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COMPASS Getting Started Guide Course Instructors

Powered by Starfish ® Retention Solutions

Welcome to COMPASS at Agnes Scott College COMPASS* provides you with a convenient way to keep track of your students – raising flags when you observe a pattern of behavior that concerns you, ensuring that the people on campus who can intervene are aware and sending a “kudo” to acknowledge students who are doing well. It also allows your students to easily book an appointment with you or someone else who can help. Getting started is easy! Accessible at compass.agnesscott.edu, COMPASS will automatically display all

students who are enrolled in your courses. If you are a faculty advisor also, your assigned advisees will also

be displayed. In COMPASS, You can raise flags about students, review flags that have been raised about your

students, and provide additional information.

This guide highlights the steps for completing four common tasks in COMPASS:

Setup your Profile

Setup Office Hour

Raise a Flag on one of your students

Respond to a Progress Survey for students in your course

Need Help? Technical Issues Please login with your Agnes Scott College network username and password. If you have difficulty logging in, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 404 471-5487 [email protected]. Training Questions Email [email protected] or call the Office of Academic Advising at (404) 471-6200. *COMPASS is powered by the Starfish ® Retention Solutions so as you become more familiar with this service you may see references to Starfish®.

Log-in to COMPASS at compass.agnesscott.edu using your ASC User ID & password.

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COMPASS Getting Started Guide – Course Instructors

© 2015 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential UPDATED 8/2016 of 15

Setup your Profile

Some of your profile, such as your contact information, is imported from our main information system,

Colleague.

1. Click on your name in the Top Navigation bar and select the Institutional

Profile tab.

2. Help students put a face to your name by using the Upload Photo link

beneath your existing photo or placeholder to upload a photo.

Browse to a photo file

(.jpg, .png, or .gif),

and then click the

Upload Now button

to update your photo.

3. Edit your Phone and

add an Alternate

Email address to have

COMPASS send email to an address other than your institution email. Select the Both radio button to

receive email at both accounts.

4. 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

can make appointments with you in COMPASS. You may edit this information at any time.

5. Click the Submit button to save your changes.



Setup your first Office Hours Block

The first time you log in, COMPASS will provide a ‘wizard’ to walk you through setting up your office hours,

which enables students to schedule time with you. If you do not wish to complete the wizard just yet, check

the box labeled “Show me this Office Hours Setup Page again next time I login if I don’t have any Office

Hours”, and then click the Close button.

If your office hours are different week to week, follow the use the Scheduling Wizard option

If your office hours recur:

1. Complete the fields presented to

specify:

What day(s) do you have

office hours? - check the boxes

for each day.

What time are your office

hours? - enter a start and end

time.

Where are they? - select the

Type of setting and enter the

Details in the field provided

(e.g. the building and room

number of your office).

If relevant, provide

Instructions for students who make appointments with you.

2. Click the Set up Office Hours button to save your office hours.

NOTES

To setup additional office hours or make any changes, use the buttons on your Home or Appointments page

to Add Office Hours, Add Appointment, Add Group Session, Reserve Time or use the Scheduling Wizard.



Using the Scheduling Wizard to Add Less Structured Office Hours

Students can only schedule an appointment at times you indicate are available by adding office hours or

group sessions. The Add Office Hours option is geared toward setting up a recurring block of time on a

regular pattern such as weekly or daily at a certain time. If you want to set up a group of Office Hours that are

less structured, use the Scheduling Wizard.

1. Click the Scheduling Wizard

icon and fill in the required

appointment details then click

the Next button to advance to

the next screen.

2. The date and time page of the

wizard is displayed using a

Monday through Friday grid

for the current week. The date

range is displayed in the top

right corner of the grid.

3. Fill in your appointment

availability from week to

week. Use the arrows to scroll

through the weeks within the

entire term.

4. Use the < > controls to the

right of the date range to

navigate to the week in which you want to begin scheduling the office hours. Click the Finish button.



Connecting with your Students

Course instructors can schedule meetings with students or provide students with an opportunity to sign-up

for meetings by by using the online calendar in COMPASS.

You can Add Office Hours, Group Sessions and individual Appointments using the buttons along the

top of the page.

The Appointments channel lists upcoming appointments and provides an access point for reviewing

appointment details, canceling an appointment, or documenting appointment outcomes.

Each appointment allows you or the student to provide information about the time and place of the

meeting, the reason for meeting and any detailed information that might help you prepare.

