Stellic is designed to support collaboration among advisors as well as between students and advisors by making key information more accessible. These guidelines are developed to help faculty and staff use the platform confidently and responsibly, thus ensuring that student data is used thoughtfully, notes are recorded appropriately, and visibility is managed with care. Our goal is to empower advisors to make the most of Stellic while maintaining trust and respecting student privacy.

Use of Student Information in Stellic

Student information accessed through Stellic must be used solely in the performance of advising and support work and must align with the official responsibilities of faculty and staff. Use of this information for any purpose outside of one’s professional duties is strictly prohibited. All users are expected to handle student information with the highest standards of privacy, professionalism, and ethical responsibility.

Encouraged Uses

Faculty and staff are encouraged to use information in Stellic to support students. Such uses include:

• Preparing for and conducting academic advising appointments.
• Identifying students within one’s purview who may benefit from outreach or support.
• Monitoring the status of referrals, academic progress, or other student-related actions.
• Informing advising conversations with students .

Prohibited Uses

Information in Stellic must not be used for any activity not directly related to student advising and support, including, but not limited to:

• Making decisions about course grades.
• Conducting research that is not part of internal assessment or units’ business operations.
• Personal curiosity or any non-professional interest.

Additional Guidance for Information Contained Specifically in Notes

Advising notes may include observations or insights that help advisors connect students with relevant opportunities and resources. As outlined in the “Encouraged Uses” section, it is appropriate to use notes to guide one-on-one conversations with students about opportunities or resources that may benefit them. However, a different standard applies in the context of competitive or application-based review processes. Notes must not be used to inform decisions about student access to selective opportunities. These include, but are not limited to:
•    Admission to academic programs
•    Application-based extracurricular or co-curricular activities
•    Employment or similar unpaid roles
•    Financial assistance or scholarships
In short, while notes can support individualized advising, they must not be used as evaluative material in any selection or review process. Additionally, the content of notes may not be used for the purposes of mass outreach or marketing.
If you have questions about particular use cases, please contact [email protected] 

Note-taking Guidance

This guidance is intended to help advisors take high-quality notes in Stellic. Technical information on how to use these features can be found here. 

Purpose: Recording Student Interactions in Stellic 

Our students live and learn in a variety of contexts during their time at UVA. Many will change schools, most will change advisors, nearly all take classes outside of their primary school of enrollment, and most participate in activities outside of the classroom. As students pursue opportunities and navigate resources and decisions, they may need to meet with different types of advisors across the University. By sharing documentation of our student interactions in Stellic, we can provide advising partners across the University with the context and information they need to effectively support students over the course of their time at UVA.

Notes create a shared advising record which supports collaboration, provides helpful context, and minimizes repetition. Notes can also serve as reminders and reinforce follow-through, and for advisors working with large caseloads, they can supplement memory and maintain continuity in relationships over time.

Best Practices

• Consider the potential audience. Notes in Stellic can be visible to the student and to advisors in other offices (depending on the visibility setting selected). Even notes not made broadly visible through the visibility settings could be subject to requests for information made through FERPA or FOIA. Aim for accuracy, objectivity, and brevity. 
• Focus on facts and events. Summarize conversations. Provide information that contextualizes the student’s circumstances, and the related advice offered. Use objective language. Do not make assumptions. Include direct quotes when appropriate.
• Cite actions that were requested of the advisor by the student, or of the student by the advisor, and note any needed follow-up. 
• Respect privacy. Information about sensitive situations should not include more detail than necessary. Students can always choose to share more information when and where they feel it is necessary. 
• For referrals, include context to allow the third party to act with clarity and purpose in their interaction with the student. 
• Document communications outside of advising appointments that are relevant to student’s academic record (e.g. a phone call about how to withdraw from a course, an email inquiry about an academic regulation). 
• Note opportunities suggested to or asked about by the student (e.g. volunteer experience, leadership experience, internships). 
• Document attributes disclosed by the student which add value to the advising relationship and future interactions, or which may assist with reference letters (e.g. student’s interests, goals, clubs, activities, or other experience).  
• Note reminders for future considerations. Where reminders are meant for the student, be sure the note is made visible to the student. 
• Report only your observations when noting a change in behavior or a concern about a student. Do not include judgments or accusations. Subjective comments or speculations about a student’s motivations, concerns, or abilities are not appropriate for inclusion in an advising note. 
• List recommended courses or alternatives courses that you and the student discussed and how those courses may affect progress towards degree completion and/or exploration of majors or interests. 
• Document discussions involving university policies and academic regulations. 
• Take care when referring to other students. Where you need to refer to Student B on Student A’s notes because Student A has provided relevant information that includes Student B, be sure to record the information in a way that respects both students’ privacy and access (or lack thereof) to that note.  

