Starfish News & Reminders Fall 2021

Posted on August 30, 2021

Starfish technology is now available to all instructors, academic advisors, academic support staff, and students for the Fall semester. Starfish is an early-alert system that allows UNCG to take a more holistic
approach to student success. Starfish allows instructors, academic advisors, and academic support staff
to track student progress and remain in the loop about their shared students. Users can log into Starfish
at starfish.uncg.edu.

Updates and Reminders

  • New Retention Alert Flags: Effective Fall 2021, academic advisors can raise separate flags for students in their caseloads to alert the campus community about students that may be at risk for leaving the University or experiencing a break in their enrollment. The flag options available to raise include RS: academic standing concern, RA: registration hold, RA: stopping out or transferring indicated, RA: university withdrawal indicated, and RA: general. Academic advisors should select the Retention Alert flag that best describes the student’s individual situation to assist the Division of Student Success and the Students First Office in monitoring enrollment trends and providing additional outreach when appropriate. The Detailed Guide to Flags, Kudos, & Referrals can be used as a reference guide when raising all flag types for detailed descriptions and sample comments.
  • New Starfish Partnership: Housing & Residence Life (HRL) will be collaborating with the Students First Office to pilot a new outreach initiative using Starfish Early Alert this fall. When a resident is issued a flag for academic concerns, they are contacted and invited to meet with the assigned Housing Coordinator (CRL) of that residential community. This partnership will further enhance outreach and support of flagged students. Housing Coordinators will also be able to issue referrals to connect residents to helpful campus resources.
  • New Starfish Referrals: Starfish offers instructors, academic advisors, and academic support staff several referral options for directing students to helpful campus resources. Raising a referral will simultaneously alert the student to take action and notify the service provider of the referral. In Spring 2021, the TRiO Programs referral was made available in Starfish. The TRiO Programs referral should be raised to identify a student who may benefit from becoming a TRiO Programs participant. Beginning Fall 2021, the Office of Accessibility Resources & Services (OARS) and The Digital ACT Studio referral options are available. A full set of referral options available in Starfish is available on the Starfish website.
  • New Responsive Student Dashboard: Over the summer, the Student Dashboard received a makeover! Students can now open Starfish and see a new and streamlined Dashboard to help with prioritization of appointments and tracking items (flags, kudos, and referrals). The Responsive Student Dashboard will display the student’s calendar, appointments, tracking item, notifications, faculty/staff connections, and student services. Moreover, students will now be able to view student-specific announcements displayed on the Responsive Student Dashboard and My Success Network.

New to Starfish? Below is some information on how members of the UNCG community are currently using this technology. For more information, please visit the Starfish website.

Instructors and faculty use Starfish to raise alert flags, congratulatory kudos, and referrals for students with academic and personal concerns so that they can connect with the resources and people that may help them. To allow for more efficient reporting, instructors will complete Academic Status Reports (ASR) at the 4th, 7th, and 12th weeks of each semester to flag multiple students at once.

Academic advisors & support staff use Starfish to reach out to advises who have receive flags to provide additional assistance and direct them to helpful resources on campus. Academic advisors may raise flags on advises for personal concerns and for retention-related concerns.

Students use Starfish to keep track of the academic feedback they get from their instructors, take action to improve course performance, and connect with campus resources. Students can also schedule appointments with their instructors, academic advisors, and other academic support staff who use Starfish for online scheduling.

Starfish Support & Training

  • Individuals, groups, or departments who would like to request a Starfish training session should contact Devonne Gaddy, UNCG’s Early Alert & Intervention Coordinator, via starfish@uncg.edu or register for a Starfish 101 session via UNCG Workshops.
  • Students, staff, and instructors are also encouraged to explore UNCG’s Starfish website for additional information about Starfish and available training guides.

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