TRANSITION
Excelling@Iowa is a campus-wide student success platform used by staff and faculty to help support students as they navigate their transition to the University of Iowa, and throughout their undergraduate career. The system is used by over 600 faculty and staff, and over 30 departments, to help students succeed at the University of Iowa.
SUPPORT
Every student has a support team of at least two staff members at the University of Iowa. The first member of their support team is their academic advisor in the Academic Advising Center or their respective undergraduate college office. The second member of their support team is associated with their housing: on-campus students are connected to Residence Education staff; off-campus first year students are with Pathways to Excellence; and off-campus transfer students are with a volunteer who serves as a Transfer Support Team member. These staff members provide outreach to the student throughout their first year at Iowa and remain connected to them in the following years.
CONNECTION
In addition to regularly scheduled outreach and check-ins, students complete the Excelling@Iowa Transition survey during weeks 3-5 of their first semester at Iowa to gather additional information about their transition. University staff outreach directly to each student based on their survey responses. Students also receive a custom student report -- generated based on their responses -- with resources and information about how to connect with various offices and people on campus.
Excelling@Iowa provides staff and faculty with an actionable platform to support student success at the University through integrated, coordinated, and proactive support.
Excelling@Iowa will:
Provide staff and faculty with relevant and timely information to provide integrated outreach related to students’ achievement of personal and institutional educational goals.
Support the University of Iowa’s commitment to student success through understanding experiences of belonging, contributors to persistence, and create effective interventions for all students.
Provide a structure and network of support for all undergraduate students through guided messaging and tools for Excelling@Iowa users, as well as opportunities to identify successes and concerns and provide growth mindset messaging for students.
After a student responds to the survey, they may be contacted by staff around the university offering specific resources to help a student succeed at Iowa. Additionally, university administrators take the data from the entire first-year class to make decisions on how to best provide services to students.
We want our students to succeed, and we want our students to feel that they matter and belong at Iowa. Through the Excelling@Iowa Transition Survey and other system functions, we can identify students who may be struggling with their transition to UI early in the semester and throughout the year. Iowa faculty and staff can then provide early support and intervention by connecting students who are having difficulties with resources to aid in their transition.
STUDENTS
Students who are required to complete the survey (new first-time first-year students, new transfer students, and TRIO SSS students) can find the link to the Excelling@Iowa transition survey in their Success at Iowa or TRIO Steps to Success ICON course site. Optional students will be emailed the link directly. This link is unique to each student and should not be shared.
STAFF & FACULTY
Currently, over 600 University of Iowa faculty and staff serve as Excelling@Iowa system users. In addition to housing information about the new student transition gathered through the Excelling@Iowa Transition Survey, the Excelling@Iowa platform also supports an institution-wide referral platform, emailing capabilities, and additional campus integrations. Faculty and staff may request access to the system to support students and are then granted a level of access most appropriate to their unique roles.