The SOAR Network portal is the combination of technologies into one streamlined global system. The robust system will allow for communication and resource management across all campuses throughout the Ashland University world. This provides a central communication hub for supporting our AU students’ holistic success. Please watch the Starfish Video Here

Starfish, which powers the SOAR Network, is roles and relationships driven. Individuals may have multiple roles. What you see in the system is dependent on the role you have based on your relationship status with the University (ex., Student, Faculty, Staff). If you have questions about your access or role, please contact jmulholl@ashland.edu.

The SOAR Network portal is accessible through single sign-on via SOAR Network Website.

The SOAR Network portal has many levels of interaction that will be rolled out over the next few years. At this time, students, faculty, and staff may use the system to review and make advising notes, appointments, and calls to action via flags, referrals, and ToDos.

The SOAR Network portal is focused on the success of our students by providing a means of communication through an interactive platform. Students, faculty, and staff are able to engage and communicate faster and earlier to maximize interactions and solutions toward success. All interactions are archived and real-time data is collected and updated each day for predictive analytics Student Retention Success Scores.

Yes. For members of a student's Student Success Team, the goal is to have available office hours in the portal to allow students to more easily make appointments—whether the appointments are with advisors or faculty members.

The SOAR Network portal allows for Flag raising if there is a concern. It also allows for Referrals to be made to share information about resources available throughout the AU system with students. And, finally, a Kudos is a marker of doing something good in the classroom or in the campus community. Who doesn’t like a kudos?!

As the system rolls out, there will be many opportunities for interactive training. Check back often as resources will be added to this website. For the Quick Start Guide – please click here. If you would like specialized training, please contact your direct report so they may contact the Starfish Administrator for AU.

Starfish is roles and relationships based. Some users may have one role (Instructor) while others may have multiple roles (Academic Advisor, General Advisor). Your role determines who you have access to in the SOAR Network portal. On the Home screen, changes for students you can view will display. Since most users have an “all students” role, the result is the ability to see all recent changes in the system.

To see students to whom you may be assigned (caseloads, roles of Instructor, Academic Advisor, and Financial Aid Counselor, etc.), click on the three bars in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. Navigate to the drop-down next to Students, and click on the sub-menu for Tracking. On the Tracking screen, you can use the drop-down menu for Connection to select your role, which may further filter your tracking items view. You can choose certain cohorts or courses to view only those students as well as communicate in bulk if you so choose.

This list includes all students who are currently listed in Colleague with you as the primary advisor. If there are students listed who are not your advisees, you should talk to the team member in your office/school who assigns advisors as that information will have to be updated in COLLEAGUE. Once it is updated in COLLEAGUE, it will display correctly in the SOAR Network portal the next day.

The SOAR Network portal is a global system and represents students at all campuses in all programs. Students are accessible in the portal at the time of admission, which allows for documentation of New Student Advising and Orientation prior to initial enrollment. Additionally, as students may have to take a break in enrollment, the system retains student records for a period of four years. Students who have graduated are also still viewable in the SOAR Network portal for a period of four years to allow for documentation if they decide to return for a sequential graduate degree.

It depends. If the student was previously enrolled at Ashland University but has been out for more than four years, he or she will not be visible in SOAR Network portal until after reenrollment with the University. If the student is newly admitted to the University, it may take 24-48 hours after initially being visible in COLLEAGUE for the student record to pull into the SOAR Network portal. If neither of these situations is the case, please email and include the student name and ID number so that we may investigate the issue at soarnetwork@ashland.edu

It is likely a browser issue. The preferred browser is Chrome, and Firefox is another option. If you are a Safari user, please ensure you are using version 10.1.2 if you want to access the SOAR Network portal via Safari. Also, be sure you are taking the steps to resolve general login issues:  Having trouble logging in? Clear your cookies and web browser history and try again and be sure you are using full AU email and password. If that doesn't work, you can sign in "incognito" (Ctrl+Shift+N) or try a different web browser 

It depends. Please refer to the Flag Flow Charts and Managing Flags documents on this resource page. In general, most Flags will be routed to the Professional Academic Advisor, though many users/roles will have access to view and manage the Flags.

