Faculty and Instructors

1 – The Toolbar. The toolbar has icons for quick access to various features in WCS. You can hover over each icon to see the name of its function. Some of the key features are highlighted below.

  Home icon – select this to return to your main home page.

Cases icon – this is where you can open new cases (also referred to as alerts) and view the progress of open cases.

Campaigns icon – create new appointment campaigns and check the status of in progress campaigns.

 Advanced Search icon – use this tab to search for your students using a variety of parameters and searching features.

Lists and Searches – this is where you can view searches and student lists you have saved.

2 – Quick Access Bar. In this section, you can quickly see any new conversations when a students responds to your messages (also sent to your email inbox), do a quick search for students by name or V-Number (which students you can search varies by your user role), select the desired term (defaults to the current term), or click on the Help button for access to tutorials and additional resources.

3 – User Profile. This section indicates what mode WCS is in. If you have multiple roles, such as professor and advisor (shows as a staff role), you can select the drop down arrow next to the user profile to switch your roles to utilize the features specific to that role.

4 – Quick Links. The links on the right-hand side of the page can take you quickly to common areas of WCS, such as issuing an alert or recording class assignments.

Student profiles are the most utilized feature of WCS and are an integral part of advising. However, to understand the importance of what the student profile can do, some background understanding is required which is covered in this overview. The student profile is a set of information about the student and their academic performance. The profile contains information centered on proactively identifying students at risk of not graduating in their major and providing the tools to support the student.

• The Overview tab is a quick summary of how many D/F grades a student earned, W grades, repeated courses, cumulative GPA, total earned credits (transfer and institution) and percentage of credit completion at institution. Scrolling down, users can also see a student’s major, history of major changes, the staff working with the student, and various categories of identifiers a student has.

• Class Info: Select the tab under a student’s profile.
  • In this tab, users will be able to see a student’s current courses for the term. The term can be changed by selecting another term in the top right corner of the page.
  • History of courses/Term details: A student’s academic transcript will appear in the Class Info tab. Scroll down from the current courses and view a student’s term by term details including grades, credits earned, GPA, and academic standing.
• History tab: View previous visit to support centers, previous cases/alerts, and previous advisor reports.

WCS has appointment scheduling capabilities that make it easy for students to schedule time to meet with you. A new feature is a personal appointment link that takes students directly to your appointment options and bypasses several steps in the scheduling process. The personal availability link is available under the My Availability tab on the Staff home screen (you may need to switch from the professor home screen). 

• If you have never used the scheduling feature of WCS before, you will need to sync your calendar and set up your availability prior to using the Personal Availability Link. See the Staff WCS page for instructions on these steps.

If you set up appointment availability in WCS, you can use your Personal Availability Link (more details above and on the WCS Staff tutorial page), for students to schedule appointments for your office hours. 

To set up your faculty office hours (after you have set up the calendar and availabilities), go to your Staff home page and select the Availabilites tab. Add a new availability reason with the Service Reason: Faculty Office Hours under the Advising Care Unit. To create a new availability, click on the Actions drop down to add a new time or copy an existing time. 

After entering the days and times you want to be available for office hours, select the Advising Care Unit, your desired location (Virtual or Faculty Office), the Faculty Office Hours service, and then enter the courses you are teaching that term. Make sure the box to add the availability to your personal availability link is checked. Note: if you select the Faculty Office location, include your office location in the Special Instructions section of the availability. 

Once you have all the settings complete (including a link and instructions for virtual appointments). Select Save. Your students should then be able to schedule office hour appointments using your personal availability link. 

Tip: if you need to figure out the specific course name to select from the course drop down list in your availability, go to your Professor Home page (select Professor from the drop down option if you are on the Staff role) and you will see how the name of your courses is listed in WCS at  the top of the page.

The Advanced Search function within WCS allows you to search your students while applying multiple different filters to create specific cohorts of students based on your search parameters. Please note that while using the search function, you must only search for students that you have a legitmate need to know (such as your assigned advisees or students in your class that term) based on your job responsibilities to maintain FERPA requirements. To use the Advanced Search:

• From the WCS homepage, click on the “Advanced Search” icon in the toolbar to the left.
• Select the drop down area in each section to enter the specific parameters you want to

• Once you have selected the parameters you want, click on the blue Search button at the bottom of the screen. 
• Click on the Actions drop downs to get a list of what you are able to do with that student data.  Some options include sending the students a message, creating an appointment campaign, adding the results to a student list, or exporting the results to a csv file. (Note: if you have more than one page of results, be sure to check the button that says All and then click on the message to Select all items before doing anything on the actions menu)

Saving the Search

If this is a search you perform frequently, you can save the search filters, and every time you click on the saved search it will give you data for the point in time. To do this, you will click Save at the top of this window and name the search.  

