Starfish gives you a convenient way to keep track of your students – raising flags when you observe a pattern of behavior that concerns you, ensuring that the people on campus who can intervene are aware. It also allows your students to easily book an appointment with you or someone else who can help.

Goals:

• Help students complete courses
• Connect students with campus resources
• Engage students in their academic success
• Increase student persistence from semester to semester

Starfish Connect as an Academic Early Alert Tool

Any academic early alert system has two essential parts. One part is raising flags (alerts) for students the instructor is concerned about. The second part is outreach and connection with students who have raised flags in Starfish Connect. 

•Some examples of actions students can take after receiving a raised flag(s) are talking with the faculty member who raised the flag – discussing the issues that led to the flag being raised and how to remedy these issues, reaching out to a mentor, coach, or support person at the College, and scheduling tutoring or registering for an academic workshop

•Others at the College can view the flag in Starfish and can reach out to students and assist them in developing a plan to address the issues

•Any connection with a student after a raised flag can be documented in Starfish

Below, see a graphic of the academic early alert system using Starfish Connect.

workflow_starfish_connect_academic_early_alert.pdf

Keep in mind the following:

Over 35,000 Starfish tracking items (Flags, Kudos, Referrals, and To-Dos) are raised in most terms. About 52% of the items raised are Kudos. The first line of intervention is the email(s) students receive informing them of an instructor's concern(s). The second line of intervention is outreach by student success staff and administrators, who reach out to as many students with raised flags as possible each term. Advisors and Counselors may also discuss raised flags when students have appointments with them.