Navigate for Advisors

This is a 50-minute self-guided training, designed for new users without any prior experience using the Navigate platform. Basic Navigate functions are explained including:

• Accessing Navigate
• Your Navigate homepage
• Syncing your calendar
• Setting up availability for appointments
• Searching for student records
• Understand a student's profile
• Notes
• Appointment Summaries
• Messaging
• Scheduling appointments with other faculty and staff
• Advanced searches

Watch the Training Videos on Panopto

Syncing your calendar to Navigate will allow appointments to flow between your Navigate calendar and professional calendar, blocking off that time and preventing double booking. Please remember to only sync your calendar in your live platform, not your training platform, to avoid issues and confusion. Only one professional calendar should be synced to Navigate.

To set up your calendar syncing:

1.  First, click the Calendar icon in the left-hand navigation menu on your Navigate homepage.
2. Then click the Settings and Sync button.
3. Go into the Calendar Settings page and select Google Calendar from the list.
4. From here, you will be directed to the Google sign-in page and will need to enter your Montclair credentials to complete the sync setup. Once the sync is complete, you will be taken back to the main Calendar Settings page within Navigate with information about your sync on display.

To sync other Calendars:

1. First, click the Calendar icon in the left-hand navigation menu on your Navigate homepage.
2. Then click the Settings and Sync button.
3. Go into the Calendar Settings page and select Other Applications from the list. A page with iCal and WebDav URLs will appear showing which can be inserted into the calendar application. These resources are necessary and users will need to know how to use them with their calendar application in order for them to work. 

For all other Calendars not listed above (including Outlook, Office 365, etc.), please refer to the Help feature in Navigate.

As a new user, the first action you will need to complete is setting up availability so students can schedule appointments to meet with you. It is important to note that locations and services offered are created by University administrators and cannot be changed.

Add Time

1. On your Staff Homepage, click the My Availability tag and select Add Time from the Actions list.
2. Select the days and times when you are available to meet with students. You can choose to set this availability indefinitely, by term, or during a select range of dates.
3. Select whether you will meet with students via scheduled appointments or drop-ins during the above time listed. The campaign option is reserved specifically as dedicated time for targeted students to make appointments with you.
4. Choose the Meeting Type where you will be available.
5. For Advising, your Care Unit selected should be Academic Advising. For Support, your Care Unit selected should be Academic Support.
6. Select the location of your respective area or department.
7. You must select the services applicable to your role. All advisors must select Advising and Registration from the drop-down menu. Multiple selections can be made.
8. In the URL/Phone Number area, you can include either your personal Zoom link or direct phone number which will be shared with supports upon confirmation of their scheduled appointment. In the Special Instructions for Student area, you can include helpful information about your appointment (e.g., Room Number, What to bring, etc.). 
9. When finalized, click Save. You can repeat this process until all of your availabilities have been defined; you can have as much availability as needed.

Copy Time

1. On your Staff Homepage, click the My Availability tag and select Copy Time from the Actions list.
2. You will be prompted to select the time you would like to copy across multiple dates.
3. The availabilities will be copied and a dialog box will open allowing you to make edits or to save your newly created availability.

To delete any of your listed Availability, select Delete Time from the Actions list above. Inactive availabilities are highlighted in red in the Times Available grid, synced from your linked Calendar.

Users with the appropriate permissions can schedule appointments directly through the students list throughout Navigate, or by searching for them in the Search bar. Simply select the student(s) you would like to schedule, choose Schedule an Appointment from the Options in the right-side menu, and complete the appointment details.

When creating an appointment, you'll select:

• Care Unit: Academic Advising or Academic Support
• Location: Respective area, department or program
• Service: For academic advising, select Advising and Registration.
• If providing support for a respective course, select it from the Course area.
• Meeting Type: In-person, Phone, or Virtual (Zoom)
• Include any comments you would like to add about the appointment.
• Date and Time for the appointment.

Navigate will display available times based on advisor availability and any scheduling conflicts synced from their calendar. Recurring appointments can also be created for ongoing meetings. Additional attendees can be added as needed.

Once saved, Navigate automatically sends appointment details to all attendees and adds the appointment to their calendars.

Opening and Choosing Locations

To open the Appointment Center, click “Additional Modes” at the bottom right of your homepage and select “Appointment Center.” After clicking the link, you will be taken to a screen to choose a location to schedule an appointment.

