Notes Screen

On the Notes tab, you can view all notes entered by any adviser for a student. Using the Add Note button, you can enter a new note for a student. If a student has notes already in the system, the label “Student has Notes” will appear in red under the Notes tab.

Viewing Existing Notes: Notes tab

The Notes tab displays a summary of the notes that currently exist for a student. Notes are displayed in reverse chronological order (i.e., newest to oldest).

When retracted, the summary includes the date of the visit, the date (if any) that the note was later edited, the date the note was originally entered, the purpose of the visit, and the adviser who entered the note.

Each note is expandable; that is, if you click the “+” on the left margin, the box will expand to display the information in that section. For more information on what might be included in the detailed note display, see “Entering New Notes: Add Note button,” below.

A maximum of five notes can be displayed per screen, so if the student has more than five notes, you can navigate through them using the “Newer Notes,” “Older Notes,” and “Refresh to Top” buttons.

• Newer Notes: Displays the next five newer notes
• Older Notes: Displays the next five older notes
• Refresh to Top: Displays the five newest notes (i.e., goes to the top of the list)

Entering New Notes: Add Note button

When you click the Add Note button, a new window opens allowing you to add a note to the student’s record. You may fill out as many or as few of the fields as you would like.

• Discussed: You may choose one or more (or none) of these topics to describe your interaction with the student
• Submitted/Filled Out: You may choose one or more (or none) of these checkboxes to indicate the form(s) you filled out during your interaction with the student
• Comments: You may type (or cut-and-paste) open-ended text into this box
• Referred to: You may type the names of offices or people that you referred the student to during your interaction
• Visit Date: This field defaults to the day you are entering the note; however, you may overwrite this date if necessary
• Type of Visit: You may choose the nature of the visit from “In Person,” “Phone,” “Email,” or “Other”
• Follow up Remark: You may type a quick reminder of any action items for the student or yourself (e.g., “bring in plan for next 3 quarters”)
• Follow up Date: You may enter a date by which the item(s) listed in the “Follow up Remark” must be completed

Editing Existing Notes: Notes tab

Although all advisers with access to the Electronic Academic Records System can view all notes, only the adviser who entered a note can edit it.

To edit a note, simply locate the note in the Summary of Notes, click the “+” to expand the note, and click the “Edit Note” button at the bottom of the entry. The system will then display the “Add Note” screen with all of the information for that note already entered. Make as many changes as you would like, then click “Update”. This will return you to the Summary of Notes page.

Notice that after you edit a note, the date you made the changes will appear in the “Note Updated” column in the Summary of Notes; the original date of the note is retained and displayed in the “Note Entered” column. Also, the chronological order of the notes is determined by the date in the “Note Entered” (i.e., original note date) column.

Deleting Existing Notes: Notes tab

As with editing notes, only the adviser who entered a note can delete it. However, because of FERPA regulations, notes are never actually deleted; they are hidden and inaccessible to all EARS users, but are still a part of the permanent student record. Should the student ever request his/her records or if the records were subpoenaed, those deleted notes, which are still a part of the student’s record, would be provided.

To delete a note, simply locate the note in the Summary of Notes, click the “+” to expand the note, and click the “Delete Note” button at the bottom of the entry. A popup box will appear with the following text:

“WARNING: You are about to delete a note. Deleted notes are hidden, but still exist as a part of the permanent student record. See HELP above for more information. Click “OK” if you want to delete the note.”

Click “OK” to hide the note from EARS view.