Task and Success Plan Guidelines and Process

There is a lot of important information that groups across campus need to communicate to students. With the Student Experience and Success initiative of the university’s Strategic Plan, different channels of communication are available to communicate to students that the university has never had before. One new way is through tasks and success plans. The below information is meant to explain this channel, give guidelines on how to use this channel, and share how to submit requests. The goal is to preserve the importance of tasks for students and understand other options for communicating with students.

A task is a new type of communication to our student population. It allows faculty and staff to assign specific items to students to complete. When a task is assigned to a student, it appears in their My-UM-Dearborn portal with a name, description/details and deadline, and the student receives an automated email telling them a task has been assigned and to log in to their portal to view more information. With current functionality, a student can then mark a task as “completed” as they finish each item.

A success plan is a group of tasks, often related to each other, that can be assigned to a student at once. They appear in the portal in the same way to a student, and automated emails are sent for each task.

The majority of tasks should be reserved to actions students are required to do in order to be a student at UM-Dearborn. Examples of this are registering for classes, meeting with an advisor requirement, paying tuition, etc.

Tasks can be assigned as things that are optional to a student to complete, if the information directly relates to the student’s academic success at UM-Dearborn. An example of this is assigning optional student success resources if a student has an Early Warning alert for a class.

While there are many important activities and information for students across campus, a task or success plan should not be used if the information is not mandatory for the student, or does not directly relate to their academic success. Some examples of this include speaker events, student org recruitment, and general office information for awareness.

If you have information you would like to share with students that does not fit into the guidelines of tasks and success plans, you have the option of sending it out through these other channels:

• If the information is for a targeted group of students, submit an email request.
• If the information would be beneficial for all students, submit a request to have it included in the Dean of Student’s weekly Sunday student newsletter.

As the university tries to preserve tasks to essential items, a limited number of people are encouraged to submit requests for tasks. This includes:

• Central supporting units
• Academic advisors
  • Tasks should be discussed at the advisor working group meetings, and once a consensus is made in the group a representative should submit the request.

If you do not fall into any of the above groups but still would like to submit a request, please do so through the form below. The request will be reviewed by the communications working group and someone will be in touch to discuss your request. Please note that after review, other communication channels may be recommended.

To submit a request please fill out the linked form below. Once submitted, it will be reviewed by the communications working group and someone will be in touch.

If you have any questions about tasks, success plans or emails to current students, please email umdearborn-student-communications@umich.edu.