Starfish CONNECT

Pros: Starfish is a great way for faculty, advisors, and students to all be connected about students progress. Before Starfish, faculty may have a problem with a student and that student may have a struggle they told their advisor, but there was no closing the circle for the faculty and the advisor to share what they know and make a plan for the student. Since we have implemented Starfish, student concerns are being addressed 3 days sooner than through our use of Early Alert (non-Starfish Early Alert). Additional pro's include students are able to be in control of their degree. They can plan out semester by semester what classes they are taking and both the advisor and faculty can see the plan and help the student to follow it. Starfish Connect adds in positive messages to send to students when the student is on track, improving, or high achieving. We are focusing holistically on our students.

Cons: There are limitations preventing our academic advisors from having more control over their communications with faculty and students. However, our campus uses Academic & Financial Aid Advisors, which are a one stop shop, that works with first semester students for classes and then only follows up with students for extreme difficulties or financial aid. This issue may not be felt by traditional advisors. In addition worries about confidentiality has been had since when an alert goes out there is no way for only one person to be notified. So major concerns that are HIPPA or FERPA issues can not be used in Starfish.

Overall: We are beta testing Starfish and will role it out in two months for the entire campus. So far the connection has been wonderful from a student standpoint but the workflow between faculty and advisors needs more understanding. The software is agile and efficient. But you must really have a large cultural agreement to make sure that everyone is on the same page for what is expected of each other.