Scheduling Individual Appointments

1. Click Appointments at the

top, then choose the Add

Appointment link.

2. Search for a student name

in the “With” field.

3. Complete the fields to

specify the date, time and

duration of the

appointment. You and your

student will receive an

email confirmation for this

appointment.

4. Click Submit.



COMPASS Early Alert System

When you have a concern or need to offer feedback to a student or group of students, raise a flag or kudo in

COMPASS to communicate your observations. The appropriate individuals will be notified automatically

when you save/submit the flag or kudo.

Flags & Kudos

Raising a flag is a quick way to give feedback on student progress in your course and is intended to prompt

the student to follow up with the instructor directly to address the concern. Often a flag triggers an email to

the student about the flag, with comments that were made by the person who raised the flag. Flags might

also trigger email notifications to professional advisors in the Office of Academic Advising. Therefore, all

(except two) flags will result in COMPASS generating an email to the student [and her advisor(s)].

Add Kudos to acknowledge positive progress/achievements of students. Kudos almost always include an

email to the student with the comments of the person who is adding the kudos.

NOTES

Not sure when it’s appropriate to raise a flag for a student in your course? Stop by the Office of Academic

Advising (OAA) in Buttrick Hall or contact OAA at 404-471-6200 for assistance.

Instructors

• Raise Flags when appropriate.

• Respond to Progress Surveys twice a semester when emailed.

• Close/clear the Flag when the issue has been addressed with the student.

Major & Professional Advisors

• Receive email notifications about the Flag from COMPASS.

• Record follow up actions in COMPASS:

• Add notes/coments (if applicable)

• Schedule appointments (if applicable)

Students

• Receive email notifications when flagged. Flags that aren't routed to students are appropriately labeled.

• Contact/follow-up with the course instructior and the academic support services.

https://starfish.zendesk.com/entries/20692643



How to Raise a Flag on a Student in Your Course

1. Click on the Students

navigation item to see your list

of students.

2. Find the desired student by

typing the name into the

Search box.

3. Click on the student’s name to

bring up the Student Folder.

4. Click the Flag button.

A list of flags that you have

permission to raise on this

student is displayed.

5. Select the desired Flag from

the list.

6. If relevant, select a course from the Course

Context, drop down list, and enter notes in

the Comment box. All of the student’s

courses will appear. Please your course.

7. Click the Submit button.

NOTES

The Student View: indicates whether the

student can view the flag and the notes you

include in the Comment box.

The Permissions area lists roles that have

permission to view the selected flag and the

notes you include in the Comment box.



What happens AFTER a Flag is raised?

In general, instructors raise flags related to a student’s performance in a course and are responsible for

clearing the flags they raise. Students are not able to clear/resolve any flags raised about them, but they are

expected to respond to flags by contacting the instructor who raised the concern.

Clearing a flag is recommended as soon as the student has responded (either via an email to you or in person

acknowledgement). If the problem persists, you can raise the flag again.

Viewing COMPASS Flags & Adding Comments

When viewing a flag on your Student List, Student

Folder or on your dashboard in COMPASS, hover

your cursor over the red flag icon in order to view

the following menu options: Details, Edit, Comment,

Assign or Clear the flag.

Prior to clearing a flag, you can add Comments to the flag in the form of a Note itself as a way to document

your interventions and/or to provide more background information for the situation for members of the

academic advising staff. A pop-up form will allow you to add the notes. Anyone listed in the Permissions

section of the flag has access to view your comments. You can add multiple notes and edit those notes.

There’s also an option to send a copy of the note yourself or to the student.

NOTE

1. Please remember that all data & notes entered in

COMPASS become part of the student’s

“educational record” and are subject to FERPA

restrictions.

If you need assistance documenting a COMPASS

note, contact the Office of Academic Advising.



Closing & Clearing Flags

If you select the Clear option on the flag, you’ll then be prompted to provide a comment as to why and to

type in a “Close the Loop” message (only needed if you are clearing a flag raised by another person).

In the form that opens, add a resolution note, and where applicable a Close the Loop note (if you are

clearing an item you did not raise), and Submit the form.

NOTES

If you are clearing a flag and have the option to enter a Close the Loop note, it is always a good idea to do so

in order to encourage others with permission to view the comments to continue to raise flags and help

students.

