Spartan Connect

Overview

Spartan Connect allows faculty, academic advisors, and support services staff to utilize data and technology to:

  • More easily connect students to advising, tutoring, workshops, and other support services.
  • See a comprehensive academic profile of a student to provide the correct academic advising and connect the student to appropriate resources.
  • Connect to the staff and centers already supporting a student to ensure accurate and complete communications.
  • Coming in Fall 2020, SJSU’s own data will be used to identify success factors for students in their declared major based on comparing their academic performance with 10 years of student data in that major. This information will allow faculty and staff to more accurately identify the support students need.

Terminology

Over the years, Spartan Connect (SJSU’s name for the platform) has had different names and been referred to in different ways. Years ago it was called GradesFirst, then when EAB purchased it they renamed it to SSC Campus. Not long after that, EAB rebranded it as Navigate. EAB’s Navigate platform is known as a Student Success Management System (SSMS).

EAB (formerly the Education Advisory Board) is the company that now owns and operates the Navigate platform. EAB is also an educational research and best practices company and they have a branch for educational resource development and white-papers. 

When we refer to Spartan Connect, we’re talking about EAB’s Navigate platform. When we refer to EAB, we’re talking about the company as a whole.

Accessing Spartan Connect

Spartan Connect uses the One.SJSU Single Sign-on system. Campus users can search for Spartan Connect once they have signed into one.sjsu.edu and click on the Spartan Connect tile. If you’re not already signed in you’ll be prompted to do so. If you receive an error message when attempting to sign in, reach out to SpartanConnect@sjsu.edu for assistance.

All active students and faculty already have access to Spartan Connect. The system is set up to refresh this data nightly. For other staff, advisors, tutors, and administrators, access is granted through the CMS Security request process. Refer to our detailed guide on requesting specific Spartan Connect roles for more information. If you’re unable to find the appropriate role or have questions about the process, reach out to SpartanConnect@sjsu.edu so that we can guide you through the process.

How Can You Use Spartan Connect?

Advising, Tutoring, and Other Services

  • Students can find advising and other services and schedule appointments.
  • Advisors, support services staff, peer educators can sync their Google Calendar with Spartan Connect to help manage their schedule.
  • Advising and tutoring notes allow for support services to connect different instances of support together.
  • Advisors and staff can make notes on advising or tutoring sessions and read the notes made by other advisors. This allows for a more comprehensive level of support.
  • Comprehensive academic profile (student records) to connect students to targeted student support.

Early Support Program

  • Progress Reports serve to connect students to support in a timely manner.
  • Spartan Connect sends out a campaign to faculty after the start of the semester to check on the performance of selected students. Faculty can also submit a report for students they are concerned about who are not in that group.
  • Advisors and support staff will reach out to the students in response to the early referral report.

Data and Analytics

  • Spartan Connect has a broad range of current student academic data imported from Peoplesoft. The data is arranged in one simple location so the advisors, faculty, and staff can easily see a comprehensive picture of a student’s academic performance.
  • SJSU faculty, advisors, and staff can conduct advanced searches of students to identify students in need of particular services.
  • Support centers can track engagement so staff can understand what resources students are using and connect students to appropriate support.
  • Spartan Connect has a check-in (card swipe) function to track attendance at events and workshops.
  • Advisors can view this engagement data and direct students towards appropriate follow up support or connect students not engaged on campus to places where they can form connections.
  • At the university level, we will be able to download this engagement data and correlate it with student success overall.

Predictive Model

  • Ten years of SJSU’s historical academic data has been analyzed by EAB to correlate academic performance with retention and graduation rates in the major.
  • The predictive analytics will be useful for focusing advising resources on students in need and also for departments to examine hurdles, key classes, additional support needed, equity gaps, etc. that the data bring to light.

Educational and Research Resources

Beyond the Navigate platform, EAB provides educational research and resources geared towards student success, including white papers, tool kits, and webinars. All SJSU faculty and staff have free access to these resources eab.com. However, you will need to create an account using your SJSU email address for free access.