Submitted by Student Development

This year more than ever, making connections with students in a primarily online learning environment has been critical to their success. The unique nature of online learning coupled with a pandemic has been challenging for many students, yet you have been a great source of support and encouragement for those you teach. This is evident by your use of the Starfish student success system to provide proactive feedback to students and to help facilitate connections to other campus support services such as Academic Advising and the Academic Support Centers.

In fact, this past fall, your use of Starfish to communicate with students has shattered usage records!

  • 70% of the almost 500 faculty members who were targeted for early alert participation completed at least one survey or manually raised an alert or kudo for their students.
  • 4,175 students received a flag, referral, or kudo – representing a 54% increase compared to Fall 2019.
  • Over half (54%) of all items raised were kudos (positive encouragement)!
    • This is the first semester in which the majority of the raised items in Starfish were kudos and represents a five percentage point increase as compared to Fall 2019 (49%).
    • This also the first semester with the highest number of faculty leveraging this positive alert. 284 faculty members raised 2,690 kudos – an 18% increase compared to Fall 2019! You cannot underestimate the power of positivity and encouragement!
  • Faculty continue to leverage Starfish beyond responding to surveys.
    • 54% of participating faculty manually raised a flag, referral, or a kudo for a student outside of responding to a survey. This is six percentage points higher compared to Fall 2019 (48%) and the highest rate since Starfish was implemented.
    • As a reminder, you can leverage Starfish for any student – at any time of the semester!

THANK YOU to all who leverage this system to connect with students and their Success Network. Forward together!

Questions? Need assistance with Starfish? We’re ready to help! Contact us for “desk side support” or a quick Q&A anytime. Just email us at leadadvisors@harpercollege.edu or call 847.925.6220 for assistance.