Faculty Reference

When used, Starfish alerts deliver communications to students through automated or prebuilt messaging. When completing a Course Progress Report or submitting an alert outside of the Course Progress Reporting period, students who receive an alert (Kudo, Flag, or Referral) will receive an email from the Professor containing a specific system generated message and include any additional comments provided during submission.  

In turn, Starfish’s system generated messages (see below for language details) encourage students to seek clarification or guidance from the Professor if doing so would be advantageous. Students will have the option to reply directly to the Professor who initiated the message via the Starfish notification. Students are further encouraged to seek additional support from their Academic Advisor, Academic Success Coach, or Scholastic Coordinator, as these resources are also included in the message received.  

Please Note – It is suggested to raise a single Starfish Item (Flag or Kudo) that reflects student progress for a given course during the term. This will help limit duplicate “Close the Loop” updates to faculty for a given student. For instance, faculty submitting multiple Flags for a given student may receive multiple “Close the Loop” updates for a given student. 

Both Faculty and Staff can close alerts created in the Starfish system. Please note, faculty may only view and clear alerts the faculty member has created; designated staff (Academic Advisors, Academic Success Coaches, Scholastic Coordinators) may view and close any active alert in the system. If a faculty member who initiated an alert is satisfied with the resolution discussed with a flagged student, the faculty member can close the alert in Starfish manually. Please see our “how-to” guides for resolving alerts in the Starfish system (Instructional Video | Handout). 

Further, upon closure of the Starfish Course Progress Report, members of a students’ success network (Academic Advisors, Academic Success Coaches, Scholastic Coordinators, etc.) will attempt to provide interventions by calling and emailing students to offer support outside of the classroom.  

Success in these efforts is largely dependent up on the level of engagement achieved with a flagged student. Staff who positively engage with a student by discussing the alert and provide recommendations with the student will “Close the loop” and inform faculty of the support provided. Further, staff will attempt to provide interventions up to four weeks after the closure of the Course Progress Report. If staff are unsuccessful in engaging with a flagged student after emailing and calling students (multiple instances), staff will close any remaining active alerts indicating their unsuccessful attempts to engage with the student. Staff may also decide to “Close the Loop” by informing faculty of the status of these interventions. 

Please note - staff outreach and discourse updates are in Starfish student records.

When to Use: Use this tracking item to notify students that their absences are negatively impacting their success in the course. Please use the comments section to share details with the student.

When to use: Use this tracking item to notify students that you have concerns regarding the performance on assignments, missed assignments, and/or exams. Please use the comments section to share details with the student.

When to use: Use this tracking item to notify students that their academic habits and performance are putting them at risk of not being successful in their course. Please use the comments section to share details with the student.

Preview: Missing Assignment Concern (Automated Message)

When to use: This flag is used by faculty to express missing assignment and late submission concerns to students. When raised, students are reminded of the importance of meeting glasswork completion deadlines and the negative impact that missing or late assignments have on their grades.

Preview: Consider Dropping the Class (Automated Message)

When to use: This flag is used by faculty to inform students when they may want to consider dropping a class. This option should be used when there is no reasonable possibility for a student to pass a class. 

*Please note that this flag is only available prior to the drop date (April 10, 2023).