If you are the Academic Advisor and you will be addressing the Flag, it is recommended that you assign the Flag to yourself. This assignment provides a helpful visual indication to other users that you are handling the situation. If you determine that the Flag would be best handled by another user, you can assign the Flag to that user and include a helpful message with additional insight/information.

If you receive a notification that a Flag was assigned to you, it likely means that the Academic Advisor or another user reviewed the Flag and determined that you or your job function was best suited to address the situation. You can then review, handle, and clear the Flag, or if appropriate, reassign the Flag.

Students only have the option to make an appointment with people in their Networks if those people have set up their online schedulers. Faculty and Staff users can still make appointments for students not in their networks on behalf of the students. However, if this is an error due to a mistake in the Student Network please email at soarnetwork@ashland.edu so the issue can be resolved.

The Academic Advisor (primary advisor as assigned in COLLEAGUE), term/semester faculty members, and the student’s Financial Aid Counselor are the visible members in a student’s Network. All other roles have an “all students” role, so the system cannot determine who to filter into the student’s Network. Network information is derived based on caseload, which must be in COLLEAGUE.

This error is likely due to the system timing out (time-outs occur when the system has been idle for 20 minutes or more). Close the browser window, and log out of SOAR Network if you still have an active window. Close that window as well. Then, open a new window and log back in. Occasionally, you may receive this error despite having been actively working in the system. When that situation occurs, follow the same steps as above. While it may seem inconvenient to be timed out, this function is very important to ensure that all data is protected. If a user walks away from any machine, the timeout secures FERPA-protected information as a benefit, not a burden, of the system. Also follow these steps for login issues:  Having trouble logging in? Clear your cookies and web browser history and try again and be sure you are using full AU email and password. If that doesn't work, you can sign in "incognito" (Ctrl+Shift+N) or try a different web browser 

Double check your time zones in both your SOAR Network portal profile and your Ashland Google Calendar and ensure they match. If you are in the United States in Central Time, the SOAR Network portal should show Eastern Standard Time , and Ashland Google Calendar should show Eastern Standard Time.

In your profile, change your Login Page from the default to the area of most interest/use to you—often Students -> My Students or Students -> Tracking. Then, set up your filters to default to your assigned advisees, your school, your service location, or a specific tracking item. Note: If you have not set up any office hours, in order to change your Login Page, you will first have to go to Home and deselect the option to show the Office Hours Wizard every time you log in.

It is possible that your students have not been assigned an advisor within the SOAR Network portal because your department has not yet updated this information in COLLEAGUE, from which the SOAR Network portal pulls much of its information. If you pull up your students’ “Student Folders” and see that they have no assigned advisor in the system, you should contact the team member in your office or school who assigns advisors and ask them to update COLLEAGUE with this information.

A couple of options are available:

• Navigate to Appointments in SOAR Network portal. Choose Agenda, and find the appropriate date/time. Hover over the clock for that date/time, and click Cancel.
• Navigate to Appointments in the SOAR Network portal. Choose Week view, and find the appropriate date/time. Hover over the clock icon for the date/time (slightly above and to the left of the +Sign Up link); then, click Cancel.
• If a student has already made an appointment and you need to cancel the appointment, navigate to Appointments in the SOAR Network portal. Click on the Week tab and locate the student’s appointment. Hover over the calendar icon for that student’s appointment, and then, click Cancel.
• You can also Reserve Time to show that the date/time is no longer available for appointments without actually cancelling the appointment. To do so, in Appointments, click on the Reserve Time button and enter the details of the date/time you want to reserve.

Every staff that wants a 10 digit campus phone number to appear in the "Phone" box in their Starfish (SOAR Network) profile, will need to follow these steps:

1. Log in to Self Service (selfservice.ashland.edu)
2. Top right - click your username and select "User Profile"
3. Scroll to "Phone Numbers"
4. Do ONE of the following:
   • Verify that the "Campus Directory Phone" is a full 10 digits  (ie: 419.289.5405)
   • Use the pencil icon to edit the "Campus Directory Phone" to the full 10 digit campus phone number
   • Use the "Add New Phone" button to enter a full 10 digit campus phone
     number being sure to choose "Campus Directory Phone" from the "Type" dropdown
5. Save any changes

You should receive an email with the subject "Self Service Phone Notification" if you make any changes.