Bengal Success Portal Faculty Guide Welcome to the Bengal Success Portal! The Bengal Success Portal gives you a convenient way to keep track of your students and ensure timely intervention with instructors, advisers, and student support services. It also allows your students to easily book an appointment with you or someone else who can help. Getting started is easy. Accessible through Blackboard, the Bengal Success Portal will automatically display all students that you have been assigned or are enrolled in your courses. Contents Welcome to the Bengal Success Portal!... 1 Login and Set up Your Bengal Success Portal Profile... 2 Adding Office Hours in the Bengal Success Portal... 4 Office Hours Setup Wizard... 4 Edit Your Office Hours... 4 Sync Outlook and Bengal Success Portal Calendars... 6 Manually Raising Flags, Referrals, and Kudos... 7 Viewing Student Tracking Items... 9 Clearing Flags... 9 Appointments...10 Adding Appointment Outcomes and Speed Notes...12 Recording Interactions with a Student...14 Respond to a Progress Survey for Students in Your Courses...15
Login and Set Up Your Bengal Success Portal Profile Your Bengal Success Portal profile will let your students know who you are and how to contact you. Your profile also allows you to set appointment and email preferences. Some components of your profile, such as your contact information, are imported from Banner. 1. Login to Blackboard with your Buffalo State username and password. 2. Click on Bengal Success Portal under Tools. 3. Click on your name in the top right corner to view or edit your profile. You ll notice three tabs: Institutional Profile, Appointment Preferences, and Email Notifications. a. Institutional Profile i. Help students put a face to your name by using the Upload Photo link beneath the photo placeholder to upload a photo. ii. Edit your Phone and add an Alternate Email address to have Bengal Success Portal send email to an address other than your Buffalo State email. Select the Both radio button to receive email at both accounts. iii. Add information to the General Overview and My Biography sections to let students know more about you. This information will be visible to students who can make appointments with you in the Bengal Success Portal. iv. Click the Submit button to save your changes. b. Appointment Preferences: In the Appointment Preferences tab, you can specify the following: i. Basics: Specify your Minimum Appointment Length and Scheduling Deadline. ii. My Locations: Click Add Location to add locations for your meetings with students. iii. Calendar Managers: Add people to manage your calendar. Calendar managers can add and edit your office hours, and schedule and edit appointments on your calendar. iv. Click the Submit button to save your changes.
c. Email Notifications: In the Email Notifications tab, you can specify the following: i. Appointments Notifications: Select how you would like to be notified when students schedule or change appointments with you. ii. Summary Emails: Specify if and when you would like to receive a summary email of all tracking items and appointment activity in the Bengal Success Portal. iii. Tracking Item Notifications: Specify if and when you would like to be notified for tracking items. iv. Click the Submit button to save your changes.
Adding Office Hours in the Bengal Success Portal The first time you login to the Bengal Success Portal, a wizard to walk you through setting up your office hours, which enables students to schedule time with you. If you do not wish to complete the wizard just yet, check the box labeled Show me this Office Hours Setup Page again next time I login if I don t have any Office Hours, and then click the Close button. Office Hours Setup Wizard If your office hours are different week to week, follow the If your office hours don t repeat weekly, click here link. If your office hours recur: 1. Complete the fields presented to specify: a. What day(s) do you have office hours? Check the boxes for each day. b. What time are your office hours? Enter a start and end time. c. Where are they? Select the Type of setting and enter the Details in the field provided (e.g. the building and room number of your office). d. If relevant, provide Instructions for students who make appointments with you. For example: Thank you for scheduling an appointment with me. Please arrive at my office promptly. Bring any questions you may have to discuss. I look forward to meeting with you. 2. Click the Set up Office Hours button to save your office hours. Edit Your Office Hours After initially setting your office hours, you can setup additional office hours or make changes. 1. Click on the Appointments Tab 2. Click on Office Hours
a. Choose your: Title of the Office Hours, What day(s), Repeats every:, What time?, Where?, the Office Hour Type, and specify How long for the minimum and maximum appointment length. b. Any Instructions provided will be automatically sent to the student when they schedule an appointment with you. c. Indicate your Start and End Date. d. Click on Submit at bottom right to save.