The saved search is then located at the top of the Advanced Search page under the Saved Searches drop down or on the Lists & Searches icon for later use.

A student list can be used to save a list of students that you would like to monitor or be aware of the progress of a group of students. You can enter Student Lists in the Advanced Search, select the students to send an appointment campaign, or to track from term to term. 

You can create a watch list in two ways:

1. Run an advanced search in WCS (see instructions above) with the desired parameters for the students you want to save on the list. Select Search and and then check the ALL button to select all the students which came back on your search. Then click on Actions and select Add to Student List.

You will then get this dialog box asking if you want to add these students to a watch list that already exists or if you want to create a new list. Select the option to Create a new list, enter a name, and Select Save. To find your list once you have created it, click on the Lists and Searches icon in the left menu bar, and students lists will be located at the top of the page.

2. Upload a csv file with a list of students you want to save as a student list. Prepare your list by creating a csv file with the student’s name and V-Number (in separate columns). Then in WCS, click on the Lists and Searches icon, and in the Student List section, click on Actions, and Upload Student List.

In the drop down menu on this screen, you can choose an existing list or New Student List. Choose a list or create a new one and then click Confirm.

You will then be walked through a few steps of uploading the file and selecting which column the Student ID (V-Number) is located in. At the end, select Save. Then your student lists will be saved and viewable on the Lists and Searches page. Depending on the size of the file, it could take a few minutes for the list of students to upload.

Issuing alerts, also called opening a case, is a way to connect students to resources on campus that can support their success. If you are concerned about a student’s progress in classes or if they are mentioning academic challenges, issue an alert and advisors in support offices will reach out to students and address the concern. Assigned advisors will be from Student Success and Advising (SSA), Multicultural Student Services and Programs (MSSP), Student Enrichment Program (SEP), or Teacher Prep Student Support Services (TPSSS), depending on where the student is already connected.

Opening Cases For Students in Your Classes

1. On the WCS home page, make sure the Professor role is selected. 
2. Under the Students in My Classes section, select the box next to the student you want to refer, click Actions, and select Issue Alert. You can also select the Issue an Alert link on the right hand side of the screen and search for the student by name. Follow steps 3 and 4 below to submit the case. 

Opening Cases for Your Advisees

1. On the WCS home page, make sure the Advisor (staff) role is selected. 
2. Under the My Assigned Students section, select the box next to the student you want to refer, click Actions, and select Issue Alert. You can also search for the student in the Quick Search box and select the Issue Alert option on the right hand side of the Student Profile page. 
3. Select the appropriate reason for your concern (see details about alert reasons below) and select the course in question, if applicable. 
4. Describe your concern for the student in question in the available space. Having more details helps the assigned advisor understand the scope of your concern and can more appropriately address the issue with the student. Please note that the notes added here become a part of a student’s academic record and the student can request access to see any information submitted.

Common academic reasons for opening a case are:

• Not attending class – students have not attended or participated regularly
• Failing assignments, tests or quizzes – students who have earned failing or low grades on assignments, tests, and/or quizzes in class or lab sections
• Not completing assignments – students who are not regularly (or at all) turning in assignments
• Abrupt change in academic performance – students who have established themselves as consistent students and abruptly start not doing well either in class, on exams, assignments, or fail to attend classes regularly.

Other alert reasons that may be discussed with advisors but also may require a referral to other offices are:

• Financial difficulties – students who mention the reason for not doing well academically as financial strain or challenge.
  • A good first step would be to refer the student to the Financial Aid office
  • Assigned advisors can support students and help them navigate various offices on campus to recommend financial support or discuss a withdraw from classes, if appropriate.
• Distracted behavior – a student who is consistently using devices or has behavior that can distract other students.
  • Most cases of disruptive behavior should go through Student Conduct. If you are concerned for the safety of yourself and your students, this should be a Student of Concern Report.
  • However, assigned advisors can address how the behavior may impact academic success. We can address study skills, test taking abilities, and discuss the seriousness of how having distracted behavior may impact their grade.
• Other – this alert reason can be used for any concern that is not perfectly addressed by a previous alert reason
  • We can discuss ways for students to improve academic performance and possibly help students navigate the University system to receive appropriate support.
  • However, if you are concerned about a student’s well-being, this should be submitted as a Student of Concern Report.

