What is Starfish

Starfish connects students, faculty and staff to maximize student success and connection. Supported by pathways Success Teams and Coaches, Starfish is a critical tool supporting Guided Pathways. In the first year of usage, Santa Ana College achieved 5% higher persistence among students whose instructors used Starfish as well as better course outcomes (video).

Use Starfish Now

Login now with your SAC email address and password. You can also access Starfish through the main menu in Canvas.

Features

With Starfish, faculty can:
• Communicate with students about how they are doing.
• Acknowledge student awesomeness with kudos.
• Raise flags or alerts about student concerns.
• Communicate with counselors and support services, and follow up on flags and alerts.
• Refer students to key campus resources such as Tutoring, Counseling, DSPS, Basic Needs, and Health & Wellness.
• Filter for underage students

Learn More

• Starfish FAQ 
• PD videos on Student Success and Starfish (intranet)
• Faculty features (video)

Completing Progress Surveys

• Guide 
• Video

Success Items, Messaging and More

• List of success items and their respective email templates (intranet)
• Managing success items (pdf)
• Guidelines and best practices for student notes (pdf)
• Starfish Handbook (pdf)

Additional Videos

• How to update your profile
• Closing the loop

More videos are available in the Starfish Support Portal. Access the portal through the Help menu in Starfish and search the term "Video Library."