Guidance for Sensitive Information 

• Notes made in Stellic should not contain highly sensitive information such as assault disclosures or details of legal matters or active crises. If you believe a student may be in distress or may have significant unmet needs, please contact Care and Support Services at 434-924-7133 or [email protected] 
• Do not use Stellic to record diagnoses, assessments, or other judgments of the student or their circumstances. 
• Notes related to medical information may be included where they are relevant to the advising context. Such information may only be included if provided by the student or by someone who can reasonably be considered a representative of the student, such as a parent. The information included in such a note should not contain any more detail than is necessary to allow advisors to support a student going forward. Such notes should be assigned a narrower scope of visibility, as appropriate to the context.  
• The details of accommodations (such as through SDAC) should not be included in Stellic. This information changes from semester-to-semester, and SDAC maintains this information and oversees its distribution. 
• If documenting information or conversations of a highly personal or sensitive nature, do not include more detail than is necessary for other advisors to be able to support the student effectively. Consider writing a generic statement and including the resource suggested to the student: “Student reported facing a challenging situation. Referred student to [name of office] for support.” 
• Financial information should be treated as sensitive. A note including a general statement such as “we discussed funding and scholarship options” is acceptable. If a more detailed note is necessary, it should only be visible to staff who work directly with that information, such as SFS, or the person who had the conversation with the student.
• If a student discloses an incident related to sexual assault or harassment, or other events covered by Title IX, include a generic note (as suggested above). Do not include any details. All responsible employees (this is a term for all employees not considered to be confidential in this context) must then report the incident. More information is available at the EOCR website.  Unless you are a confidential employee in this context, do not promise confidentiality to the student. If the student desires confidentiality, refer them to such a resource before they disclose the incident. 
• In any of these cases, if you deem the information disclosed important enough to make note of it, but too sensitive to be shared in Stellic, you may create your own private notes (i.e. notes that are securely stored and not accessible to others) as long as those are used only to reinforce your memory of that specific student’s case, are kept in your sole possession, and are retained only as long as useful. 

Tips For Writing Objective Notes 

• Some verbs tend to support objective sentences. For example: A student “stated”, “expressed”, or “reported”, followed by a brief description. 
• Instead of using adjectives as descriptors, describe a reason or a potential consequence. So, instead of “it’s a bad idea for a student to do X”, write “if the student takes this action, they will not be on track to complete the requirements for their major”. 

Examples

Below are a few examples of different ways notes could be written. In each case, Note B is a better example of a high-quality note. 

Additional Resources

• Information about FERPA on the website of the University Registrar. 
• Guidance about reports subject to Title IX, including reporting options and responsible vs confidential employee types.  
• Information about Just Report It, the University's online system for reporting: sexual and gender-based harassment and violence; bias and discrimination/harassment; hazing; Clery Act compliance; interference with speech rights; youth protection; preventing & addressing threats or acts of violence. 
• Information on use and storage of sensitive data can be found in UVA Policy IRM-003: Data Protection of University Information and University Data Protection Standards. 
   

Visibility Settings for Notes in Stellic 

Stellic enables the person taking a note to set visibility so that the note can be seen by broader or narrower groups of users. Below you will find explanations of how the visibility settings work, and recommendations for what type of visibility is appropriate for notes with various types of information. 

Default Visibility Settings

The Notes tool in Stellic allows the person making a note to select who the note is visible to. There are default settings, which advisors can leave in place or change as they write the note. 
The default note visibility settings in Stellic are as follows: 

Options to Change Visibility for Notes

The person making a note can change the visibility settings on a note to limit or grant access to a pre-defined Stellic group, one or more individual users, and/or the student. (Pre-defined Stellic groups include teams that work together in an office or collaborate on a type of work. Examples include Nursing Student Services and College of A&S Advising Deans.)
If you want to make a note visible to a user or group of users whose default access would not normally allow them to see it, you can edit the settings to include that individual or group.
If you do not want a note to be visible to a user whose default access would normally allow them to see it, you can edit the settings to include only the group or individuals who you would like to be able to see the note.
In the example below, the person writing the note has changed the default settings in order to restrict access to only a specific Stellic group (the office called Care and Support Services) and an individual user (Kevin Rose). They also checked the box that makes the note visible to the student.
 