Reasons NOT to submit an academic alert:

• Mental Health reasons – if a student is discussing mental health reasons in general or as the reason they are not doing well during the term, this should be referred to Student Health and Counseling or submitted a Student of Concern Report.
  • If you have questions about the result of a Student of Concern Report, contact the Vice President of Student Affairs office.
• Disruptive behavior – if a student is displaying concerning, threatening, or belligerent behavior, please submit a Student of Concern Report or contact the office of Student Conduct directly. They are the most appropriate people to handle this situation. If you are immediately concerned for the safety of yourself, the student, or other students contact Public Safety as soon as possible. 
• Accommodations requests – if you believe a student may require accommodations, refer them to the Office of Disability Services. They will be able to appropriately assess whether or not accommodations are needed. Additionally, please be aware or cautious of ADA laws around asking students about suspected disabilities.

After a case is opened: 

Issuing an alert will send an email to the student with some information on self-service resources they can access and will open an active case in the WCS system. Staff in the SSA office will assign the case to an appropriate advisor based on prior contacts or areas of expertise. As advisors reach out to the student, they will record notes and updates of the outreach and follow up. 

Through our case process, you will be assigned as the owner of the case so that you can access all the updates related to cases you have submitted. There is no further action required on your part as the case owner, but is helpful if you have additional feedback or contact to the student to add additional comments on the case. To view the progress being made in open cases or to add a comment, do the following:

1. Select the Cases icon in the left hand toolbar. 
2. Find the student you want to review and click on Manage Case.
3. At the top left hand side of the case, you will see yourself as the Case Owner. On the right hand side, the advisor assigned to the case will be visible in “Assigned To”.
4. If you would like to add notes, click “Add comment”

Once a case is closed, either from contact being made with the student or no contact made after multiple attempts, you will receive an email. If you would like to see what the result of the case was, you can access it with the steps listed above and view the notes and reason for closure.

WCS allows you to track attendance for your classes and easily see patterns of students missing classes to provide them with additional resources and support. To record your attenance, follow these steps: 

1. Select the Record My Class Attendance option from the Quick Links section on the right hand side of the Professor Home Page.

2. Select the course and date you wish to report attendance for.

3. Mark students as Present, Absent, or Tardy. If you mark students either Absent or Tardy, you can also select the Excused radio button. The column titled Pattern on the right-hand side shows the pattern of attendance for this student for up to the last 5 recorded attendances for this class. You also can mark only the students who are Absent or Tardy and then use the option below the grid to mark the remaining students present. 

4. After completing the grid for that course at that time, select the Save Attendance button below the grid. You may go back and edit or update absences at any time.

You can view the Attendance Tracker on the grid which displays the total absences recorded this term compared to excused absences (in parenthesis).

WCS: Overview of Student Profile

 WCS: Your Tool for Enhancing Classroom Management in a Remote Environment

WCS Update Training 2021

Q: What are the benefits of using WCS?

A: WCS gives you an easy place to connect and communicate with students in your classes. You can easily see course rosters, take attendance, or refer students that need additional support to the appropriate departments. With these tools, you can also easily send students messages (such as prior to a term beginning) or set up a personal availability link to schedule office hours or other appointments. If you are an administrator or advisor as well as an instructor, WCS has many additional functions to assist you in those roles. See the WCS Staff page for more details.

Q: I got an email saying a case I opened in WCS was closed. What does that mean?

A: When you submit an alert for a student through WCS, it opens a case for advisors in SSA, MSSP, SEP, or TPSSS to reach and connect with the student. Any attempts or updates on contacting the student are added to the case as comments so you can review the case progress. If the case is closed, either contact was made with the student and the issue was addressed, the student dropped a class, or after repeated attempts to contact the student and no response after a long period of time (usually at the end of each term), the case was closed because the student did not respond. For more information on cases and reviewing the progress of cases, see the section on Cases/Referrals above.

Q: I tried searching for a student but got a message that I do not have sufficient permissions to view the student. Why am I seeing this message?

A: To maintain FERPA protections, staff/faculty searching in WCS can only view students that they have a legitimate need to do so. For faculty advisors and instructors, this means you can only see students registered for your classes or who are your assigned advisees. If you need to search for a student who took a class in a previous term, you can change the term in the upper right hand corner to that term and try searching again. If you are a professional advisor who works with students from multiple majors or a department administrator/administrative assistant who works with a wide range of students based on your job description, you may need to have expanded permissions for accessing data in WCS to match your position. For any questions about user roles and permissions, please email wolfconnectionsystem@wou.edu.

Q: How do I use WCS to schedule appointments with my students?

A: To set up appointment scheduling, you will need to sync your calendar, set up your availability, and then send your personal availability link to students or set up an appointment campaign. For more details on syncing your calendar and setting up your availability, refer to the WCS Staff page. For details about the personal avaialability link, see the section above.