Welcome to Starfish | Spring 2024

We hope your semester is off to a great start. We're excited to bring you the latest enhancements to Starfish, designed to streamline your administrative tasks and enhance student engagement. Here are some new features and what's coming up this semester.

Progress Surveys

In week 4, we will start our Progress Surveys. These surveys not only assist in identifying students who require assistance in their classes but also serve as an extension to Roster Verification, allowing faculty to record the last date of attendance for students who have stopped attending.

Launch: Feb. 7, 9 a.m.

Closure: Feb. 14, 11 p.m.

The Progress Surveys let us reach out to students who are facing challenges. We use flags, emails, texts, and calls to connect students with Success Coaches, tutors, and other help.

These surveys help students who are struggling and provide positive feedback to those doing well. We work with the Athletics Department to follow NCAA rules to provide feedback on student-athletes. We also provide feedback on students in fraternities and sororities.

The surveys are before midterms. This gives students more chances to improve their grades, get wellness support, and solve any problems.

Your involvement in these surveys is key to supporting our students' academic journey and overall well-being.

Contact starfish@pennwest.edu with any questions.

Office Hours & Calendars

Sync your Starfish and Outlook calendars to optimize your availability for students.

Setting Up Office Hours: Quick setup with this One-Page Handout or Video. Remember to set an end date for your office hours each term.

Syncing Calendars: Seamlessly align your Outlook and Starfish calendars. Here's the Sync Guide for integration.

Attendance

Use Starfish to keep accurate attendance records and support student success. Attendance in Starfish allows system flags to automatically email students when they miss three or more classes.

Recording & Editing Attendance: How-To Guide

Running Attendance Reports & Printing Rosters: How-To-Guide

New Links

Check out our new Starfish links integrated in D2L, located under University Resources, and a direct link to D2L in the student courses section of Starfish.

The Starfish Advising Services link located in Faculty Self-Service now connects to the Starfish dashboard.

We've added a new feature in the student folder. If a student has a registration hold, a hyperlink will appear, providing information to help us quickly assist students in resolving the hold.

Support Services

Direct students to important resources they need to succeed.

Tutoring/Writing Support & Tutor.com: Direct students to their Starfish homepage and click courses for support options.

Making Appointments: Help students help themselves. Appointment Guide

Advisee Management

Locate and filter your advisees with these tips: Advisee Video and Handout.

Workshops this Month

Stay informed and enhance your skills with our workshops: Workshop Link

For any assistance or insights – or if you require additional training – the Starfish team is just an email away at starfish@pennwest.edu. Let’s make this semester a remarkable one.