UW-Milwaukee is excited to offer online appointment scheduling with your undergraduate professional academic advisor(s) through Navigate.

A critical element of your undergraduate experience, the academic advising you receive at UWM is provided by professional staff to help you navigate course planning, academic policies, and other important decisions about your college experience.

To login to Navigate click here or go to the UWM Home Page and select Navigate under the Current Students tab. A video tutorial is available here.

Please note: you will only be able to schedule appointments online with the advisors assigned to you in PAWS. If you are looking to explore a new major or meet with an advisor not listed on your Navigate account, please contact the appropriate school or college advising office. Contact and location information for advising offices can be found here.

If you have additional questions about Navigate, please call (414-229-5385) or visit the Student Success Center (Bolton 120).

Progress Reports

Each semester, instructors are encouraged to send you feedback on your progress in your coursework using the Navigate platform. This can happen at any time in the semester, and is often based on when it is most appropriate for each course.

There are a variety of messages instructors can use to send you feedback, from academic concerns like missing assignments or grades on tests, to suggestions for you to visit offices on campus that can support you academically like the Student Success Center or Writing Center.

In each instance, your instructor is sending an important message to you trying to keep you on track. You are encouraged to follow-up with your instructor once you receive the email notification if you have questions, and should take the suggested next steps. More information on the types of notifications you can receive and actions you can take can be found below.

Missing Work
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because you have not completed or submitted important coursework for this class. Not completing this work may have an adverse effect on your grade. If you have any questions or concerns, please review the syllabus for the course, or contact your instructor during office hours or over email.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage.

Not participating in class discussion
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because you have not been participating in class discussions for this course. Not participating may have an adverse effect on your grade. Please contact your instructor if you have questions on the importance of participating in discussion, or if you would like to discuss strategies to increase your involvement in class. You can reach your instructor during office hours or over email.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage.

Missing Some Classes
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because you have not been regularly attending class meetings for this course. Not attending class may have an adverse effect on your grade. Please contact your instructor if you have questions on the importance of attending class, or if you have concerns about your ability to do so. You can reach your instructor during office hours or over email.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage.

Missing All Classes
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because you have not attended any class meetings for this course. Not attending class may have an adverse effect on your grade. It may be important for you to consider dropping this course prior to the deadline. Contact your academic advisor to learn more about how dropping this course may affect your academic progress.
You can contact your academic advisor and schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage.
Please contact your instructor if you have questions on the importance of attending class, or if you have other concerns. You can reach your instructor during office hours or over email.

Poor quiz/test performance
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because you recently performed poorly on one or more quiz, test or other graded assignment for this class. If you are having difficulty with course content, you are encouraged to reach out to your instructor during office hours or over email in order to develop strategies for success moving forward. If you would like assistance in developing academic skills to be more successful in taking quizzes or tests, please contact the Student Success Center and schedule an appointment to learn more.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage.

Would benefit from tutoring/supplemental instruction
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because based on your performance in class, you may benefit from tutoring or supplemental instruction for this course. You are encouraged to contact the Student Success Center and schedule an appointment to learn more. If you have questions about your academic performance in class, reach out to your instructor during office hours or over email in order to develop strategies for success moving forward.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage.

Would benefit from meeting with a librarian
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because based on your performance in class, you may benefit from meeting with a librarian to support your work. You are encouraged to contact the Golda Meier Library staff to schedule an appointment to learn more. If you have questions about your academic performance in class, reach out to your instructor during office hours or over email in order to develop strategies for success moving forward.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage. Thank you.

Would benefit from writing support
The reason you are receiving this progress report is because based on your performance in class, you may benefit from meeting with a reader or tutor to support your writing. You are encouraged to contact the Writing Center to schedule an appointment to learn more. If you have questions about your academic performance in class, reach out to your instructor during office hours or over email in order to develop strategies for success moving forward.
You can also contact your academic advisor to assist you in learning more about campus resources available to you. You can schedule an appointment using the Navigate tab under Current Students on the UWM homepage. Thank you.

Other
[Instructors may use this option to address specific concerns about performance or behavior in class].

