What is Starfish?

Starfish is an early alert system that helps you and your instructors communicate about your class performance and connects you to resources at NWTC that will help you reach your goals. Check your NWTC student email and Starfish frequently for updates from the people who want you to succeed! 

To access Starfish, login to Starfish or login to Canvas and click the Help & Resources icon in the lower left to choose NWTC Starfish. (You may need to use multi-factor authentication to verify your identify. Watch our short Canvas login video).

Helpful Starfish Terms:

Flag

Your instructor will raise a Starfish flag when they are concerned about your performance in a class. The 3 flags you may receive are:

• No Show – raised if you miss the first meeting of an in-person class or do not login to an online class within the first week.
• Current Grade – raised if your instructor is concerned about your grade in the class.
• Participation – raised if your instructor is concerned about your participation or attendance in class.

If you receive a flag, you should talk to your instructor about their concerns.

Learn more about how to respond to flags.

Kudo

Your instructor will raise a Starfish kudo as a way to recognize your effort and hard work. Examples of kudos you may receive include:

• Showing improvement
• Great effort
• You can do this!

Referral

NWTC instructors and staff can raise Starfish referrals to help connect you to NWTC student services. When a referral is raised, NWTC staff from the referred department will reach out to you via email or phone to connect you to the resources you need.

Learn more about how to respond to referrals.

To-Do

You may receive a Starfish to-do if there is a task or item that the college needs you to complete. Some examples of to-dos are Faculty Mentoring Meetings, Mock Interviews, or Resume Reviews.

Learn more about how to respond to to-dos.

Schedule appointments with your success network. Watch the video about Starfish Appointment Scheduling.

Request Help

You can use the request help option to fill out a form to connect with many services at NWTC.  Watch the video about Requesting Help.