Sync Outlook and Bengal Success Portal Calendars In order for your Outlook calendar information to be available to the Bengal Success Portal, you must set up notification preferences as described below. Configure integration in your profile 1. Select the Email Notifications tab from your Profile menu 2. In the Appointment Notifications section, check the box next to Read busy times from my external Exchange calendar 3. Follow the Click here link for calendar sharing instructions for your version of Microsoft Outlook. Sharing your calendar with Bengal Success Portal is necessary for your Bengal Success Portal profile to ready your Exchange calendar s busy times. External Calendar Holds on your Bengal Success Portal Calendar If you have integrated Bengal Success Portal and your Exchange calendar described in the previous section, information from your Exchange calendar will begin to appear on your Bengal Success Portal calendar. Items from your Exchange calendar will appear as external holds on your Bengal Success Portal calendar. An external hold is distinguishable from a Bengal Success Portal appointment on your Bengal Success Portal calendar in two ways: 1. The title on the calendar does not include the hyperlink to the student folder. 2. When you click the appointment menu icon the External Hold Menu is displayed rather than the Bengal Success Portal Appointment Menu.
As noted on the External Hold Menu, this item is editable only in the external calendar. You cannot edit or cancel this meeting from within Bengal Success Portal. External holds will be respected when a calendar owner or manager is adding an appointment or other reserved time to the calendar. Time will show as unavailable and appointments will not be able to be added over external holds. Manually Raising Flags, Referrals, and Kudos When you have a concern with a particular student, raise a flag, or referral to communicate your observations. When you want to provide encouragement to your students, use a kudos to acknowledge student effort and success. The appropriate individuals will be automatically notified when you save each flag, referral, or kudos. 1. In the Bengal Success Portal, click on the Students tab. 2. Find the appropriate student by searching for the student s name, or by using the Connection dropdown to view your students by connection (adviser, instructor, specific class, etc.). 3. Click on the student s name and select Flag, Referral, or Kudos. a. The tracking items (Flags, Referrals, and Kudos) displayed will depend on your connection with the student. b. For each tracking item you raise, be aware of who can see the specific item. After you select a specific tracking item, you will see Student View and Permissions. Make sure the comments you include are appropriate for the audience that will read them.
c. When finished, click Save.
Viewing Student Tracking Items Advisers, instructors, and other student support staff have the ability to view tracking items (flags, kudos, and referrals) for those students with whom they have a connection for the specific semester. To view tracking items for students: 1. Click on the Students tab. 2. Click on the Tracking tab. 3. You can search for a specific student, use the View filter to search for active/resolved items, and use the Connection filter to show specific groups of students you work with. 4. To see additional details about these tracking items, click the flag/kudos/referral dropdown arrow. a. This will open the tracking item menu. The actions you can take from this menu depend on the type of tracking item. The options below are for a raised Flag: i. Select View Flag Details to view all comments and actions. ii. Select Clear Flag to close the loop on this flag if it has been resolved. iii. Select Add Comment to send a note to the student and/or person who raised the flag. iv. Select Edit Flag to make changes to the flag. v. Select View Student Folder to view more information about the student. Clearing Flags When a student concern has been resolved, advisers and instructors should clear the Bengal Success Portal flag that was raised for the student. 1. Open the Bengal Success Portal and click on the Students tab. 2. Click on the Tracking tab. A list of all active tracking items for your students will appear. You can filter by various criteria, such as term, if needed. 3. When you have identified which flag you want to clear for a student, check the box next to the student s name and click Resolve. You can check multiple boxes and clear multiple flags at once, if needed. 4. You may be prompted to select a reason for clearing the flag and to enter a comment about why you are clearing the flag. A comment is beneficial for your recording keeping and for other instructors and advisers who have access to student flags. If available, check the box next to Send a message to close the loop, and type the message in the text box below. This lets the original flag-raiser know that the concern has been resolved. 5. Click Submit. The flag is now cleared and will no longer appear as an active tracking item to you, the student, or any other service providers who work with the student.
Appointments If you have set up office hours or advising hours, students are able to schedule appointments with you via the Bengal Success Portal. Instructors and advisers are also able to schedule appointments with students. When a Student Schedules an Appointment with You Students can schedule appointments with you once you set up your office hours in the Bengal Success Portal. When a student schedules an appointment with you, an appointment notification is sent to your Buffalo State email according to your preferences. From the appointment notification, you are able to accept or decline the appointment. You are also able to see the appointment in the Home tab and in the Appointments tab in the Bengal Success Portal. You can view more information about the appointment by clicking on the calendar icon. Schedule an Appointment with a Student You are also able to schedule appointments with students. 1. Use the Students tab to locate the student you want to schedule an appointment with. 2. Click on the student s name to show their profile. 3. Click on Appointment.
