily make appointments with them directly through the system which also links to the instructors outlook calendar. Students are encouraged to meet with instructors and advisors when academic concerns arise (or flags are raised). Not all students will make appointments or meet with faculty and staff, but the flag should encourage the student to improve their academic efforts and seek appropriate resources when necessary. Q. What is a Progress Survey? A. A progress survey is a practice within the system that allows faculty an efficient way to document progress during specified integral periods. A progress survey will be emailed to instructors initially (Week 3) of classes to capture progress and to assist students in their academic success. A progress survey email will be sent to faculty and they will be able to access the survey from their email. This is a methodology in reviewing all students in one location versus manually going into the system on every student in the class. Q. How are FERPA and other student privacy concerns being addressed? A. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) gives colleges a lot of flexibility in terms of designating campus officials that can be allowed to see portions of a student's education records. "A school may share education records, or information from education records, with anyone it has deemed a 'school official' and has determined to have a 'legitimate educational interest' in that information." Within the University, student's information is shared very conservatively. Instructors can only see the flags they have raised on a student, not flags for other courses. Advisors and appropriate individuals who provide academic outreach also have access. Q. If I write information in the Comments when raising a tracking item, how is this tracked and who has access? A. Any information you write in the comments will be a part of the system. Therefore, please draft your comments with respect to all FERPA and Discriminatory Guidelines. Only those roles (employees) that have a specific duties tied to the student will see those comments in the system. However, all administrators have access to the system for reporting needs. Q. How secure is the data and who has access to it? A. The data that is stored by our third party vendor (Starfish). Starfish is very secure and has passed the Data Security Committee's inspection before being implemented. Starfish client account managers and escalation engineers have access to data through secure communication channels. No data is ever stored outside of the secure hosting facility. No personally identifying information is ever disclosed to third parties. The hosting provider was chosen for their security practices and reputation. They are SAS 70 Type II certified and will not directly access the data but backup/restore it in aggregate through encrypted back up. Q. I am trying to use Starfish but it does not seem to be working. Who should I contact? A. Please contact your Academic or Success Center for information specific to your University.