Starfish: Impact on Honors College Students

The Honors College and Starfish

East Carolina University’s Honors College aspires to be a national exemplar in honors education and strives to recruit, engage, and retain exceptionally talented students and to challenge them to attain high levels of academic achievement. The use of a campus-wide academic system (Starfish) allows students an additional connection to faculty and an additional means to monitor their academic progress. This follows the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines by providing multiple means of action and engagement.

Critical to the success of the Honors College is its commitment to a diverse intellectual community dedicated to excellence in the pursuit of knowledge, skills, and experiences within an innovative multi-disciplinary learning environment especially designed for tomorrow’s leaders. Using an early alert system strengthens the possibility to create communications and connections between and among students and faculty members.

IntroductionRetention of college students is becoming an increasingly important issue for administrators and academic officials. Additionally, competition for honors and high achieving students is emerging as a critical component of this larger conversation. As institutions continue to develop strategies for attracting top tier students, they must also consider their approaches to retaining these students. Research supports that encouraging students to do well academically and helping students feel engaged reduces the chance that students will drop out of school entirely or leave for another university. This study looked specifically at the use of one strategy for retention and engagement, Starfish Academic Alert System, and its use/impact on honors students.

Data Collection and Analysis

Kudos ranged from Keep Up the Good Work to Outstanding Academic Performance.

Focus group findingsHonors college students receiving a kudos felt• more comfortable interacting with professors• more confident in class• their work habits were justified• Starfish was unevenly used across disciplines and

professors.

ResearchersDr. Johna Faulconer (right) is an Associate Professor in the College of Education.Email: faulconerj@ecu.edu

Dr. Todd Fraley (left) is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and an Honors College Fellow.Email: fraleyt@ecu.edu

Next Steps Continuing the discussion among faculty on the benefits of using Starfish consistently across campus.

Educate Honors College students and faculty about Starfish.

Continue the analysis of Starfish data impacting Honors College students.

Honors College Starfish Data Fall 2012

Total Notifications sent to Honors Students

528

# of Warnings 63 (11.9%)

# of Kudos 465 (88%)

ResultsOverall findings were positive regarding the impact of Starfish on honors college students. Students felt more comfortable and confident when receiving kudos from faculty, especially in larger classes. For me its like confirmation that I am studying how I am supposed to be...I was just really excited about it, especially like in the chemistry. The class that is so big.Students perceived that faculty who used Starfish were more engaged with students. (The professors) were taking initiative and more interested in how I was doing.Focus group dialogue highlighted a lack of student knowledge or awareness about the academic alert system, Starfish. I wasn't really sure why some professors used it and some didn't. I didn't know a lot about it.

Universal Design for Learning

UDL Connections• Vary methods for response• Optimize access to assistive technologies• Enhance capacity for monitoring progress • Foster collaboration and community