Actions from the Student and Appointment Cards

When checking in a student for an appointment or drop-in, users will be able to see additional information and take additional actions from the student card of the selected student.

Available student information:

• Student Photo
• Student ID
• Email Address
• Major
• Classification
• Assigned Staff
• Upcoming Appointments at the location

Actions:

• Send Message to Student
• Edit Upcoming Appointment
• Move Upcoming Appointment to another time slot
• Cancel Upcoming Appointment
• Send Message to Organizer (Advisor or Tutor)

If an Advisor is using the Navigate platform then they will see a black notification in the top right corner if a student checks in for a drop-in session through the Kiosk. If the tutor navigates to their Home page and selects the Appointment Queues tab then they can set up other modes of notification: Ding, Email and/or Text.

• Students checked in for Appointments: This section will show any students who have checked in for appointments either through the kiosk or with a person at the front desk who is able to check them in through the Appointment Center feature of Navigate.
• Students in My Queue: This section will show any students who have checked in for drop-ins either through the kiosk or with a person at the front desk who is able to check them in through the Appointment Center feature of Navigate.
• Students in other Staff Queues: This section will show any students who have checked in for drop-ins with other members of the location’s staff either through the kiosk or with a person at the front desk who is able to check them in through the Appointment Center feature of Navigate.

The calendar interface shows available time for appointments as white blocks and unavailable times as grey blocks. Blue blocks along the side indicate available drop-in times. If you click the “Staff” icon on the right side of the screen, you will be able to change the orientation of the staff and times if you would prefer one to be the column header over the other.It is possible to filter who appears on the grid by using the Scheduling Grid dropdown filter. There is also a filter for the specific services/courses that the location offers and has staff available for so that if a student is seeking someone for a particular reason this can be narrowed in on within the Scheduling Grid.

Once you select an appointment slot, a pop-up window will open letting you set the details of the appointment. If the name of the student was selected at the top of the Appointment Center, then this dialogue box would display the student’s name. If the service was selected when filtering the Scheduling Grid then it will auto-fill in the dialogue box, but if not then the scheduler will need to select the reason for the appointment.

The option to Edit Details will allow more flexibility around the time of the appointment, if it should start at a time within the 15 minute ranges or be for a duration other than 30 minutes. This also expands the Comments box to allow the scheduler to provide any input the student has shared regarding the purpose of the appointment. Additional options appear to check in the student and send email or text reminders.

Appointment Summary Reports are primarily created and stored in three main sections of the platform – your staff homepage, a student’s profile page, and the Reporting tab.

Recommended ways to find the Summary Report:

• Locate the magnifying glass on the home page of Navigate.
• Type in the student’s name.
• Click on the Student’s name to pull up their dashboard.
• There is a box on the right of the screen, scroll down and click “Report on Appointment.”

Who should complete the Summary Reports after an advising appointment:

Appointment Summary Reports provide staff and faculty with the ability to document information pertaining to a specific student appointment, whether the appointment was scheduled, a walk-in or the student was a no show.

What to Include in the Advising Appointment Summary Report:

Appointment Summary Reports should only include information related to that specific appointment. Please Note: All notes you include will be accessible to the student, other faculty/staff with administrative access. Additionally, any information you enter into the platform pertaining to a student becomes a part of their official student record and may be subpoenaed by that student, as outlined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

• Care Unit: Indicates the Care Unit associated with the appointment. This field will be locked if scheduled in advance.
• Location: The location where the appointment occurred. This field will be locked if scheduled through an appointment campaign.
• Service: Indicates the student service associated with the appointment. Only services associated with the selected Location will display as options in your summary report.
• Course: You can associate the appointment with one specific course. The student’s currently enrolled courses will display when selecting this dropdown, but you may search for any course regardless of the student’s enrollment. Please note – the course should populate on the report automatically if the session was scheduled for a course or the student dropped in for a specific course.
• Meeting Type: Indicates if the meeting was on the phone, in-person, or virtual.
• Date of Visit
• Meeting Start/Meeting End: For appointments scheduled in advance, the Meeting Start and End times will default to the scheduled start and end times for the appointment. For walk-in/drop-in appointments, the Meeting Start time will default to the time the summary report is created and End time will default to the time the summary report is saved. You can edit the fields as needed.
• Check-in/Checkout: These fields will default to the times when the student checked in and checked out via Kiosk or Appointment Center. In cases where the student did not check in or check out for the appointment, the fields will remain blank. In cases where the student checked in but did not check out, the Checkout time will default to the time the summary report is saved.
• Attendees: The checkboxes will be checked or not to indicate attendance for each appointment attendee. Not checking the box indicates a no show.
• Summary: Use this field to summarize your interaction with the student.
• Attachments: This allows you to attach a file to the summary report, such as a plan or tutoring schedule. The system will not allow attachments with certain special characters in the title.
• Suggested Follow-up: These fields are used for informational purposes only. No appointment will be created as a result of filling them out.

