Use the “Advising Comments” tab as your default when recording advising notes. There are times when it is more appropriate to enter a note using the “Internal Notes” or “Advisor Only” tabs. Some notable exceptions are outlined below. For all notes, use professional and objective language, with the understanding that AdRx notes are viewable not only by the student, but also by many other AdRx users.
- Student’s major(s) and other academic interests (including any minors or certificates being pursued)
- Intended graduation date
- Topics of discussion with relevant details
- Actions taken (referrals, assignments, advisor action, etc.)
- Recommended student actions
Use titles and names: Use titles/title abbreviations along with names when referring to IUB personnel in AdRx notes, particularly when documenting a decision or advice regarding a student petition or exception. Future users consulting historical notes may need both the name and title for reference.
Ex: Incorrect: DUS approved exception to allow transfer course (include course number and title) to count in major; Correct: Tom Busey, Director of Undergraduate Studies (or DUS) in Psychological and Brain Sciences (or PBS), approved exception to allow transfer course (include course number and title) to count toward the PSY B.S. for this student.
Archiving AARs: Archiving an AAR is fast and easy, and provides important context for advising discussions. Always archive the AAR when conducting a senior check or when you use it as the basis for an advising discussion. You should make it a practice to pull up the AAR whenever you are discussing a student's degree requirements or path to graduation.
Tags: Enter one or more tags indicating the topics of your interaction with the student. Please consult with your supervisor or another member of the advising leadership team before creating new tags.
Most topics of discussion between an advisor and a student should be recorded in the “Advising Comments” tab in AdRx. However, there may be instances where it is either inappropriate, irrelevant, or unnecessary to record elements of an advising interaction.
Sensitive information: Record information related to these issues in broad terms (e.g. ‘health concerns’, ‘medical issue’ or ‘personal issue’. Such issues include but are not limited to:
- Medical and health information (diagnoses should not be identified)
- Disability information (disabilities should not be identified)
- Sexual assault (must be reported to Title IX coordinator)
- It may be appropriate to use an “Advisor Only” note to indicate a sensitive situation that other advisors should be aware of.
- If you wish to keep more detailed notes, you may keep these notes in your personal files as long as they are locked and secure. If these notes are accessible to others, they will be subject to FERPA.
Internal communications: It is not necessary to document every interaction with faculty, staff, or other advisors about a student. However, you may note conclusions reached about policy decisions, exceptions, course equivalencies or other exceptional circumstances. When recording these communications, adhere to the following guidelines:
- Only copy/paste your own communications with students and summarize/paraphrase other IUB personnel communications when context is needed. Although advisors may copy/paste an email from other IUB personnel with consent of that individual, paraphrasing is the preferred method of documentation.
- Only document the outcome of internal communications regarding policy decisions, exceptions, course equivalencies, etc.—not the rationale for the decision. If there is a compelling reason, advisors may record these notes in the “Advisor Only” tab. Otherwise, default to the “Advising Comments” tab. The College Recorder’s Office does not have access to the “Advisor Only” notes and they sometimes need to review the AdRx notes.
- Be sure to also enter requests for exceptions, results of senior checks, etc. in CHER.
Email copy/paste:
- Exercise caution when using copy/paste to ensure that sensitive information is protected and long email chains are not inadvertently copied into multiple notes.
- If you suspect that an email chain will continue, save your AdRx note as a draft and wait to submit it until the email chain is resolved or until the end of the day, whichever comes first. If the email chain continues past the end of the day, use addenda or create a new note.
- If the email chain is exceptionally long, it may be more appropriate to summarize the interaction rather than copying and pasting the entire chain.
- Redact personal comments about other advisors or faculty.
- Reference any discussion of medical or mental health as outlined above
Allegations of misadvising: Do not record a student’s personal opinion or your own evaluation of the quality of advising received from another advisor in AdRx. If an allegation of misadvising is made, consult with the advisor in question or a member of the College Advising Leadership Team. Report concerns about misadvising by advisors outside the College to the Director of Advising or another member of the advising leadership team. Only facts pertinent to a student’s academic record or planning decisions should be entered in the AdRx notes.
Most mass communications do not need to be recorded in AdRx. Only record mass communications if they contain relevant advising information.
- Examples of appropriate messages to record: Notices of withdrawal deadlines, course registration information, policy information, reminders to apply to graduate, targeted outreach campaigns, etc.
- Examples of Mass Communications not to record: upcoming departmental events, information on new courses, internship or job postings, job talks, etc.
Addenda can be used to correct or amend a note, to clarify something ambiguous or unclear in a note, or to record a brief follow-up to a previous interaction. Record any new and substantive interactions with a student in a new note.
AdRx Quick Notes can help streamline your practice of documenting your advising contacts. Quick Notes templates, compiled and edited by a team of College advisors, are here to help you develop your own library of Quick Notes within AdRx.
Many of the themes represented in this document contain more than one way to communicate a message or document a meeting topic. These are templates, meant to be customized per your individual style.
Please send corrections to collalt@iu.edu.
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