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UMKC Connect

STUDENT

Starfish Connect Help Guide

Frequently asked questions and quick

troubleshooting tips

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Table of Contents

Getting Started

1) How do I access Connect? Pg. 3

2) How do I set up my profile? Pg. 4

3) Homepage walkthrough Pg. 5-6

4) How do I set an Appointment with someone in My Success Network? Pg. 7-8

5) What is the Success Network? Pg. 9

Frequently Asked Questions/Troubleshooting

6) Someone who should be in My Success Network is not there. What do I do? Pg. 10

7) I can’t schedule an appointment with someone in My Success Network. Pg. 11

8) How do I clear To-Do items from my profile? Pg. 12

9) How do I find available appointment times on my advisor’s calendar? Pg. 13

10) I am going to change my major. How will this affect My Success Network? Pg. 14

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UMKC Connect

How do I access Starfish Connect?

Starfish Connect is accessed through BlackBoard as long as you are a student with

“Active” status at UMKC. As an Active/Current student, all you need to do is log in to

BlackBoard using your SSO/password and click on the Connect tab in the top right corner of

the screen.

If you are a mac user, make sure you enable cookies so that you can gain access to

Connect!

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UMKC Connect

How do I set up my profile?

Once you are in Connect, you simply click on your name in the top right corner to set up

your profile:

Once you have clicked your name, confirm that your SSO/email address/phone number

are all accurate, upload a picture of yourself, and select your notification/reminder

preferences.

Once you are done, don’t forget to hit SUBMIT/SAVE to save your preferences!

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What are all of the boxes on my homepage?

My Success Path – Your Success Path is where action items that have been assigned to

you will show up. For example, if your academic advisor assigns you a “To Do” item to

complete a petition for exception, it would appear like this:

Click View Details to see more information about the item and possibly a

hyperlink!

My Success Network – This window will show people like your advisor and other

relevant services/groups that are important for success in your college career.

The My Success Network window also shows current office hours for your

important contacts indicated by the active hyperlink that says See Available

Appointments. Use this link to schedule online without emailing or calling the office!

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What are all of the boxes on my homepage? (Continued)

Courses I’m Taking – This box lists all of your courses, instructors, and office hours.

You can use this box to set appointments with your class instructors by clicking

on the See Available Appointments hyperlink.

Appointments – This box shows upcoming appointments and it also shows previous

appointments that you have completed.

Use the drop down to filter upcoming appointments from previous

appointments!

My Messages – This is a record of the messages you received through Starfish Connect

regarding appointments or emails from individuals in your My Success Network window.

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How do I set an appointment with someone in My Success Network?

In order to set an appointment with a contact, he or she must set up office hours and

have available times to meet.

The My Success Network window shows that Jennifer Coldiron has set up her office

hours. You can schedule an appointment with her by clicking See available appointments

beneath her name. Ari Bavel does not have his office hours set up. Since he is listed as a

course instructor, please refer to the course syllabus for the class to find available times to

meet.

Starfish will show you what times are available by showing a Sign Up link next to a green

plus sign. All you have to do is find the time you want and click Sign Up

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How do I set an appointment with someone in My Success Network? (Continued)

Once you click Sign Up, you will be asked to fill out some information.

All you need to fill out is the reason (drop down menu), choose if it is related to a

specific course, and fill out the detailed description so she knows what you want to meet

about. Lastly, click Submit, the meeting will schedule on her calendar, and both of us will be

emailed a confirmation.

REMEMBER! You can look up this appointment in your My Appointments window if you

forget when it is or if you need to change it to another time! Just click the icon and

choose what you would like to do.

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What is the Success Network? The Success Network is a list of UMKC academic resources and academic units. It can

be accessed by clicking on Success Network at the top of your screen next to the Home

button.

Each entry in the Success Network shows you a brief summary of the service, how it can

help your academic career, and the contact information. If you click the title, you can even

see faculty and staff who are involved in the service.

IMPORTANT! You can also see services in your My Success Network window when you

select the option from the dropdown!

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Someone who should be in My Success Network is not there. What do I do?

First, confirm that the dropdown menu in your My Success Network window reflects what you

are looking for. The easiest way to accomplish this is to select Show all in this term.

The individuals in the My Success Network window are customized so that you can have

a personalized view of the individuals that are linked to you. We have designed the My

Success Network window to be easy to work with and to display only individuals that you

would contact to schedule meetings. If you feel there is someone that should be in the My

Success Network window that is not there, we recommend you speak with your primary

academic advisor to confirm if he or she should be in your network.

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I cannot schedule an appointment with someone in My Success Network. What do I do?

In order for you to set an appointment with someone in your My Success Network

window, he or she must have set up office hours through Connect. You can tell who has set

up office hours and who has not by checking the line under their name. It will either say

“See available appointments” or “Online Scheduling Unavailable”

Remember! If you are trying to contact a course advisor, please refer to your course

syllabus first to find out when designated office hours are scheduled.

If you need to contact an individual who does not have office hours established in

Connect, you can click on the next to the listed name to see his/her contact

information.

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How do I clear a To Do item from my profile?

Students are unable to clear To Do items from their profile. This must be done by the

individual who assigned the item to you. As a student, you can hide the item by clicking on

the HIDE button next to the To Do item in your My Success Path window when you have

completed the To Do item.

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How do I find available appointments on my advisor’s calendar?

The easiest way to find available appointment times on your advisor’s calendar is to look

at the mini calendar on the left side of the screen after you click See Available Appointments

in your My Success Network window.

Days with available appointment times will be in bold font.

Bolded numbers indicate there are available appointment times on those days. In this example,

there are available appointment slots on the 1st, 11th, 13th, and 15th.

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I am changing my major. How will this affect the people in the My Success Network window?

The people in the My Success Window are linked to you in specific ways. If you change

your academic advisor or your major, the people in the My Success Network window will

change to accommodate your new academic unit without any actions on your behalf.