In as little as two months, Middle Georgia State University
saw significant improvements in its Faculty Feedback
system after integrating with Salesforce.

Middle Georgia State University (MGA) is a leading public university in Georgia, committed to offering high-quality educational opportunities and fostering an engaged and welcoming community. MGA serves more than 8,400 students on campuses in Macon, Cochran, Dublin, Eastman, and Warner Robins, as well as online. 

The University offers more than 70 areas of study and degrees at the doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s levels, along with select career-oriented associate’s degrees and certificates. Students can select from a variety of academic programming within its Schools of Arts & Letters, School of Aviation, School of Business, School of Computing, School of Education & Behavioral Sciences, and School of Health & Natural Sciences. With a commitment to excellence, MGA continues to be a hub for innovation and academic achievement. 

Middle Georgia State University (MGA) has long been committed to student success through innovative approaches and dedicated faculty engagement. As a way to maximize these efforts, the university wanted to find new solutions to the interconnected challenges in optimizing its established support system for students.

MGA’s faculty, known for their dedication, engage with students weekly in classes, gaining valuable insights into each student’s progress and potential challenges. This regular interaction positions faculty as key observers of student performance and well-being. Historically, MGA used a well-developed early alert system, allowing faculty to flag concerns about students’ academic progress, but it was limited to the first three weeks of each semester. While this early alert process provided a solid foundation, MGA recognized an opportunity to expand the system, based on faculty input, to provide alerts throughout the entire semester.

The faculty’s commitment to student success is evident, but large caseloads made it difficult for them to provide direct, personalized support to every student in need. Recognizing this limitation, MGA acknowledges that students often form strong relationships with other staff members and advisors on campus who are well-positioned to offer guidance and support. However, data was traditionally stored in Excel spreadsheets, creating an extra step for advisors when accessing and sharing student information.

A critical need emerged for a system that could easily access and transmit information about student concerns—such as low grades, attendance issues, or general feedback—to both students and advisors. This would enable the provision of comprehensive, wrap-around support and ensure students have access to the resources they need for success. The absence of unified data hindered MGA’s ability to implement timely interventions and provide coordinated support across different departments.

Despite these challenges, it’s important to note that MGA’s academic departments have been providing excellent support for their students within the constraints of their existing systems. The university’s recognition of these issues and its proactive approach to seeking solutions demonstrate its ongoing commitment to enhancing the student experience and academic outcomes.

By addressing these challenges, MGA aimed to build upon its strong foundation of student support, creating a more responsive, data-informed, and student-centric system. This initiative reflects the university’s dedication to not just maintaining, but continuously improving its ability to foster student success across all its campuses.

Middle Georgia State University (MGA) used its existing Banner system to improve the Faculty Feedback process, addressing communication and student support challenges with guidance from the Redpath team. The updated Faculty Feedback form in the SSB9 Banner system allowed faculty to track student progress more easily throughout the term. The form included options to select common student issues, space for comments, and fields to note projected grades. This streamlined process replaced the Early Alert system, making it easier for faculty to flag concerns and request support for students.

To eliminate fragmented communication, MGA integrated Faculty Feedback data with Salesforce. With help from Redpath, the feedback was routed into Salesforce Alerts, creating a single location for advisors and support staff to access student information. This made it simpler to address issues and track progress, ensuring students received timely support.

Leveraging Salesforce’s automation capabilities, the Redpath team implemented a system to review each feedback record and generate timely alerts. Automated alerts were sent directly to students’ Salesforce portals while primary academic advisors were simultaneously notified. Each alert triggered the creation of Success Plans with specific, actionable tasks for students, enabling them to take proactive steps towards resolving concerns independently.

This Salesforce-based solution significantly improved collaboration between faculty, advisors, and students. Advisors gained real-time visibility into student progress and challenges, while students received immediate notifications about faculty concerns. Both students and advisors could access and monitor progress on Success Plans, fostering a more collaborative approach to student support.

By leveraging technology, the Redpath team helped MGA address its scalability concerns as well. The automated system could efficiently handle large volumes of student data, allowing the university to maintain personalized support despite growing student numbers and new support teams like financial aid or student housing being added into the process. Advisors could focus their efforts on students needing the most assistance, as identified by the system.

Moreover, the centralized data repository in Salesforce enabled MGA to analyze trends in student challenges, identify common issues across courses or departments, and make data-informed decisions about resource allocation and support strategies. This comprehensive solution not only addressed MGA’s immediate challenges but also laid the foundation for a more proactive, data-driven approach to student success. By seamlessly connecting faculty insights with advisor actions and student engagement through Redpath’s expertise, MGA created a robust support ecosystem that could adapt to the evolving needs of its growing student body.

The Redpath team’s implementation of the integrated Faculty Feedback system and Salesforce solution at Middle Georgia State University (MGA) yielded significant results in a remarkably short timeframe. Within just two months (August – October), the new system demonstrated its effectiveness in addressing MGA’s communication challenges and enhancing student support.

The Faculty Feedback form generated an impressive 7,266 records for students across 137 courses, with 155 faculty members actively participating. This high level of engagement underscores the system’s user-friendly design and its ability to accommodate faculty’s busy schedules. The solution’s impact was far-reaching, with 3,450 students receiving feedback from faculty for one or more of their courses, addressing the previous gap in information sharing between faculty and students.

Leveraging Salesforce automation, the system issued 2,010 alerts for 1,032 students, ensuring prompt intervention for those needing additional support. These alerts were diverse, including 1,365 grade alerts, 8 general faculty feedback alerts, and 637 attendance alerts, reflecting the system’s capability to address a wide range of student needs. The resolution of 1,235 alerts (61%) to date demonstrates the effectiveness of this innovative approach in facilitating timely, targeted support.

The success of the implementation is further evidenced by the system’s ability to handle large volumes of data efficiently, addressing MGA’s scalability concerns. By centralizing student information and automating alerts, the solution has significantly improved collaboration between faculty, advisors, and students. This enhanced communication flow has enabled more proactive and personalized support, aligning with MGA’s goal of fostering student success.

Moreover, the system’s ability to generate comprehensive data on student progress and challenges has provided MGA with valuable insights for data-driven decision-making. This has allowed the university to identify trends, allocate resources more effectively, and develop targeted interventions to support student success.

The rapid adoption and positive outcomes of this solution showcase the Redpath team’s expertise in implementing tailored Salesforce solutions that address complex institutional challenges. By seamlessly integrating faculty insights with advisor actions and student engagement, MGA has created a robust support ecosystem that can adapt to the evolving needs of its growing student body, setting a new standard for student support in higher education.