Starfish connects our current student outreach efforts with the goal of making our support around student success a smooth, efficient, and easy process by enhancing student, faculty and staff engagement.
Watch the Starfish Introduction and Institutional Profile video tutorial for details. Always remember, information placed in Starfish is student facing.
Starfish is easy to use for scheduling office hours and advising sessions as well as editing any times you already have set. You are only offering times in Starfish that you have available and students connected to you will select the times that work best. Any information put in Starfish automatically updates your Outlook calendar.
Select Appointments from the main menu. The next screen offers you three views of your calendar: Agenda, Day and Week. Office hours and Scheduling Wizard are the two tabs at the top that you will use most.
Adding information in the office hours popup is intuitive. Just make sure a.m. and p.m. are listed appropriately. Use Scheduled and Drop-Ins for your office hours and offer instructions. Help the student be prepared for what you expect. Make sure to offer an end date.
Adding advising hours is easy if you use the Scheduling Wizard tab. Input is intuitive, just make sure to schedule enough time for your advising sessions and offer instructions on what you expect of the advising meeting.
There are several options to work with your students within the "Students" link in Starfish. You can sort through your students based on specific classes with your "Connection", keep track of "Attendance", review "Tracking" information on your advisees, and offer feedback using the "Progress Survey" feature.
When working with the Student link, you can search your students and advisees by the Connection and by Term options. It is best to keep your Term "Active". Then, use the Connection drop down and select an individual class or your advisees. If you want to reach out to all your students for the current term, change the Term from Active to the specific term you are in. At certain times in the year (after registration) you could have students in your list that are for the upcoming terms, (including summer and winter). Starfish offers you the opportunity to filter in different ways using the Term and Connections drop down options.
Watch this brief video for an overview of Starfish on how to use all of these features on the Student link. Giving feedback can happen at any time of the semester. Starfish never closes! The Progress Survey time-frame offers a formalized approach, by class, to give feedback. A separate video on how to respond to a Progress Survey can be found below in the next accordion tab.
For instructors interested in keeping track of attendance, Starfish will organize of all the details of a student's attendance, tardiness, and excused absences. You can also download the information into an Excel spreadsheet (PDF) if you wish. View the Starfish Overview Video at the 3:37 point for details about how to take Attendance. Use the Pivot Table directions (PDF) to create a simple way for excel to count the attendance for each student.
The Starfish system will alert you when it is time to provide feedback to students in the form of a survey. Progress surveys offer instructors an at a glance, formalized opportunity to offer notifications.
Summer 2023:
Summer Session I: Friday, May 26 to Monday, June 5
Summer Session (Full): Tuesday, May 30 to Friday, June 9
Summer Session II: Wednesday, July 5 to Friday, July 14 (deadlines are at 11 p.m.)
Fall 2023:
Full Semester: Friday, Sept. 22 to Monday, Oct. 9
First Quarter: Friday, Sept 15 to Wednesday, Sept. 20
Second Quarter: Friday, Nov. 3 to Wednesday, Nov. 8 (deadlines are at 11 p.m.)
Responding to a Progress Survey offers detailed information on how to use a progress survey. Or watch this brief video about responding to a Progress Survey!
Notification Descriptions is a detailed list about each alert and who receives, views, and manages the information. As you will see, any action you take in the system is always explained to you so you know exactly what you are doing and who will be able to view feedback. This aspect is important as any information you submit through Starfish is visible to the student and becomes part of the student's academic record. You can see the actual flag messages that are generated through Starfish when you select the specific flag alert. The Starfish Message Templates lists all of the messages if you want to read all the templates at once.
Each alert offers a specific message (email) to the student from Starfish Cortland. If you add additional comments to a flag alert, the comments will be embedded in the email stating they are from the instructor.
Reviewing or Clearing Alerts:
If you ever need to access an alert you sent to a student, simply search the student's name under the My Students or Tracking tab, select the student. Once in the student's online folder, under Tracking, find your item and select the plus sign to reach the alert and comments or with your cursor, hover over the flag icon and the alert will open, giving you access to read the content, edit the message, comment on the alert, or clear the alert (if the student has responded to you and addressed the concern).
Campus personnel with permission to see all of these student flag alerts include the: academic advisor, advisement and transition, associate dean and the instructor that raised the original flag. In all cases the student will receive an email notifying them of the particular flag alert and any comments about their academic performance.
If you are concerned about the private nature of the alert, it is best to make a phone call to Advisement and Transition (607-753-4726) or to the respective Associate Dean.
You may see emails from starfish@cortland.edu regarding your academic performance in class as well as any recommendations to support you. To access Starfish, log into myRedDragon and select the Starfish tab to set up your profile. Make sure you check your email daily and respond to any notifications or recommendations you receive. Starfish is helpful and easy to use as you connect with me and all the resources on our campus.
Hello advisees, I am using Starfish to schedule academic advising appointments. Login to myRedDragon and select the Starfish Tab. I will be listed as your academic advisor under the My Connections area on your dashboard. Select my name and you will then see my profile page. Select the blue "Schedule Appointment" link under my name. The system will walk you through the process.
The Services link on the Starfish main menu is essentially an alphabetical listing of our student support offices. Student have the same link so you can utilize this list when referring students to another office for assistance.
Starfish Help: You are encouraged to contact us at Starfish@cortland.edu with questions. Online training sessions offered via WebEx:
https://sunycortland.webex.com/meet/starfish.webex
Additional sessions available soon. Call 607-753-4726 or if you have questions or need immediate help.
Please join us. No need to RSVP:
Get started with this 1-hour session focusing on basic features of Starfish (including setting up your profile and advice from faculty). Winter and Summer faculty are welcome to attend these sessions.
Dive into the features you want to use this semester. Maximize your time by choosing this 30-minute session focused on a specific Starfish feature.
WebEx login: https://sunycortland.webex.com/meet/starfish.webex
Please contact your colleagues if you have Starfish questions:
We are looking to include additional representatives for our Faculty Ambassador program as well as the Advisory Council. Ambassadors serve as a resource for colleagues who may have Starfish questions. Council members offer platform advice, assist with template creation and discuss notification workflows, etc. Reach out to starfish@cortland.edu for additional information.
User Statement and Expectations and FERPA and Policy Definitions: All records and information placed in Starfish are part of the student's academic record. Students will be able to read any information put in their online folder. Read the Starfish Privacy Policy regarding data collected by the Starfish Success Platform.
All information in Starfish and myRedDragon is disclosable under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). All information put into the system should use student-facing and student-friendly language.
Most academic flags in the system are viewable by the student they reference, the faculty or staff member who raised them, and any individual who may be associated with the flag. Flags are meant to connect everyone with the common goal of ensuring the student's academic success.
Starfish is not intended to respond to mental health or safety concerns. If you have a significant concern about a student’s health, safety or well-being please contact the Behavior Assessment Team (BAT).
Advisement and Transition
Memorial Library
Room A-111
starfish@cortland.edu
Phone: 607-753-4726
Fax: 607-753-5593
8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Monday-Friday