Roles and relationships

by | Feb 24, 2016 | Training Update

Starfish is driven by roles and relationships. Every Starfish user must be in a particular role (for example, “Instructor”) and in an active relationship with a student (for example, with students currently enrolled in a course taught by that instructor) to log in to Starfish.

Every interaction in Starfish relies on 1) what a particular role is permitted to see and do, 2) which students are connected to that user through that role, and 3) when that relationship is active.

Relationships

Information about students, users, roles, and relationships is imported daily from LionPATH.

The first implementation phase will include seven roles:

  • Assigned Adviser. This role is for the one-to-one relationship between an adviser and a student assigned to the adviser’s advising roster in LionPATH. Assigned Advisers will be able to see past and present information on any student assigned to their roster. This person is visible in the student’s Success Network in Starfish.
  • General Adviser. This role creates a relationship between an academic adviser and all students at Penn State, enabling an adviser to work with any student who needs help. The same information is available to General Advisers as is to Assigned Advisers, but General Advisers are not visible in the student’s Success Network. This role is assigned through a separate security process.
  • Instructor. Any individual teaching a Penn State course is in this role and has a relationship to the students enrolled in that course. Instructors will be visible in the student’s Success Network. Instructors can only see information about students that is relevant to their course-based relationship and only during the time the student is enrolled in the course.
  • TA. Teaching Assistants assigned to a course in LionPATH will also be identified as Teaching Assistants in Starfish and will be in a relationship with students enrolled in that course. TAs see the same information as Instructors so. Note: Teaching assistants who are not identified in LionPATH will not be able to use Starfish.
  • Student. Any currently active Penn State student is a Starfish user. They will be able to see individuals with whom they are in a relationship through their Success Network. If those individuals have set up an appointment calendar, students will be able to make appointments through Starfish. (More on this in an upcoming post.)
  • Academic Support Staff. Individuals who are not in relationships with students but are support advisers and instructors and need to interact with Starfish. These individuals see a limited set of data about students.
    • Calendar Manager. A subset of Academic Support Staff who have the ability to manage calendars for other Starfish users. This role has no relationship with students. Each Starfish user can name any other Starfish user as their Calendar Manager.

The second and later implementation phases will address how other roles might be used in Starfish to improve student success and collaboration across the University. The Implementation Team has imagined these roles, including those who are in other types of academic success positions (such as counselors in the Multicultural Resource Center, Athletic Counselors, and college-specific career and study abroad offices).