You may also do this same process by locating the student under the Student tab. Select the resolution option

“Clear” for the selected Flag.

Depending on the role(s) you have in COMPASS and the permissions that have been set on each alert, you

may have permission to view or manage one or more flags for your students. The View permission means

that when the flag is raised on one of your students, that flag will appear on your Students/Tracking tab as

well as in the tracking tab within that student's folder, you will be able to review the comments included by

the flag raiser. The Manage permission allows you to 1) add comments to a flag that has already been raised,

2) review comments added by other flag managers, and 3) clear (resolve) the flag.

Your role may also have permission to Assign active flags to yourself or a professional advisor who

has Manage permission on the flag.



Your Tracking tab

The Tracking tab allows you to review and take actions on your students in a similar way, but is focused on

those students who have /had tracking items. You'll notice that the available actions are slightly different

from the My Students tab, and the columns provide details about each tracking item including: name, status,

created by, assigned to, created date and if relevant, due date and context (e.g. the course in which the flag

was raised). Note too, that the same student may be listed more than once, because the tracking tab is

showing you a row for each tracking item vs. a row per student.

To resolve multiple tracking items at once:

1. Navigate to Students > Tracking.

2. Use the checkboxes next to each student's name to select the items to be resolved. Note that there

will not be a checkbox next to any items for which you do not have Manage permissions.

3. Select the Resolve button in the action bar at the top of the page. In the form that opens, the

number of items being resolved is noted in the form's header (e.g. Mark 2 Flags as Cleared).

4. Verify the selected number of items and add a resolution Comment that is applicable to all of the

selected items. If you haven't raised the items being cleared, you will also be prompted to Close the

Loop , Click the Submit button to clear the selected items. .



Instructor-raised COMPASS Flags

Below is a list of flags that course instructors can currently raise on students in their courses.

1. No Show: designed for first week or two of classes when an enrolled student has never attended

**please note that all instructors should be checking their course rosters in AscAgnes and alerting the

Registrar about no-shows prior to the last day to add and last days to drop/withdraw from a course.

2. Attendance Concern: raised when 2 consecutive absences occur or whenever sporadic absences are

impacting a student’s performance

3. Low Participation: raised when you sense a lack of engagement

4. Low Quiz/Test Score: should be raised for scores below a C (helpful to include in comments

suggestion to see you or a course tutor)

5. Missing/Late Assignments: should be raised when an assignment is late (helpful to include in

comments your policy on late written work)

6. Serious Academic Concern: raised when a student is in danger of failing the course but hopefully

before it is no longer possible to pass

7. General Concern: may be used to communicate a concern to advisor(s) but not student, primarily

academic in nature. While this will not generate an email to the student, please refrain from including

very sensitive details. Use the flag to alert the advisor and track the concern but details are best left to

a phone call or meeting.

8. Behavioral Concern: may be used a concern about behavior (either signs of possible distress or

disruptive behavior). While this will not generate an email to the student, please refrain from

including very sensitive details. Use the flag to alert the advisor and track the concern but details are

best left to a phone call or meeting.

9. Retention Issue: raised whenever a student indicates interest or intent to withdraw frm the college

and/or transfer out. Does not generate an email to the student.



Respond to an A cademic Progress Survey for Students in your Courses

Course instructors will receive an email at least twice per semester requesting the completion of an

Academic Progress Survey for each of their courses. A progress survey provides instructors with a quick way

to raise alerts on students by course roster. Responding to a progress survey, raises the corresponding

alerts as if they had been raised manually.

1. Click on the progress survey link on your COMPASS Home page to go the Progress Surveys tab. (only

visible when you have active surveys).

2. The selected survey opens, listing your students on the left, and items you may raise across the top.

3. Check the box for each desired item/ student combination.



4. Click the comments icon ( ) to open

a text box for your notes.

5. Click the information icon ( )

associated with an item to verify

whether or not the student can view

the flag and related comments.

6. Click the Submit button only when you are finished providing feedback. The items you selected will

be raised on your students when you submit the survey.

Important: 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. The student’s

advisor(s) will also have access to this information.

NOTES

You may be asked to submit more than one course 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.



NOTES

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Need Help? Technical Issues Please login with your Agnes Scott College network username and password. If you have difficulty logging in, contact the ITS Help Desk at 404 471-5487 [email protected]. Training Questions Email [email protected] or call the Office of Academic Advising at (404) 471-6200.

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