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.

Note-Taking Objectives

Share information so that advisors and students can collaborate. Many notes in Stellic are visible to both the student and the student’s other advisors, so they can serve as helpful reminders to both parties.

Provide context, allowing for expedient and productive student interactions that minimize repetition and redundancy.

Build relationships by demonstrating commitment and follow-through to students. Taking time to record referrals and basic notes signals to students that we are committed to supporting them. For advisors who serve large numbers of students, it can also help to supplement individual recollections of students and interactions.

Respect privacy. Information about sensitive situations should not include more detail than necessary (see additional guidance below). Students can always choose to share more information when and where they feel it is necessary.

Focus on facts and events, by including only objective information and avoiding assumptions and judgments.

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. Notes intended to be used only as a personal memory aid should be made visible only to oneself, using the visibility settings, or should be kept in a secure system outside of Stellic. (Such notes are exempt from FERPA.)
Cite actions that were requested of the advisor by the student, or of the student by the advisor, and note any needed follow-up.
For referrals, include context to allow the third party to act with clarity and purpose in their interaction with the shared 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 term 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 judgements 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.”
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, it will likely be more helpful to other advisors and the student if a note instead describes a reason or 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.

Situation #1

Two different notes about the same situation.

Note A

Professor Jones reported to me that Shannon has missed 2 weeks of classes and has not responded to emails. I talked to Shannon on the phone. She told me that she was assaulted and has been suffering panic attacks since. I told her to call CAPS.

Note B

Professor Jones reported to me that Shannon has missed 2 weeks of classes and has not responded to emails. I spoke to Shannon by phone.  Based on our conversation, I learned that she would benefit from additional support, and I connected her to additional resources at the university.

Which note is more appropriate?

Note A contains information that Shannon might not be comfortable sharing with very many people.

Note B contains just the key information from the situation described in Note A: Shannon is experiencing something challenging, and she has been connected to appropriate resources. This is enough information to indicate to other advisors that Shannon might need future support, but it leaves it up to Shannon to share those additional details as she feels is appropriate.

Situation #2

Two different notes about the same situation.

Note A

Michael can’t make up his mind about a major and might switch again, maybe to Statistics. Not a good idea based on past grades.

Note B

Michael states that he is still interested in public policy, but more in the area of data analysis. He is interested in changing his major to statistics. I referred him to the DUP in statistics and suggested that he goes over his past coursework with that person to see if a statistics major is likely to be a good fit.