Advising Center

1. Open the Starfish menu by clicking on the three lines in the top left corner of the page.
2. Click on your name to expand the menu.
3. Click on Edit Profile
4. Help students put a face to your name by using the Upload Photo link beneath the placeholder to upload a photo.
5. You may choose to add your office phone number if you wish
6. Add information to the General Overview and My Biography sections to let students know a bit more about you. This information will appear to students who view your information in Starfish.
7. Click the Submit button to save your changes. 

Starfish video (7 min): Update your Starfish Profile

You will be able to pull up information about students with whom you have a relationship assigned within Starfish (i.e., instructors to students in their courses). The amount and type of information that you will have access to depends on your role. For example, Department Chairs can see all students in the major, whereas an instructor can only see students in their class/es.

1. From the Starfish menu in the top left corner of the page, click Students.
2. Click on the My Students tab. You can search for individual students by typing the student’s name in the Search field or choosing your Connection to them.
3. To view specific information about a student, click the hyperlink associated with a student’s name to pull up the student’s folder. Anywhere you see a student’s name as a link it will take you to their folder.
   1. From the student’s folder, depending on your access, you will find information on appointments (past/upcoming), grades (past/current), notes (you added/shared with you), tracking history, and courses and networks.
   2. From the student folder, depending on your access, you will be able to add a note, create an appointment, email a student, raise a flag, and create a referral.

If you want to let a student know how they are doing academically at any point during the term, you can raise an individual flag or kudo which will let the student know if they need to follow up with you to improve their academic performance or if they are doing well.  

You will receive an email reminder from the Advising Center director when there is a new survey for you to complete. Each survey presents a roster of your students for whom you can raise flags or kudos. Be aware that you may have multiple surveys to complete as a separate survey is generated for each course reference number.

1. Select the progress survey link on your Starfish Home page or click on the Students link from the Starfish menu and click on the Progress Surveys tab (only visible when you have active surveys). The selected survey opens, listing your students on the left, and items you may raise across the top.
2. Check the box for each desired item/student combination. When you check a box an icon will appear next to the student’s name for you to add additional comments, if desired. In most cases, these comments are sent directly to the student as part of an automated email that is generated by Starfish once the Progress Survey is submitted. Click the information icon associated with an item to verify whether or not the student can view the flag and related comments.
3. Click the Submit button only when you are finished providing feedback. Once you have submitted the survey you will not have an opportunity to add to or undo the items you raised. Use the Save Draft option if you aren’t ready to submit your survey. If you don’t have any feedback to report, it is important that you still click Submit so we know you have reviewed the survey.

Note: You may be asked to submit more than one survey if more than one of your courses has been included in the survey plan. They will be listed in the drop-down menu on the Progress Surveys tab.

Starfish Video (4.5 min): Respond to Progress Survey

You can allow students to schedule appointments with you online through Starfish by setting up your appointment preferences and office hours. Follow these steps only if you wish to enable this feature.

Set up your Appointment Preferences

Through Appointment Preferences, you can specify the default location and duration of your available appointment times. In addition, you can set a scheduling deadline and grant access to others to manage your calendar.

1. Open the Starfish menu by clicking on the three lines in the top left corner of the page.
2. Click on your name to expand the menu.
3. Click on Appointment Preferences.
4. Select your Minimum Appointment length.
5. Select your Scheduling deadline, if applicable (i.e., appointments must be made by 5 p.m. the day before).
6. Establish My Locations so students know where they can meet with you. You can add Zoom/Teams link here as well as your office number. You will be able to choose your location when you set up your hours.
7. Designate Calendar Managers, if desired. Calendar managers will be able to see and edit your office hours and appointments.

Click the Submit button to save your changes.

Set up your Office Hours block

The first time you log in, Starfish will provide a ‘wizard’ to walk you through setting up your office hours, which enables students to schedule time with you online and will send you both a reminder message the day of the appointment. If you do not wish to complete the wizard, uncheck the box labeled “Show me this Office Hours Setup Page again next time I login if I don’t have any Office Hours” and click the Close button. You can set up your office hours without the wizard at any time.

1. From the Appointments page, click on the Office Hours button.
2. Give your block a title such as ‘Office Hours’ and indicate on which day(s) of the week this block occurs. Note that you can set up multiple blocks with different names and settings, if desired.
3. Specify the start and end time for each appointment block.
4. Set the location. Locations set up through Appointment Preferences will show automatically.
5. Select your Office hours Type. If you are using a kiosk, use ‘Scheduled and Walk-ins.’
6. Specify the minimum and maximum appointment length.
7. Enter any special instructions. You can also specify a Start/End Date which allows you to set a date for your block to end. Use this feature if your schedule will change after a certain date.
8. Click the Submit button.

To edit/cancel a series of office hours, click on the Agenda view of your calendar. Hover over the clock icon to edit the frequency, time of day, locations, office hour types, minimum and maximum duration of appointments, appointment types, instructions, or start/end date of the series.

To edit/cancel individual occurrences, click on the Day view of your calendar. Hover over the clock icon to display a pop up card from which you can take additional actions.

Important Note: Once an office hour block is saved, you will not be able to edit weekdays on which it occurs or type of frequency (e.g. weekly).

Starfish Video: Email Notification for Appointments & Tracking

Starfish Video: Setting up Office Hours