4. Enter the appointment date, time, location, reason, and course (if applicable). Choose whether or not this appointment can be shared, or viewable, by others with appropriate roles. Note that viewing privileges for the appointment will depend on the appointment type. 5. Click on the Outcomes tab to add information you want to note before the appointment. You are also able to edit Appointment Outcomes to record information after the appointment occurs. 6. Click Submit to schedule the appointment. Cancel an Appointment Appointments can be cancelled by the student, instructor, and/or adviser. To cancel a Bengal Success Portal appointment from Outlook, simply locate the appointment on your Outlook Calendar and cancel or decline the appointment. To cancel the appointment from within the Bengal Success Portal:
1. Access the appointment in the Bengal Success Portal by clicking on the Home tab or the Appointments tab. 2. Locate the appointment and click on the calendar icon. 3. Click Cancel. 4. Provide a reason for cancelling the appointment, and click Submit. a. Any message typed will be saved with the appointment notes. 5. A message will be sent to the other party, notifying them that the appointment has been cancelled. Adding Appointment Outcomes Before or after interacting with a student in office hours, advising hours, or a meeting, you are able to record appointment outcomes. 1. In the Bengal Success Portal, click on the Appointments tab. 2. Next to your appointment, click on the calendar icon. 3. A box will open. Use the Detail tab to view appointment details. The Person Info tab will have the student's contact information. 4. Click Outcomes. a. Use the fields to adjust actual appointment time, mark whether or not the student attended, and add any additional comments about the appointment. b. Click Submit to send the Outcomes. Adding SpeedNotes
Adding SpeedNotes allows you to quickly record the content or results of your meeting with a student. 1. In the Bengal Success Portal, click on the Appointments tab. 2. Click on the calendar icon next to the appointment. 3. Click Outcomes or Edit. 4. Click the SpeedNotes tab. a. Check the appropriate boxes to indicate what was discussed during the appointment. i. Click Submit to save your SpeedNotes.
Adding Notes to Record Interactions with Students You re able to record interactions for all students that you have a relationship with (instructor, adviser, etc.) by leaving a Note. 1. Click on the Students tab. 2. In the My Students tab, search for the student or use the Connections dropdown to filter your students by connection. 3. Place a check in the box to the left of the student s name and click Note. 4. A dialogue box will open. 5. Take the following actions in the dialogue box: a. Choose a Note Type from the dropdown menu. b. Specify the Date. c. Enter a Subject for the note. d. Write your note in the Note field. e. Check the corresponding boxes if you would like a copy of the note sent to yourself and/or the student. f. Specify your Note Sharing settings. g. Review the Note Permissions. Ensure that your note is appropriate for all audiences it is viewable by. 6. Click Submit to record your note.
Respond to a Progress Survey for Students in Your Courses Flags and Kudos can also be raised by submitting a progress survey. Progress Surveys will be sent at specific times during each term. You will receive an email reminder when there is a new survey for you to complete. Instructors will receive a separate survey for each course, reflecting the course s roster. 1. Select the link to a progress survey from your Starfish Home tab or go to the Progress Surveys tab (only visible when you have active surveys. The selected survey opens, listing your student roster for the course, and specific flags and kudos for you to consider. 2. Check the boxes to raise flags and kudos for students in your course. 3. Click the Submit button only when you are finished providing feedback. The items you selected will be raised on your students when you submit the survey. Alternatively, click Save Draft to save your work without submitting. Once you have submitted the survey you will not have an opportunity to edit. 4. The Bengal Success Portal will raise the flags and kudos you selected. You may be asked to submit more than one course survey if more than one of your courses has been included in the survey plan for your institution. They will be listed in the drop-down menu on the Progress Surveys tab.
Taking Attendance Instructors can record student attendance for each class meeting. Before recording attendance, instructors must set up meeting times for the course. Setup Meeting Times 1. Login to the Bengal Success Portal 2. Click on the Students tab 3. Click on the Attendance tab 4. On the right side of the page, use the Course Section dropdown to select your course 5. Click Class Schedule 6. If your course meets on a regular basis, make sure the button next to Schedule is checked 7. Under Schedule, mark the days of the week that your class meets 8. Select the start and end time for the class 9. When finished, click Submit Record Attendance In order to record attendance, make sure you have first set up your class meeting times. 1. Login to the Bengal Success Portal 2. Click on the Students tab 3. Click on the Attendance tab 4. Click Record Attendance 5. Select the section of your course 6. Select the meeting time for which you would like to record attendance 7. By default, all students are already marked as Present. 8. You can leave students as Present, or mark students as Absent, Excused, or Tardy. 9. When finished recording attendance, click Save. Attendance Report Instructors are able to download a report of all student attendance for a class. 1. Login to the Bengal Success Portal 2. Click on the Students tab 3. Click on the Attendance tab 4. On the right side of the page, use the Course Section dropdown to select your course 5. Click on Attendance Report 6. Your report will download to your computer as an Excel file 7. Open the Excel file to view the Attendance Report