Starfish For Faculty

Use the LOGIN button below to access your Starfish account. You can also access Starfish by going to CampusNet (click on the Instructor tab, then the Starfish link next to the blue star).

Starfish can also be found in your Blackboard Tools. 

*Starfish is unavailable each week from Saturday at 6:00PM-11:59PM due to regular CampusNet upgrades.  

As soon as you are linked to your course(s) in CampusNet, you will automatically get access to Starfish. You'll have connections to each of your course rosters, with lots of data on each student.

Once in Starfish, it is important to Set Up Your Profile to optimize your's and your student's experience: 

1. Complete Your Profile: Add a Profile Picture, adjust your Job Title, add a Biography to help students get to know you, and edit your Contact information.
2. Adjust your Appointment Preferences (if applicable): If you want to allow students to schedule with you during your Office Hours, check out the settings here to manage scheduling preferences.
3. Set your Notification Preferences: Don't miss out on communications!

*Here's a quick guide on How to Set Up Your Profile.

In Starfish, navigate to your Students page from the menu in the top-left corner. 

Here you will find a list of students relevant to your role(s) at CSU. Each student listed has a Student Folder available for you to view that includes important student data and information (Assigned Coach/Advisor, GPA, Credit Hours, Notes, Courses, etc.). 

Adjust the Connections filter to select between various student lists of:

• Your Course Rosters
• Your Faculty Advising Caseload (if applicable)
• All Students (if applicable) 

You may download your course roster by adjusting your Connection to one of your courses, then click the Download button. 

Optional: Once you've adjusted your Connections filter, you can further refine your list to focus on specific populations within the list of students by adding Filters. Here's a quick guide on How to Filter Student Lists and Filtering by Attributes.
 

*Guide: Viewing Student Data 
*Guide: Download your Class Roster

You can track and alert students of their progress by raising Tracking Items for them.

You can raise Tracking Items for your students at anytime in the term. Tracking items can be raised individually for students, or you can raise them in bulk by selecting multiple students at a time. 

What are Tracking Items?

• Flags – Alert students and support staff to academic concerns or risks
• To-Dos – Assign specific tasks to help students stay on track
• Referrals – Connect students with campus resources and services
• Kudos – Recognize and encourage positive progress and achievements

*Here's a quick guide on How To Raise & Manage Tracking Items for your students.
*Here's a quick guide on How To Resolve/Clear Tracking Items that you've raised.
*Wondering what happens to the Flags you raise? Check out how our academic coaches are responding to your flags.

Progress Surveys allow you to provide structured feedback on student performance at key points in the term (typically Weeks 2, 4–5, and 8–9). 

You will receive an email notification and see a System Announcement in Starfish when a Progress Survey is available to complete.

These surveys are tied to your course roster and allow you to efficiently identify students who may need support by raising Flags and Kudos in bulk. This streamlined process makes it easy to provide timely feedback across your entire class.

Using Progress Surveys helps you:

• Identify students who may be at risk early
• Provide timely feedback with minimal effort
• Raise tracking items for multiple students at once
• Support coordinated outreach from advisors and support staff

*Here's a quick guide on How to Complete Progress Surveys. 

You can quickly Record Course Attendance in Starfish throughout the term. 

When attendance is tracked in Starfish, the system supports your work by automatically raising Flags at key absence thresholds (2, 3, 4, and 6 absences in a course).
Instructors may choose to track attendance in either Starfish or Blackboard Ultra. The two systems do not share data.

Attendance records are visible to students and their Success Network, promoting accountability and enabling timely intervention.

*Here's a quick guide on How To Record Attendance for your courses. 

You can use Starfish to communicate with students and keep a record of your interactions by creating Notes.

Notes allow you to:

• Send emails to students directly through Starfish
• Document meetings, outreach, or concerns for your own records
• Maintain internal notes that are not shared with students

You can raise Notes for your students at anytime in the term. Notes can be sent individually for students, or you can send them in bulk by selecting multiple students at a time. 

Important: Starfish is a one-way communication tool. When you send a note as an email, the student will receive it and can reply directly to your CSU email address. However, student replies are not stored in Starfish, so you will need to refer to your email for ongoing conversations.

*Here's a quick guide on Record Student Interactions for your students.
*Here's a quick guide on how to Send an Email (Note) to your students. 

You can host your office hours or course conferences in Starfish by setting up Office Hours. Setting up Office Hours allows students to schedule appointments with you directly, reducing back-and-forth communication and making it easier for them to find and book appointments.

When a student schedules an appointment, you will be notified by email and the meeting will appear on your Starfish calendar. Appointments are also visible to the student and their Success Network.

*Strongly Recommended: Sync your Starfish calendar with Outlook to prevent scheduling conflicts with other commitments already blocked on your Outlook calendar.

*Need help setting up your Starfish calendar? Reach out to Starfish Support, and we'll get you set up in ~15 minutes!

*Here's a quick guide on Setting Up Office Hours & Appointment Scheduling in Starfish.
*Video: Office Hours & Appointment Scheduling

Video: Faculty Quick Overview

Video: A Way to Connect