Starfish

What is Starfish?

Starfish is a retention solution program that helps to create an online student success environment, facilitating programs such as counseling and advising, tutoring, mentoring, and others–with the aim of improving student success and retention.

Starfish is a one-stop shop that allows students to schedule meetings with their instructors, advisors, or other services on campus; allows instructors, advisors, or employees to "flag" students when there is a concern or give students a "crown" when they do something positive. Using flags and crowns allows �鶹��Ƶ to see areas of concern for students so we can help them stay on path to graduating from �鶹��Ƶ.

Things you should know

• Your information is protected under FERPA guidelines
• Faculty can see items raised by other faculty members
• Only you, your advisor and office(s) associated can see a raised flag
• You receive feedback from directly from faculty, either as praise or concerns about you
• Messages provide you with valuable information about resources available to help you succeed
• Notifications are sent to your GAC e-mail account or you can opt-in to receive text messages

Get Started

Every user automatically has access to Starfish by navigating to starfish.gustavus.edu and logging in with your GAC Credentials.

Features of Starfish

Viewing support networks for your courses

• Receiving early alerts for academic concerns and crowns for a job well done
• Getting electronic referrals and other messages
• Viewing and following academic plans
• Signing up online for appointments with course instructors, counselors, advisors, financial aid, and faculty.
• Automatic progress reports in real time to connect students to appropriate campus offices

Important Definitions

• APPOINTMENT: A documented set of details shared between a student and an advisor, instructor, or counselor about a planned meeting. Students may only schedule appointments in the future at times the advisor, instructor, or counselor designates as available.
• COURSES: this displays the courses that the student is currently taken r has taken in the past.
• CROWNS: a Crown is a way to recognize student accomplishments and to congratulate them on their academic performance, getting off to a great start to the semester.
• DASHBOARD: this is the home page for students displaying all the different areas and features of Starfish.
• FLAG: Raise a flag to let students know of a concern, usually for their academic performance. However, Faculty can raise academic flags (excessive absences, low test/quiz scores, and unsatisfactory coursework) and behavioral flags (academic integrity concerns, disruptive behavior, and personal concerns).
• GROUP SESSION: Similar to Office Hours, but more than one student can sign up for this particular block of time. When the group session is created, the creator decides how many students can sign up for each Group Session.
• MEETING: A documented occurrence of a meeting between a student and an advisor, instructor, or counselor that includes details about the outcomes of the meeting.
• MESSAGES: This will display messages and notifications within Starfish.
• MY SUCCESS NETWORK: this is for students only. It displays the different areas/departments on campus that are part of making their time at Gustaus successful.
• NOTE: Activity codes that provide an easy way for staff to document common outcomes of an appointment. Specific SpeedNotes are set up by the institution per Appointment Type.
• OFFICE HOURS: Calendar owners can add blocks of time called “Office Hours” to their calendars to indicate when they are available to meet with students. Calendar owners can add appointments outside the blocks, but students can only self-schedule within the block. Office Hours allow students to sign up for individual one-on-one slots within the time parameters.
• Outcomes: Results of a meeting documented on the Outcomes tab of an Appointment in Starfish.
• RAISE YOUR HAND: this is for students only. This allows students to ask for help, whether it is general help, financial help, or help with a class.
• REFERRAL: certain roles in Starfish can give students referrals to other departments on campus. I.E. Advisor can set up a referral for a student to meet with CARE.
• SERVICES: this displays all the departments on campus and how to get in touch with them.
• TO-DO'S: certain roles in Starfish can set To-Do's for students.

Profile Information

• Click your name to open your Starfish Profile. (Top right hand corner)
• INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE: This is the information that students or advisors/instructors see, so please fill out as much as possible: Contact information, General Overview and Your Biography.
• APPOINTMENT PREFERENCES (Faculty and Staff only): Default Settings for appointment /office hours. You can set minimum appointment length, create your locations and set scheduling deadlines, configuring how far in advance students have to make their appointments.
• EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS: Notification and Summary settings. Set Appointment reminders and alerts, configure your summary email settings and check when you would like to be notified of tracking items changes.

Raise a Flag

Faculty/Advisors and Employers have the ability to raise flags on students at any point in the semester.

1. Click Students on the top banner
2. There are many ways to search for your student (Course, Semester, Type in their name). Find the student or students you want to flag.
3. Check the box to the left of the student or students you want to flag.
4. Click Flag.
5. Select the flag type from the drop-down menu.
6. Select the Course that this flag is associated with (optional).
7. Type in your comments.
8. Click Save.