Notes
This project is aimed at creating a software component that will allow users to create "notes" and attach the notes to student records. The first use case is Online Registration, where there have been requests to provide a kind of digital "stick note" capability.
Notes from a meeting with Mary Callahan & Eamon Kearns to discuss requirements for new notes feature. 4pm, Tuesday September 18, 2012:
- Original request from faculty/advisors.
- Ability to add "notes" or "comments" to a student's registration record.
- Future plans would involve a broader scheme allowing notes to be
available in any arbitrary web application.
- For now, stick to Online Reg, with advisors and students being
the people who could interact with the notes.
- Advisors would be able to create notes for an advisee.
- Advisors would be able to view, modify, and delete notes that they
or another of the student's advisors had created.
- Students would be able to see their notes.
- Notes would not be term-specific, they would be associated with the
advisor(s) and the student.
- Primary association is with the advisor(s).
- History or change log of notes could be useful.
- Multiple notes for a student should be accomodated.
- A product called Evernote was mentioned as a possible technical solution.
- WYSIWYG editor for notes might be attractive.
- For the broader discussion of access rights to notes, faculty input
would be sought.
- The notes should not be considered part of the official educational record
of the student as covered by FERPA.
Next steps
- Build prototype - copy of Online Reg with notes capability.
Questions
- I'd like to understand more about the FERPA concern, about what aspects of
the design would keep the data out of or put it into the FERPA world.
Preliminary Data Model
A simple data model to be used in a prototype is here: