1. Starfish Training Minot State University
August 20, 2015 – Main 314 – 8:00, 10:00, 11:00 am
Presented by MSU Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Starfish Committee

2. “I made a difference for that one.”
What is Starfish?
We are.
A Student Success Company
We believe.
The campus community engaged with a student will lead to that student’s success.
We help academic institutions.
Identify. Which students are at risk now?
Guide. Where do I go to get/offer help?
Connect. When can I get help?
Optimize. How are services performing?
“I made a difference for that one.”

3. Starfish at Minot State University
A collaborative effort between the faculty and advisors at Minot State University to ensure student success and persistence.
Goals
Phase I:
Improve communication among students, faculty, and staff through increased faculty access and efficiency of contacts with students and support services/referrals.
Attain faculty support and increase faculty usage of Starfish/Early Alert
Increase usage of Early Alert system.
Phase II:
Increase overall term-to-term persistence rates as well as course completion rates for students.
Increase faculty usage of Starfish/Early Alert.

4. FERPA Information
All information contained in Starfish/Early Alert is subject to FERPA regulations and is disclosable upon student request. Sensitive information may be better discussed privately with appropriate campus services rather than conveyed through Starfish/Early Alert.

5. Early Warning & Student Tracking System Highlights
Starfish Solutions
Early Warning & Student Tracking System Highlights
Student concerns can be manually flagged when observed or through periodic reports.
Instructors will be reminded to complete the required SBHE Attendance Reporting and Early Alert Report from the Registrar’s Office in the beginning weeks of the semester and an Early Alert Report in the 6th week of the semester. If you don’t have any non attendees or academic or attendance issues with students, please open the report and submit it without any flags or comments. A second 8 week Attendance Report will also be sent.
ALL students are included in Starfish Early Alert.
s to students come from MSU Early Alert Team, not individual instructors. See an example of a student on the next slide.
Students can view Instructor’s comments included in Attendance concerns and Academic concerns as well as Kudos. Student and their advisors receive Attendance and Academic concern s.
General concerns go directly to Tammy Wolf. This flag is only available manually.
Instructors/Advisors can control the frequency in which they receive notification .
When a flag is ‘resolved’ because it has been addressed, the person who created the flag will receive a message through the Close the Loop comment.
Faculty who complete reports will receive a Thank You .

6. Example of Message sent to student/advisor

7. Specific Expectations
Instructors
Raise flags when appropriate.
Submit Attendance and Early Alert Reports during the semester.
Watch for ‘close the loop’ message
Academic Advisors
Receive notifications from Starfish.
Record follow up actions in Starfish:
Add notes
Clear flags
Students
Receive notifications when flagged.
Contact appropriate support office.
Everyone
Complete your Profile so students know more about you.

8. Flags for Fall 2016 Flag Name Description Academic Concern
Raise this flag when a student is not participating in class, not turning in assignments, or is receiving unsatisfactory grades. s will go to student and advisor. Notes are required to detail the specific concerns, and these notes are viewable by the students.
Attendance Concern
Raise this flag when a student is not attending class regularly. s will go to student and advisor. Notes are required, and these notes are viewable by students.
Never Attended
Raise this flag when a student has never attended a single class session or completed an academically related activity in an online course.
General Concern
Raise this flag to express any concerns you have about a student. Tammy Wolf will receive these flags and assign them to the correct person.
In Danger of D, U or F (appears on 6th week report only)
Raise this flag when a student is in danger of receiving a D, U, or F. s go to student and advisor. These are URGENT messages; your profile notification settings will be overridden.
Kudos
Raise this flag to comment on a student’s class-related accomplishment. goes to student. Notes are viewable to the student.

9. Early Alert Report (Raise the Flag)
You will receive an reminding you to complete an early alert report for each of your courses; reports will be sent in the early weeks of the semester, at 6 weeks and early in the semester for 2nd 8 week classes.
Simply check the appropriate boxes and click Submit to raise flags. Add notes where appropriate or required.
EXAMPLE

10. Example Reminder to Instructor
‌Dear  Linda, As you know, we are using Starfish Early Alert to help us make the process of reporting on the academic progress of our students as easy and efficient as possible. Through an Early Alert Report you will have a quick way to inform us of your students' progress in class.
To access the report for your course(s):
Login to your Blackboard account ( and click the Starfish tab.
Select the Student tab and locate the drop-down menu of your courses under Connection. Be sure Term is set to Active.
For each course, simply check the box next to the particular student's name for whom you would like to report progress. You will have options to add comments.
Click Submit. If you don't have any progress to report, it is important that you click Submit, so we know you reviewed the report. Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation .
Items you raise will be addressed by the appropriate individuals from Minot State University.
What if I want to add more details? When you check a box to raise a flag on a student you will see a small note icon appear next to the student's name. Click that icon to add a comment. Please note that students will be able to view the comments for Attendance and Academic concern flags.
Your responses will help determine which students are in need of assistance. s will be sent to appropriate individuals (advisors or student service personnel) to follow up with the student.
Sincerely
MSU Early Alert Team
*This letter was sent to instructors on Friday, September 4. The report week ends on Friday, September 11, 11:00 pm.

11. Instructor and Advisor roles

12. To Access Starfish…
Login to Blackboard and click on the Starfish tab in the right corner.
Instructors/Advisors can flag students.
Advisors watch for notifications of flags on their advisees and address concerns.

13. Find Your Students List
Click Students in the top frame navigation.
Search for a student by…
Typing the student’s name into the Search field
Choosing your Connection to them
To organize your students list by flag, select the Tracking tab.
You can sort the list by flag name and/or flag status.
You can clear or comment on flags from here.

14. View a Student Folder
From your Students list, click the hyperlink of a student’s name.
This brings you to the student’s folder.
Notes (you added/shared with you)
Tracking history (raised/cleared)
From the student folder you can…
Raise a flag
Add a note
ADVISORS: When you receive an notification, go to Tracking to view the student information.
Anywhere you see a student’s name as a hyperlink will take you to their student folder.

15. Raise and Clear a Flag
Instructor selects class, and selects flag using radio button.
Instructor completes the comments, saves, submits.
Student and Advisor receive notification.
Advisor receives , and checks Tracking to see if flag has been cleared.

16. Raise and Clear a Flag 5. Advisor checks tracking.
Student has been flagged
Flag has not been cleared.
6. Advisor views message.
View comments.
Determine course of action: contact student; contact student support; contact other advisor.

17. Clear the Flag and Close the Loop
7. Advisor, if applicable, completes action required and clears flag. 8. Advisor Closes the Loop. Instructor receives .

18. Configure Your Profile
Click Profile in the top frame navigation.
Edit your contact information. Then, select the address(es) where Starfish notifications should be sent.
Upload your photo to help a student put a face to your name.
Select the Upload Photo link.
Browse for a photo on your desktop (JPEG, GIF, PNG).
Click the Upload Now button.
Click the Save button.

19. Set Email Notifications
Go to Profile. Then choose Notifications.
Set your preferences for if/when you want to be notified of flags.
Click the Save button.
You can change your notifications settings
at any time.

20. You are ready to begin using Starfish!
Congratulations!
You are ready to begin using Starfish!

21. Support Having trouble? Tammy Wolf;
Ad Hoc Faculty Senate Starfish Committee:
COB: Kristi Berg ;
CAS and Adjunct Faculty: Daniel Clayton ;
CEHS: Johnna Westby ;