Starfish

Follow this guide to understand and navigate Starfish.

What is Starfish?

Starfish is the student success and retention network at The New School. Its purpose is to keep the campus community engaged with students, and to contribute to students' success.

Starfish helps institutions to:

1. Identify students at risk
2. Guide students to university resources
3. Connect students with other offices and support services
4. Optimize how University services are performing

Starfish at The New School

Starfish is a collaborative effort between the faculty, advisors, and staff at The New School to ensure student success and persistence.

The goals strive to achieve with the use of Starfish:

1. Early Alert System
2. Track Students
3. Support students by connecting them to resources on campus
4. Communicate efficiently and effectively between offices

Accessing Starfish

There are two primary methods for logging into Starfish:

Option A:

• Log into MyNewSchool portal
• Navigate to Shortcuts on the left side of the dashboard
• Click on the Starfish app

Option B:

• Access Starfish via the direct link starfish.newschool.edu.

Note: You can also access Starfish from your course(s) in Canvas!

First Time Setup

If this is your first time accessing Starfish, or you need to make changes to your profile, appointment preferences, notification settings, please review the training videos provided by Starfish:
Updating your Profile

Appointment Preferences

Updating your Notifications

Updating your Office Hours

Finding Students in Starfish

Search for Students

• Search students by typing in their first name, last name, email address, or N#. (As a reminder, per FERPA guidelines, you should only ever be accessing your student populations.)
• When you start typing, students who match the entry will begin populating in a drop-down menu.
• If the student’s profile does not appear, they may no longer be an active student.
• When you find the student you are looking for, you can click on their name and their Starfish record/folder will pop up.

Your List of Students

You can see a list of your assigned students in Starfish in addition to searching for individual students using the process above. To access your list:

1. Click on the hamburger menu in the upper left corner of Starfish.
2. Select Students.

3. Select My Students or Tracking if you would like to see students with active tracking items.

Note: If you are looking for students from the current term, we strongly recommend using “Active” as the term and then your primary “Connection” in Starfish, such as “Academic + Career Advisor”.

Student Folders

You can access a student’s folder two ways:

1. Click the hyperlink connected with a student's name in the Students Tab
2. Use the Search for Students functionality

• The buttons, tabs, information and left side panel you see are determined by your permissions. Based on your relationships, the student folder may look different for different students.

Tracking

Tracking items allow you to:

1. Identify students who are of concern
2. Provide encouragement
3. Direct students to university resources
4. Assign tasks to students

The following tracking items are available in Starfish (you will see some or all of these based on your permissions):

1. Flags
2. Referrals
3. To-Dos
4. Kudos

You can access the items you have permission for from the top row of menu items when in the My Students or Tracking areas in Starfish, pictured in the sections below.

Note: Each tracking item has options that are specific to your role and relationship with a given student. Each of these unique items has an explanation provided in Starfish itself (see example below) and so have not been included in this guide. If you have any questions about a particular tracking item, please don't hesitate to contact SAS@newschool.edu.

Flags

Flags are a way to alert a student’s network to a potential issue about the student.

Note: When specified, they also alert the student to an issue and explain what steps to take to resolve the issue.

How to raise a flag:

1. Search for or select a specific student
2. Press the Flag button

3. A new window will open – select the type of flag you are raising for the student, and add details to explain why you are raising the flag

4. Press save to finish.

Referrals

A referral is assigned to direct a student to make an appointment or visit a particular service on campus. This tracking item may be assigned as a follow up to a flag, or as part of a standard workflow.

When a referral is made:

• The student is sent an email with instructions on how to connect with the campus service/support to which they are referred
• The office to which they were referred is also notified

How to create a referral:

1. Search or select a student
2. Press the Referral button

3. A new window will open - select the type of referral, enter Course Context & Due Date (if applicable) and Comments.

4. Press save to finish.

To-Dos

A To-Do is assigned to direct a student to complete a specific action and may be assigned as a follow up to a flag, or as a part of a standard workflow.

When a to-do is created the student is sent an email with instructions on how to complete the assigned action

How to create a To-Do:

1. Search or select a student
2. Press the To-Do button

3. A new window will open - select the type of To-Do, enter Course Context & Due Date (if applicable) and Comments

4. Press save to finish.

Kudos

Kudos acknowledge positive progress/achievements of students

How to add a kudo:

1. Search or select a student
2. Press the Kudos button

3. A new window will open - select the type of Kudo, enter Course Context & Due Date (if applicable) and Comments

4. Press save to finish.

Notes

• In addition to assigning tracking items, you can use Starfish to add a note directly on the Student Folder.
• This feature allows you to share notes with the student directly and can be used to document discussions with students.
• While the notes can be visible to other user roles supporting the student, you cannot restrict sending private notes by role.
• Some different types of notes include appointment comments, flag comments, and general shared notes.

How to add a note:

1. Search or select a student
2. Press the Notes button

3. A new window will open - select the Note Type, and Date. Then enter the Subject (optional), Note, and choose if a copy should be sent to yourself or the student.

Note: Students will receive an email notification if you select the option to "Send copy of note to student".

4. Press submit to finish.

How to view notes in a student's folder

The Student Folder Notes tab provides an aggregated look at comments saved about the student whether as part of a tracking item, within a meeting, posted directly to the student folder as a note, or sent to the student via Starfish's Send Message option.

• Click on the "+" sign associated with any item to view the details.

Messages

• Users can send messages to students, which are displayed in the student's folder with an envelope icon.
• Messages can be sent to students to alert them to set up meetings, complete surveys, or respond to to-dos.
• Students have the ability to view the message in their profile in Starfish, but they will also receive an email notification.

Note: Message created using the method below will display in the Student folder in the Notes tab as a private note for each selected student. Messages can not be shared with other user roles.

To use the Message button to email a student from Starfish:

1. Navigate to Students > My Students in Starfish.
2. Select one or more students in the list using the checkboxes to the left of the student(s) name. Scroll down to the Bulk Actions section below for more information when selecting more than 50 students at a time.
3. Click Message in the action bar to display the Send Message window.

4. From the Send Message window, enter a Subject and Note to email the student.
5. Select the Send copy to yourself checkbox (Optional).
6. Submit the form to send the email to all selected students.

Attendance

Starfish: Recording Attendance has step by step instructions on how to input and record attendance.

Alternatively, the university's Guide to Teaching and Learning has some additional content to support faculty in understanding Starfish and using Starfish as an attendance taking tool: https://guidetoteaching.newschool.org/starfish/.

Questions & Feedback

Contact Student and Academic Systems at sas@newschool.edu regarding any questions and/or feedback you may have about Starfish.