Database System for
Student Tracking
Robert Berman
William Hill
Lily Zhang
Steve Salley
Wayne State University
April 14, 2005
Introduction
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Purpose:
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Demonstrate how STARS
(http://stars.wayne.edu), a home-grown
web application, provides a user friendly Web
Interface to Banner and other databases for
Academic Faculty, Staff and Administrators
Benefits:
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Easy access to student data from a variety of
data sources including Banner
Enables the maintenance of custom data
(outside of Banner) to help in advising,
tracking, and retention efforts
Includes useful web reports (downloadable in
spreadsheet format) with drill-down to
individual student data
Topics of Discussion
Connection between STARS and
Banner
 Demonstration of STARS Student
Information
 Demonstration of STARS Reports
 Survey and Findings
 What’s next for STARS?
 I-20 Tracking System

Connection Between STARS
and Banner
Uses Banner data as provided
through the Data mart.
 Also draws on other data sources
including Testing and Evaluation and
official and unofficial historic data not
yet converted to Banner
 Provides additional capability to
monitor student progress by allowing
input of custom data to support
advising and retention efforts – data
is stored outside of Banner
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Demonstration of STARS
Student Information
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Logging On
Student Information Pages
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Finding a Student
Contact Information
Student Comments (user-determined level of
privacy)
Academic Standing, General Student, Application,
and Holds
Classes (including older grade information)
Transfer Courses and Previous Education
GPA Summaries – standard and custom
General Education and Curriculum Tracking Data
Registration Detail (Fall 2002 and later)
Early Academic Assessment Data
Testing Data
Demonstration of STARS
Reports

Examples of Available Reports
Enrollment Reports
 Term GPA and Cumulative GPA by
Program and Major
 Prerequisite Checks
 Active PHD Student List
 Class Listing
 New Program Applicants
 Schedules for Students in Designated
Program or Major
 Degree Completion Reports
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Demonstration
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www.stars.wayne.edu
Who has access to STARS?
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Access to Stars is given by request.
The intended audience includes
Advisors
 Faculty and Staff with Advising
Responsibilities
 Administrators

Access is granted by the
Administrator
 Users are required to agree to the
online Code of Responsibility (FERPA)

STARS as a Retention and
Advising Tool
Curriculum Review
 Maintains Advising Comments
 Testing and Evaluation data not in
Banner made available
 Unofficial Data not yet converted to
Banner is available
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Survey and Findings
We have authorized approximately
440 individuals to use STARS
 Between 50 and 75 typically logon
per day
 We have conducted an online Survey,
the results of which we will discuss.
 Approximately 200 different users
logged on to Stars thousands of times
since Jan. 1, 2004. Roughly 100
responded to Stars Survey.
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Survey and Findings Continued
STARS Survey
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Highlights
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 55.3%
(47) of those surveyed have use STARS
for 4 or more months
 70.6% of those surveyed use STARS more than
once a week
 74.1% of those surveyed use STARS for student
status tracking
 65.9% of those surveyed use STARS for
enrollment tracking
 52.9% of those surveyed use STARS for
Advising
Survey and Findings - Continued (Tools)
Reports
Acad Standing
Classes
Transfer
GPAs
Gen ED
Registration
Test Info
Comments/Ref
errals
Overall
Good or
Better
VG or Better
97%
97.2%
94.1%
72.8%
76.1%
79.4%
71.5%
77.9%
93.7%
94.1%
96.8%
93.8%
91.8%
95.9%
89.1%
76.2%
76.6%
67.2%
69.4%
77.1%
What’s next for STARS?
Determine additional Banner data
that would be useful to include in
STARS
 Determine additional data external to
Banner that would be helpful to users
 Continue to develop summary reports
with drill-down to individual student
data including Pivot Table and OLAP
capabilities
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What’s next for STARS?
Originally designed for academic
departments and advisors.
 New efforts to meet needs of service
units.
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Graduate Admissions
 Office of International Students and
Scholars – I-20 Tracking System
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I-20 Tracking
The “I-20 tracking System” is an
administrative and information
management system, designed to
keep track of admission decisions and
I-20 issuance.
In addition, it manages to keep the
OISS postage cost information.
Office of International Students & Scholars, Wayne State University
GOAL and OVERVIEW
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Provides easy and efficient means to track
admission decision and the I-20 issuance
decision.
Students will be able to see their admission or
I-20 status from online services.
Facilitates communicate between
administrators from Admission Office & OISS
about admission/I-20 status issues.
Keeps the OISS postage information summary
updated automatically according to different
category.
Office of International Students & Scholars, Wayne State University
Summary
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STARS
Presents Banner and Value-Added data
not included in Banner
 Organizes data in a way that is more
easily geared to use by advisors and
administrators than are Banner Forms
 STARS includes a constantly growing set
of reports that can be downloaded in
Spreadsheet format - summary reports
allow drill-down to individual student
data
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Questions
Office of International Students & Scholars, Wayne State University
Questions and Answers
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We invite any questions or comments
now, after the talk, or by e-mail