“Navigate definitely helps students feel seen. Students can struggle with a lot of things, and this is a way to build the connection between them and the university to make sure they are getting the help they need. Creating an alert for a student in Navigate can be very helpful.”
Trinity Anderson
Trinity Anderson is a senior at NIU. In her second year serving as a peer coach and mentor, part of Anderson’s role is to assist students who have been referred by faculty or staff members via Navigate.
Navigate is NIU’s comprehensive student success management technology platform. Faculty members can create alerts when they notice a student struggling in a class, or perhaps not attending.
In one case, Anderson received an alert about a student who was struggling with a course she had previously taken. Anderson reached out the student and communicated back and forth with her via text message through the Navigate platform.
“The texting is a cool feature that helps a lot of people,” Anderson said. “We ended up meeting on Teams after that, and she was able to get things squared away with the class. She’s doing better now, and we meet almost every other week.”
Anderson credits faculty members who are taking the initiative to create alerts about students when they see a need. She has seen firsthand the difference it can make when a student who is struggling is able to access assistance.
“You can see a full turnaround in the student who receives assistance, and you see students communicating more with their professors,” Anderson said. “It’s important for faculty members to know that Navigate is helping students get the help they need. I think no student is short of getting help and it is very helpful if faculty can report or flag students that may need assistance.”
Ted Hogan
Ted Hogan, associate professor in the Department of Engineering Technology, utilizes Navigate to create alerts for students to help them succeed. In particular, students in Hogan’s environmental safety course, which is homework intensive and includes weekly reading projects and active-based learning that requires participation throughout the semester.
“Some students come in with limited skills in terms of how to manage coursework, and if they don’t participate or don’t show up, they don’t get the points,” Hogan said. “Rather than wait until the end of the semester, Navigate gives us a chance to intervene early and it is a great avenue to help students succeed. My job is to try to get as many people as possible to cross the finish line, and with the help of these alerts, significantly fewer students are falling through the cracks.”
Hogan has noticed an increase in retention and success rate of students since he started using Navigate to create alerts for them, adding that it only takes a few minutes to create an alert. He points out that the benefit to students is not limited to the classroom.
“The message that comes across is, teachers show their students they care. That’s an important message, that they are cared about individually and their success matters,” Hogan said. “The joy of teaching for me is to see students succeed, to see them graduate, to see them get good paying jobs. It’s extremely satisfying to help them along the way to their career success, and it’s good to have Navigate as part of our tool set to work with.”
Depending on the type selected, alerts are received by a student’s academic advisor, the Huskie Academic Success Center, the CHANCE and Honors programs, Student Athlete Academic Success Center, Student Affairs (including the Center for Student Assistance and Housing and Residential Services) or Student Financial Advising Services.
The percentage of students who have responded or were reached by outreach resulting from alerts increased from 41% to just under 55% from Fall 2021 to Fall 2023. The average number of days alerts have remained open has dropped from 18 days to less than two weeks in most cases. During that same time, two-thirds of students with one or more alerts in a term have returned to NIU for the next term.
Access Navigate Staff to identify and prioritize students who could benefit from additional assistance, to initiate conversations with students who may be experiencing academic or personal challenges or to issue alerts to support students’ success. Contact navigate@niu.edu to request a personalized Navigate Session or check out upcoming sessions focused on specific topics.