Summary Reports can be created during or after meeting with students. You can add a summary report to an appointment scheduled in advance, create a summary report for a walk-in appointment, mark a student as a no show, or edit existing summary reports.

• For Scheduled Appointments: To add an Appointment Summary for a past scheduled appointment, access your appointments section from your staff home page. On your Staff homepage, under the “Students” tab, scroll down and find your Recent Appointments. From this section, you can click on a student and select “Add Appointment Summary” from the Actions drop down. You can also access this section from the “Upcoming Appointments” tab of the Staff Home.
• You can also add a summary report to an appointment in progress from the Appointment Queues tab of Staff Home. In this tab, the section Students Checked in for Appointments allows you to select a student who has arrived for their scheduled appointment and select Start Appointment from the drop-down menu. This will open the summary report dialogue box in your browser window. If you wish to view other information in the platform while the appointment progresses, you can minimize the dialogue box and return later.

Please Note: It is important to always create Appointment Summary Reports from the scheduled appointment itself, rather than ad-hoc, to ensure the Summary Report is tied to that specific appointment.

• For Walk-in Appointments: There are several different ways to create an ad-hoc Appointment Summary Report for walk-in appointments. Create Appointment Summary is an option in the Actions drop-down menu throughout the platform. The easiest way to create an ad-hoc Appointment Summary Report for a walk-in appointment is from Staff Home or a student profile. Under the Students tab of Staff Home, find the specific student in your My Assigned Students section, or click the drop-down to find the student from one of your saved lists. From this section, you can click on a student and select Create Appointment Summary from the Actions drop down. This will create an Appointment Summary and add that appointment to your calendar in the past.
• No-Show Appointments: The primary way to mark a student as a no-show for a scheduled appointment is from Staff Home. On the Students tab, scroll down and find your Recent Appointments. From this section, you can click on a student and select Mark No-Show from the Actions drop down. You can also access this section from the Upcoming Appointments tab of your homepage. Marking a student as a no-show still adds a Summary Report to the appointment. The only difference is that the box next to the student’s name called Attended will not be checked.

Appointment Summary Reports and Notes are at the core of communication and support. They provide staff and faculty with the ability to record interactions with students pertaining to a specific appointment. The focus is on the student’s overall academic experience. It is important to keep this in mind when deciding on what should be included.

Things To Consider:

• Visibility: Always write notes and summaries with the understanding that students may be able to access their records at any time. Appointment summaries are always visible to the students and notes have the option to be made visible to students. Either way, all student records are subject to be reviewed or requested by the students. Consider using the visibility feature as a way to foster transparency and openness in the advising relationship. Notes and appointment summaries can help students remember the details of the appointment and advice that they received. It is also beneficial for referrals and communicating what the student has shared in order to help ease the process. Through this open communication, all parties involved are able to be in the loop of the student’s experience and provide consistent service as needed.
• Confidentiality: It is important to be knowledgeable about your role as a mandated reporter within the University. If a student discloses personal information that must be reported, it is vital to let them know what you are obligated to follow University standards for reporting and provide them with the appropriate resources available. No details or confidential information should be included in summary report or notes. It is acceptable to use vague language about “personal challenges” and general referrals. Appointment summary reports and notes are visible to any Navigate user with privileges therefore, details should not be included for confidentiality purposes.
• What will help the next person?: The main goal when writing notes and report summaries is what will help the next person who is providing the student with support. While there are many details involved in a situation, notes should include facts and things that are strictly on a “need to know” basis. Make every effort to be clear, concise and considerate of the student’s situation and privacy.

