Why Starfish Connect?
Goals:
- Help students successfully complete courses
- Connect students with campus resources
- Allow students to have more effective meetings with Advisors and Counselors
Starfish Connect includes an academic early alert system that allows faculty to raise flags when they have a concern about student performance, give kudos to provide positive feedback to students, and make referrals to campus resources. Starfish Connect is also used by Advisors, Counselors, and some campus offices to schedule appointments and to document student visits. Some instructors also use Starfish Connect to allow their students to schedule office hour visits with them online.
Why are we using Starfish Connect?
We want all Community College of Philadelphia students to successfully complete their degrees or certificates. The Starfish Connect software allows faculty to easily communicate their concerns to students while at the same time communicating these concerns to student support staff on campus. Starfish provides a way for faculty and students to directly communicate with one another about student issues that need to be resolved. Students can be more successful when direct faculty-student communication is combined with effective support from advisors, counselors, and other staff on campus. Students do not succeed alone but need the help of all their current instructors and the College's student support staff.
Students use Starfish Connect to schedule appointments online with academic advisors. Since all visits are documented in Starfish Connect, if a student visits with more than one advisor during a term or academic year, advisors will know what has happened in a previous visit. This knowledge will make all visits more productive. Counselors at the College do not currently have online scheduling but all visits with a counselor are also documented in Starfish Connect.
How are FERPA and other student privacy concerns being addressed?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) gives colleges a lot of flexibility in terms of designating campus officials that can be allowed to see portions of a student's education records. "A school may share education records or information from education records, with anyone it has deemed a 'school official' and has determined to have a 'legitimate educational interest' in that information.” At Community College of Philadelphia, current instructors, faculty advisors, counselors and other appropriate individuals who provide academic outreach have access to student information within Starfish Connect. Most referrals made in Starfish are confidential. Only the referring instructor or staff member, the student, appropriate student support staff, and the campus office referred to can view this information.
How do I access Starfish Connect?
For a comprehensive guide to accessing Starfish Connect, view the Getting Started pages in the Student and Faculty/Staff sections of this site:
What to do if I have problems with Starfish Connect?
Email us at Starfishconnect@ccp.edu
Expectations:
Faculty |
Support Staff |
Students |
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