Recommended Visibility Settings

Below are three sets of examples with recommended visibility settings for notes about different types of content.

Interests and Opportunities

Consider these two examples of notes about students’ academic or career interests:

A.    Peter and I discussed his interest in pursuing a Chemistry major. I recommended waiting until fall to take BIOL2100, so that he can focus on Intro Chem this year.
B.    Farah is seeking an internship with an arts organization in Richmond. We reviewed her resume and talked about the timing of the application cycle.
In both A & B above, it would be appropriate to set the visibility to all staff with access, as information about academic and career interests may aid other advisors.

Typical Challenges

Consider these two examples about challenges that are common for college students:

C.    Mike stated that he is struggling with Calculus. He has not yet sought support outside of class. We made a plan for him to start attending P2L for the next 3 Sundays to see if that type of support is helpful.
D.    Erin missed our last scheduled appointment and was late this morning. She said she is having trouble getting up in the morning because her roommate is noisy at night. She values her relationship with her roommate, so I suggested that she work with her RA on strategies to broach the topic productively.

In both C and D above, it would be appropriate to set the visibility to all staff with access. Documenting the conversation can aid other advisors and inform future advising conversations, especially if similar challenges occur again. 

Sensitive Personal Challenges, including Health Conditions

Consider these two examples, each with two different types of notes. 

Example 1: Personal Challenge

E.    Tamara told me that her parents’ divorce is making it difficult for her to focus on her classes. When offered counseling support at CAPS, she stated that she does not believe she needs it but will not hesitate to seek it out if that changes.
F.    Tamara is experiencing some personal challenges that may impact her coursework. Resources have been offered, and Tamara says she will follow up as needed. I plan to check in with her again in two weeks.

Example 2: Health Condition

G.    Sam is recently out of the hospital after being admitted for mental health reasons. We discussed whether he should withdraw from his classes this semester. I explained the process and implications.
H.    Sam is experiencing health challenges. My office is working closely with him.

For note examples E and G, it would be appropriate to set the visibility so that it is limited to a specific group. In each case, this detailed information may be helpful to a team that is responsible for working with a student closely and regularly. It may be more detail, though, than advisors in other parts of the University need. On the other hand, for note examples F and H, it would be appropriate to set the visibility to all users with access. Including vaguer notes, like these, for the broader advising community can signal to an advisor that some challenge is occurring, without revealing information that a student may reasonably wish to be held more closely. Such a note also lets an advisor know that the student is being supported and may indicate who to contact if a new need or question arises. In some cases, an advisor may decide to record both a more detailed and a vaguer note, with relevant visibility settings for each, so that different types of advisors have information appropriate to their role. 

Common Interactions Regarding Sensitive Information

Consider these two sets of examples regarding topics that are common, but where the type of information is still sensitive.

Example 1: Finances

I.    Michael is interested in studying abroad this summer. We talked about potential costs and resources for scholarships.
J.    Rachel is on full financial aid and is not sure how she will support herself during an unpaid internship this summer.

Example 2: Disability accommodations

K.    Daphne is interested in studying abroad in Europe for the fall semester. She has some learning needs for which she has accommodation through SDAC. We talked about how that might work during a semester abroad.

For note example I, it would be appropriate to set the visibility to users with all access. This helps other advisors to know about the student’s interest without disclosing unnecessary detail about the student’s finances. On the other hand, note example J should not be written. Therefore, it should not be visible to anyone. It contains too much detail about the student’s financial situation, and this type of information is specifically protected by federal guidelines. Note example K falls in the middle: It would be appropriate to set the visibility for this note so that it is limited to a specific group. In this case, the information in example K is important for an office like Education Abroad to know. The student needs to be supported well while planning for and studying abroad. The note also does not contain a diagnosis. However, it is still not information that most users of Stellic need to see, so it should be restricted to the team that needs it to support the student in that context.

Whether to Make Notes Visible to Students

The examples above do not specify whether it is recommended to make notes visible to students. Whether to do so depends on the practices of advisors and units and upon relationships and specific situational context. Exercising transparency with students about our communications and including them whenever possible as active participants in the advising process can foster trust and help students to feel ownership of their development and actions. Remember that ultimately, all notes must be made available to students and (in most cases) their parents, should they request that information via FERPA.