Slug Success User Update 10/6/17

 

Congratulations on getting through the beginning of Fall Quarter! I know that many of you have jumped right into Slug Success, with some hurdles along the way, and I appreciate your willingness and positive attitudes, all the feedback that you've provided, as well as your patience as we've collected and reported bugs, reconfigured settings, and done some last minute training sessions to use the system with students.

 

Here are some updates and frequently asked questions collected over the past couple of (very busy) weeks:

 

1. Kiosk timeout - a number of offices have reported that the kiosk times out too quickly, which means that when a student attempts to login (either by typing their SID or swiping their ID card) it returns them to the CruzID Gold login screen, and not the kiosk screen. In order to help with this issue, we are extending the system time out to two hours, which should take effect early next week. This should hopefully make this functionality more useful for those offices using the kiosk mode for student check-ins. Please be aware that this timeout is across the whole Slug Success platform, so if you leave your computer unattended, it is more important than ever to logout of your account to maintain security of student information.

 

2. Students scheduling appointments with incorrect advisers - some students have been looking for available advising appointments without selecting anything from the  "Location" menu, which has led to their appointments being made with advisers in departments other than that of their assigned major. We are looking at possible options to alleviate this issue, but in the meantime, you can help your students by stressing the importance of selecting the correct department from the Location field when looking for available advising appointments. You can also share the How to Schedule an Appointment in Slug Success guide from the Slug Success website with your students, which walks them through the process. Hopefully as the quarter progresses, students will become better acquainted with the system and be better able to use it as intended.

 

3. Get Tutoring available as of 5PM today - at 5PM October 6, tutoring services will be activated so that the Get Tutoring button will appear on each student's Slug Success home screen. Students will be able to schedule Small Group Tutoring sessions directly with LSS tutors for those classes that currently offer them. Many students have already scheduled MSI tutoring sessions via targeted outreach campaigns. If students have questions about signing up for tutoring, you can direct them to the How to Sign Up for Tutoring guide on the Slug Success website, and/or they can contact LSS directly for additional assistance or questions about the tutoring programs themselves.

 

4. Cancelled appointment notification emails - a few people have been asking about the Cancelled Appointment emails that go out to all of a student's assigned advisers. Unfortunately, we are unable to restrict these emails from going to advisers who are not associated with that particular cancelled appointment, though we have requested that this option be made available in a future update from EAB. For now, you may wish to filter these messages using your email client so they do not become too confusing or overwhelming.

 

5. Checking students in for drop-in advising - regardless of whether you or your student staff (peer advisers and/or assistants) are checking students in for appointments, the easiest way to do so is likely going to be through the Appointment Center, found in the bottom right corner of your screen under "Additional Modes." Once you are in the Appointment Center for your location, be sure to click the "Scheduling Grid" text and select "Drop-In Appointments" so you can see the students who are waiting for advising. If Peer Advisers wish to view drop-in queues without opening the Appointment Center, they will need to set up drop-in availability so they are associated with your location. However, they can "Report on Advising" without adding availability, or use the Appointment Center to see students in the queue for other advisers and start appointments from there as well.

 

Many of you have taken advantage of my offer to come by your offices to help you get set up with Slug Success, but if you've not yet done so, and would like some in-person help either getting started or modifying your Slug Success setup so it works better for your team, please let me know! My goal is to help you and your team successfully integrate Slug Success into your workflow, and I will do what I can to ensure this is the case. 

 

Happy Friday! Thanks for all the hard work that you do