Documenting Advising Conversations
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A message from Dr. Pam Silver, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs:
"Faculty advising of students is critical to positive student outcomes. Students trust and respect faculty members as experts and as guides to personal, academic, and career success. One of the most important things faculty advisers can do to help ensure student success is to enter notes in Starfish every time they meet with a student.
These notes are critical as: 1) background information for subsequent advising of the student by others in the university; 2) a written record of the advice a student has received when she or he encounters difficulties associated with entrance to majors, transfer credits, internships, graduation, course substitutions, or degree audits; 3) documentation of academic planning for students on or at risk of academic warning, suspension, or re-enrollment; and 4) a source of data that can be used to generate predictive analytical models to guide efforts to improve student success and retention."
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Dr. Silver is not alone in seeing the value of using Starfish; the University as a whole places importance on documenting advising conversations. Documentation is now a required practice in the new
Academic Progression Policy
and an integral part of Penn State's
Advising Policy
.
The Advising Policy states: "...the careful documentation of advising interactions is an important responsibility of academic advisers and should be completed in the University’s formal online advising note system to ensure support of students’ successful navigation of the University’s academic opportunities, policies, systems and procedures."
The conversations you have with your students, those on academic warning and those in good standing, are important and necessary to include in the student's official academic record in Starfish.
Not only is it important to document advising conversations, it's important to document them
well
. This edition of the Advising Essentials provides a guide for creating a note in Starfish, tips for successful notes, and examples of both positive and inadequate advising notes.
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How to Create a Note in Starfish
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One way to create a note in Starfish is to search the student's name in the Starfish search box. Once you select a student's name, this will open their student folder, as seen above. There is a lot of information here, so be sure to explore this if you are not familiar with it. To create a note, select the "Note" button along the top row.
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Selecting the "Note" button will open this screen. This is where you will type the note. Be sure to select a note type (more on that below), add a subject, and fill in the note body. If you wish to send this note to the student (or yourself) in the form of an email, you can check the appropriate box below the note body. If you do not send it to the student it will still remain in their Starfish record.
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When you create your note, be sure to select the most accurate note type. "Advising Note" is the most common option. It can be viewed by anyone who has access to the student's record. For advising conversations, choose this option. If you are completing an academic review for a student at the end of the semester, choose the "Academic Review" option.
Once you have completed your note, you can select the "Submit" button in the bottom right-hand corner to have that information added to the student's academic record.
If you would like more information on how to use Starfish, please visit the Starfish
tutorial
, the archived edition of Advising Essentials entitled "
Starfish Quick Tips
," or contact the ACPC for personalized training.
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Brooke claims she wants to be a Mechanical Engineering major, but she is currently taking MATH 4 so she will likely struggle. Recommended she take some Gen Eds since she won’t be able to start the science and major classes yet.
In this example, the adviser included biased opinion regarding the student's performance. Additionally, the adviser mentioned that they discussed scheduling but neglected to include exactly what courses were recommended.
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Brooke is an athlete who is intending a Mechanical Engineering major and plans to gradate from Behrend. She wanted to meet with me to discuss scheduling for the spring semester. We reviewed Entrance to Major requirements. She plans to schedule for the spring: MATH 21, ENGL 15, ART 50, ECON 102, HIST 11.
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This example provides a great amount of background information, including the student's intended major, campus of graduation, and special populations. The note includes the exact courses that were discussed during their scheduling conversation and documents that Entrance to Major requirements were reviewed.
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Dominic intends a Communications major at Behrend. He is struggling in some of his classes so I referred him to get help.
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This note identifies specifics of Dominic's demographics, but the topic of conversation is vague and the referrals are not included. This general note does not provide enough detail for someone else to understand what was covered during the advising conversation.
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Dominic intends a Communications major at Behrend. He reports that he is struggling in his PSYCH 100 class this semester. We reviewed effective note-taking skills since that is an area of growth for him. He also wants help with the content of the course, so I referred him to tutoring in the Learning Resource Center. We discussed the late drop deadline and possible repercussions of late dropping a class. He will continue to try to improve in the course and decide if he thinks he should drop it closer to the deadline.
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This note thoroughly addresses Dominic's areas of concerns and includes the specific referral and success interventions made by the adviser. Additionally, it documents that a specific policy was covered with the student. If someone else were to read this note after the student met with the adviser, they would have a comprehensive understanding of the student, his needs, and how he has already been helped by his adviser.
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As always, we are happy to provide additional training if you would like to learn more about using Starfish, creating notes, and other advising topics. Please reach out with any questions about this topic or ideas for future editions of the Advising Essentials.
Thank you,
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