Best Practices:

• Briefly summarize what was discussed as it relates to the student's success for future reference.
• Summarize specific course recommendations ("encouraged her to take ANTH 100 to fulfill SEEDS req").
• Write fact-based academic-related notes, avoiding speculation or subjective opinions or judgments.
• Spell things out for a general audience, avoid using acronyms.
• Use general or coded language concerning sensitive material. DO NOT include sensitive information, personal concerns or private matters.
• Record referrals made ("referred students to CAPS," "...to Disability Resource Center," "...to Red Hawk Central," etc.)
• Include notes about positive student behaviors.
• Attach important emails or documents, not those with sensitive or private content the student didn't intend for others to see.

Best practices indicate that efficient, effective approaches for advisors to conduct alert triage, or the actual responses to an alert raised, must be clear and well-defined. At the same time, they need not be rigid rules, and your responses will depend on your review of a student’s entire profile.

Alerts currently in use suggest the following responses when opening a conversation with a student.

• Attendance Concern: Discuss reasons for absences and make a plan for improvement.
• Greater Participation Encouraged: Review class expectations as indicated on syllabus.
• Tutoring Recommended: Encourage student to take advantage of academic support.
• Poor Grades: Discuss academic plan for improvement.
• Missing Assignments: Discuss academic plan for improvement, or connect with academic support.

Getting Started: The alert an instructor sends is already a form of intervention, in that it notifies the student of the and indicates steps the student can take. Not all alerts require your response, but it is important to be prepared for students who may seek your assistance by reviewing the alerts your students may have received. Run an alerts report to see what instructors have said to your students about their progress.

When to Take Action: Use Navigate reports to determine who can benefit from your outreach.

• Multiple Alerts: Sort the alerts report to identify students who have alerts in more than one course.
• GPA: Find students with at-risk for failing alerts who have low GPAs.
• Alert Reasons: Review the records of students with a particular reason for being at risk to fail, such as “Poor Grades.

Closing the Loop: When conducting an advising intervention, it’s important to be timely, and to document the effort. Outreach emails and text messages should be sent through the Navigate platform (“Conversations”). Create Notes or Appointment Summaries of meetings, which will be visible to the instructor.

Navigate has a variety of reports that a user can run to capture data and to gain insights on student populations, such as advisees. From the left sidebar, select “Reporting” (the page icon with a magnifying glass) to open the menu of options. Reports can be generated on appointments, notes, alerts, progress reports, and cases.

A report is run using the same method as Advanced Search (the larger magnifying glass icon), with the added field to determine which alert, note, or appointment reasons should be included in the report. Be sure to review all sections of the screen to ensure the correct students and parameters are selected.

The report is generated on screen, after which an action can be taken if desired. The action is created collectively, but appears individually to each student selected for the action. Examples are sending a message, inviting students to an appointment campaign, and adding a note. The report can also be exported to Excel for review outside the platform.

Saved Searches allow users to conduct a pre-configured Advanced Search without having to manually and repeatedly create a new Advanced Search. A Saved Search dynamically regenerates a list of students or users based on the search criteria. This feature can be especially helpful for users who frequently run the same search at different points in the term, as it allows you to maintain consistency with your search parameters.

• You can create a Saved Search via the Advanced Search feature. After selecting your search parameters and running the search, click on the “save” button at the top of the screen.
• After clicking “save” you will be asked to name your search. We recommend creating a name that is as specific as possible to help with future queries. Once named, click “save search.”
• It is important to note that the students included on this list will likely change as their data changes. For example, a student switches majors from Finance to Accounting, they will no longer appear on the results list for a saved search that pulls Finance majors. A saved search generates a list of the students that meet your search parameters at this time, it does not save the list of students themselves.

Accessing Your Search

Once you have saved your search, you are able to access the search from several locations within Navigate.

1. Home Page – Clicking on My Assigned Students For (Current Term) on your home page will pull up not only lists of your assigned students by term, but also any saved searches or watch lists you have created.
2. Lists and Searches – This page within Navigate aggregates all your watch lists and saved searches. From here you also have the ability to create a new saved search by clicking on the ‘New Saved Search’ button, which will direct you to the Advanced Search.
3. Advanced Search – You can also access any of your previous saved searches directly from the Advanced Search feature.