Progress Reports

Progress Reports (formerly known as Early Alerts or Academic Updates) provide students with an indication of their academic performance. The information provided by you, the instructor, is shared with each student’s academic advisor. Combining efforts to reach out to students will provide the opportunity for timely intervention.

A video tutorial on the different methods of submitting Progress Reports can be found here.

Dates updated each Fall/Spring term

SPRING 2023 CAMPAIGN

2/15/2023: Provost’s message regarding Spring 2023 Progress Reports Campaign

Instructors can submit a progress report or alert for a student at any time inside or outside the campaign window by selecting Navigate on the Faculty/Staff tab of the UWM homepage (a tutorial is available here); the purpose of the campaign is to coordinate our efforts, allowing advisors and other support staff to identify patterns. 

The Spring 2023 Progress Report campaign will run from February 15-March 17, 2023. Please submit your Progress Reports at a time that makes the most sense for your course. 

Some quick notes:

• Please submit as soon as possible: If you have actionable information about a student now, please submit it now; the sooner the better.
• Please discuss progress reports with your students: We still need to do more to help students understand the purpose of Progress Reports. Please post the below language in your Canvas site and/or share via email.

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Suitable for Posting on Canvas and Syllabus

UWM uses Navigate, a powerful tool dedicated to student success. There are numerous benefits to you as a student to engage with the platform and mobile application, including learning about academic resources, setting up study groups in your courses, making appointments with your academic advisor, getting reminders on important dates, and much more.

In addition, Navigate allows instructors to send Progress Reports to students throughout the term, allowing for updates on your academic progress in a course in addition to your grade. Certain reports may encourage academic advisors or other support staff to provide outreach to you as well. You can log into the platform here:  https://uwmilwaukee.campus.eab.com/ or by finding the Navigate link under the Current Students tab on the UWM home page. More information on how you can use Navigate and the app, including tutorials, can be found on UWM’s Navigate website.

 

Instructions for Students

To view the progress reports submitted by your instructors,

1. Log in to Navigate using the Current Students drop down from the UWM homepage.
2. Select “Reports” under Student Home.
3. Select “View Report” under the Details column of the Progress Reports area.

How Progress Reports Work

Explaining. Please post the above message to Canvas and your syllabus and also talk to your students about what Progress Reports are and what they do. Let them know when they might expect them from you, and how they can access and read them. (Instructions for students are included above.)

Submitting. Instructors can submit a progress report or alert for a student at any time by selecting Navigate on the Faculty/Staff tab of the UWM homepage (a tutorial is available here). To participate in the campaign, please follow the link in the invitation email you received. When writing the reports, please provide a level of detail that will be helpful to students, advisors, success coaches, and the Student Success Center.

Routing. New progress report reasons that reinforce positive course performance are received by students directly.  When someone submits a progress report on a student that is struggling academically, that student and their advisor both receive a notification from Navigate. When logged in to Navigate, the student and the advisor will both see the “Reason” you selected (e.g., “Missing Work”) and any explanation you provided. In addition, if you chose to refer the student to a resource, that office will reach out to the student. This chart shows how such progress reports are routed:

Instructors and others may also submit an “Alert,” which leads the assigned office to create a case and reach out to the student:

Reaching Out. The advisors in your school or college will be contacting many of the students who receive Progress Reports that suggest they may be in danger of poor academic performance; how that is defined may vary by school or college.

Reaching out to students can be a significant challenge. Advisors will often try to call students, only to find they don’t answer and/or don’t have voicemail turned on. Or they will email and get no response. As of this past year, they can also employ text messaging. Many will make multiple attempts to reach students, but they won’t always be successful. This is why the Student Success Center will now work on building other avenues to reaching out (e.g., resident advisors and peer mentors).

But it’s also critical that instructors continue, when possible, to reach out to students as well. Progress reports are just one additional tool to aid student success and prompt conversations with students, and when they work they can work very well. But the course instructors are still the most critical partner in helping students succeed.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you run into difficulties with the process, please contact navigate-support@uwm.edu. The messages students receive can be found below in the next section. Here are responses to some common issues and questions:

• All instructors assigned to a course in PAWS receive a unique link to submit Progress Reports. Instructors should communicate with each other to determine who will be submitting reports.
• Lectures and discussions/labs may receive a separate Progress Report request. You are encouraged to submit reports for whichever section makes the most sense for your course.
• If you don’t see a student on your course roster in the link provided in the auto-generated email, log in to the Navigate platform and complete Progress Reports there.
• Comments that you include in Progress Reports will not go out over email to students, but will be visible when they log in to Navigate.  The more information you are able to provide, the better it is for the student, and the advisor, coach, or support staff who may be following up.

