Starfish technology is now available to the UNC Greensboro academic community for the fall semester. This early-alert system helps instructors, advisors, and support staff take a holistic approach to student success. They can track student progress and remain in the loop about their shared students.
Faculty utilization of the Starfish Early Alert platform increased 12 percentage points in 2021-22, up to 36.5 percent. The Students First Office would like to thank all faculty for their increased engagement.
Starfish administrators and ITS worked diligently over the summer to ensure an important upgrade was ready for Fall 2022.
Updates and Reminders
- The Overview and Information tabs in student Starfish profiles now contain information relevant to their academic progress. This valuable student information was not readily accessible pre-upgrade, but can now be used to assist academic advisors as they support students.
- Part-of-Term (POT) Academic Status Report (ASR): In Spring 2022, the Students First Office added a new Academic Status Report for minimester part-of-term (POT) courses. The response rate for POT ASRs was 47%. This is an impressive submission rate, and we look forward to even more engagement with POT ASRs in the future. For the Fall 2022 term, instructors will receive an email alert on August 30 for POT A courses and October 25 for POT B.
- New Starfish Website: The Students First Office has revamped the Starfish website to provide a clearer and more concise experience for the UNCG community. We now have three dedicated pages: 1) Starfish for Students, 2) Starfish for Faculty, Advisors, and Support Staff and 3) Starfish support. Each page now includes a resources section with updated how-to guides.
As with many upgrades, technical difficulties are inevitable. We are working through some known issues now and ask that you reach out to us at starfish@uncg.edu to make us aware of any inaccuracies you may notice. We appreciate your patience and hope this upgrade will be helpful in all your future interactions with students.
How Starfish works
Instructors and faculty use Starfish to raise academic flags, congratulatory kudos, and referrals for students so they can connect with the resources and individuals that may help them. To allow for more efficient reporting, instructors will complete Academic Status Reports (ASRs) each semester to flag multiple students at once. Instructors will receive an email alert for the third week ASR on August 30.
Academic advisors & support staff use Starfish to reach out to advisees who have received flags to provide additional assistance and direct them to helpful resources on campus. Academic advisors may raise flags on advisees for personal concerns and for retention-related concerns.
Faculty, advisors, and support staff all use Starfish to manage appointment scheduling with students and allow students to sign up for office hours.
Students use Starfish to keep track of the academic feedback they get from their instructors 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.
Support and 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. Search “Starfish” in the search bar to find an available session.
Students, staff, and instructors can explore UNCG’s Starfish website for additional information about Starfish and available training resources.
