When considering your use of Beacon to support your student success efforts on campus, there are a number of conversations to be had, decisions to be made, and tasks to be completed. This summer checklist will provide you with our suggestions for what to keep in mind when preparing for the academic year over the summer.
On campus conversations, actions, and decisions:
- Make sure Beacon is included in new student orientation and transition programming
- Schedule time with your institutional researcher to talk about any new findings they have about student success and retention
- Create a plan for entering grades (include faculty!) early alert grade triggers
Data imports and automation:
- Import past academic records
- Schedule the upload of student demographic information (and take advantage of custom fields)
Beacon Assessments - Student Strengths Inventory (SSI) and Continuing Student Assessment (CSA):
- Consider use of the Student Strengths Inventory for your first-year students before orientation
- Consider use of the Continuing Student Assessment for returning students
- Setup your Administration(s) for the Student Strengths Inventory and/or the Continuing Student Assessment
- Update your recommendation statements
- Determine the custom questions you will add to the non-cognitive assessment this year. Review last year’s results as a start.
Success Network and Notations:
- Update student success network assignments
- Contact your success consultant about auto import options for network connections
- Update/Review Notation Categories based on previous year report
Triggers:
- Determine which Triggers you may wish to leverage connected to student Assessment responses
- Create an Attendance Policy and create Attendance triggers
- Determine if you want to create triggers from your Custom Questions
Locations:
- Set-up kiosks for office check-ins
Professional Development and Training:
- Register for training sessions for new staff (and old – everyone can use a reminder!)
- Train Advisors on Office Hours feature for easy appointment scheduling
- Sign up for our upcoming Campus Intelligence webinars
If you also have Baseline:
- Talk to your Assessment Consultant about your assessment plan and consider Triggers for key surveys throughout the academic year.
If you also have Engage:
- Consider how you are tracking involvement through event attendance. Engage allows you to track attendance manually, through card-swipes, or by mobile check-in. Talk to your consultant to confirm you are using the most efficient method of card-swiping available in your package.