SWAT Team

The SWAT Team is comprised of advisors and student services staff from across campus. Meetings are held as needed throughout the academic year. The SWAT Team is charged with:

• Sharing and exchanging ideas and how best to utilize Navigate at UWM
• Acting as training resource for colleagues

Coordination and Action Plan

For the most up-to-date information on efforts and planning underway at UWM, review the tabs included in the Navigate Manager document (ePanther credentials required).

Campaigns

Targeted advising campaigns enable advisors to maximize their impact by identifying specific student populations in need of supplemental attention. The Navigate platform enables this process by making it easy to build lists of students that fit certain criteria. By deploying Navigate risk analytics in combination with work list filters and student tracking features, advisors can create highly-specific campaigns and ensure that no students fall through the cracks.

Spring 2021 Semester Update

The start of the spring semester and the recent launch of the Moon Shot for Equity initiative make this an ideal time to provide an update on some new developments related to the Navigate digital platform. Advisors and instructors use Navigate to communicate with students about academic progress and to connect students to resources across campus.

We’re all aware of the challenges that our students have faced this year as COVID-19 forced us to transition to largely virtual learning. Tools like Navigate have become more important than ever in creating an outstanding learning environment that helps our students stay in school and succeed.

Faculty and staff can help by continuing to complete progress reports so that students take advantage of all the tools available within Navigate, including making appointments with advisors and checking their academic record.

Those unfamiliar with Navigate may want to take more time to explore this website or view the slideshow presented at the Student Success Summit in January 2020. However, a lot has happened since last January.

Academic planner module

A new module is being added to Navigate to allow students to view their entire four-year academic plan. It’s the first step of what we hope is a series of upgrades to come that will help make it easier for students to map out their academic career and graduate in four years.

This lines up with one of the goals of the Moon Shot for Equity: Providing a quality education while reducing time and money (credit hours) spent toward graduation.

Enhanced Navigate app

We introduced an enhanced version of the Navigate app in the Fall 2020 semester that gives first-year students more robust options for communications. The app allows us to send quick polls and surveys and to push out timely “to-do” lists to help students stay focused at critical points like midterm exams.

For instance, we might ask how students are adjusting to virtual learning and whether they have Wi-Fi or laptop computer access. Depending on the response, we can connect students to the right resources on campus.

Students also have the ability to receive push notifications, further alerting them to important dates and deadlines. Students using the enhanced app will soon be able to see progress reports that previously were available only through email or while logged into Navigate.

Measuring progress by term

Navigate also offers a powerful analytic program that helps advisors keep track of students’ academic progress. The program produces a score that estimates the risk of a student leaving school. Those scores are then color-coded into three categories: high (red), moderate (yellow) and low (green) risk.

Starting this semester, Navigate will begin to score the risk that a student will not return next term. Previously, scores reflected the risk that a student would not graduate within six years. Switching to the term-to-term model allows UWM to be consistent with how other UW System institutions are using Navigate.

It’s important to note that the risk scores are just one tool available for advisors and coaches to keep track of a student’s academic performance. For advisors and coaches, it’s a quick visual aid that shows how a student is doing and provides an early warning so advisors can get help to students who need it.

Eliminating equity gaps

As many of you might know, Navigate is operated by EAB, the higher education consulting firm partnering with UWM on the Moon Shot for Equity. Carthage, MATC and UW-Parkside are also part of this important endeavor, which is the first regional Moon Shot collaboration in the country. The overarching goal is to eliminate equity gaps in higher education.

As part of the Moon Shot initiative, we are looking at many ways that we can help students succeed, and one of the pieces that we’re looking at is Navigate and building out the resources available on the platform as described above.

For more information, please send an email to the UWM Navigate support team.