Document students' history and inform future interactions.
Using Notes and Appointment Summaries allows advisors and student support staff to better collaborate.
Benefits to documenting interactions with students
- Builds coordinated care and supports student success.
- Provides a more holistic view of how that student is navigating their college experience.
- Allows for robust reporting on all interactions with your students.
There are two main ways to document a student interaction in Navigate: an appointment summary or a general note.
| Appointment Summary | General Note | |
| Tied to student appointment | Yes | No |
| Tied to an email exchange | No | Yes |
| Tied to an impromtu interaction | No | Yes |
| Can be shared with student | No | Yes |
| Viewable by all staff and administrators | Yes | Yes |
Best practices for documenting interactions
Use professional judgement to make a detailed summary of the interaction.
Include: facts, professional observations, recommendations made, referrals made to other offices, etc. Do not include: opinions, judgements, diagnoses, etc.
For example:
Include: facts, professional observations, recommendations made, referrals made to other offices, etc. Do not include: opinions, judgements, diagnoses, etc.
For example:
- What not to say: Hates his math professor and threatened to leave the university because of it.
- Instead, try: Has concerns about his math class and shared that he's considering transferring. Recommended he schedule an appointment with me to talk through options. I also provided tutoring and study buddy resources to consider.
- What not to say: Another death in the family but she seemed fine.
- Instead, try: Grandfather passed away so will be traveling for funeral. Recommended she connect with instructors to let them know. Also provided reminder of drop deadlines and contact information for Student Support and Accountability.
- What not to say: Said she is struggling mentally, but does this every time she takes a hard class.
- Instead, try: Shared well-being concerns with me. Referred student to CAPS.
Navigate | Notes: Document emails and impromptu exchanges
Using Notes in Navigate adds context to the student's history for advisors and campus partners. Notes are used for non-appointment documentation.
- Log in to Navigate with your K-State eID and password.
- Type the student's name in the search bar at the top of the screen. If you are assigned as the student's advisor in KSIS, you can also select the student from your list.
- Click "Add a Note on this Student" from the menu options.
- Enter Note content and attach files if appropriate. Example files include SAP appeal, late drop appeal form, long range plan, etc.
- Select a Note Reason, if applicable.
- Click "Save Note."
Visibility
- Notes are viewable by all university staff by default and should be added for others to see. To restrict access, click the radial button by your name. Use this option sparingly.
- To share the note with the student, click the radial button next to their name.
Navigate | Appointment Summaries: Document appointments to build coordinated care
Completing an appointment summary in Navigate adds context to the student's history for advisors and campus partners. An appointment summary should be filled out after each student appointment.
- Log in to Navigate using your K-State eID and password.
- Click on the Appointments tab.
- Click Actions > Add Appointment Summary.
- Choose Care Unit, Location, and Service(s).
- Mark whether or not a progress report was discussed in this appointment.
- Attach file if applicable.
- Write content.
- Save This Report.