Study guidance and commenting on a study plan
Table of contents
In Sisu a student can ask for guidance related to their structure of studies at any time by clicking the Guidance button at the upper right corner of their study plan. Students can for example ask guidance related to choices made in a specific module with a targeted comment, or leave a general comment related to the entire study plan.
In Sisu the study tutor(s)/guidance counselor(s) can view the study plans of students in their tutoring group, and can give their acceptance to study plans either in a meeting, or by leaving a general comment to the student's study plan. Study tutors cannot leave comments on students' timing plans yet, but this functionality is under development. Whether or not the StudentLife student welfare advisors (Goodies) have direct access to the students' study plans, or if this access is given as needed depends on the faculty/department. In the future of Sisu's development the student will be able to grant viewing rights to their study plan to other staff members if needed.
Students can view their tutoring groups and their responsible persons in the Groups -tab of the My Profile -section found in the drop-down menu of the top-right corner of the page. The Groups tab lists any tutoring and target groups the student has been added to. Tutoring groups are used for guidance counselling, whereas target groups are used for prioritising enrolment (e.g. priority to enroll is given to the students of a certain degree programme).
Sending a guidance message
Students can ask for guidance by clicking the Guidance button on the Structure of studies -tab. A message noting a new guidance comment will be sent to the student's study tutor in Sisu. Once the study tutor replies to the student's message, the student will receive a message noting this new comment as well. Because of due process any sent messages cannot be edited or deleted afterwards.
If the student doesn't have a study right corresponding to their study plan, the Guidance button is greyed out, and it does not redirect to the comments page.
The Go back to structure -button at the top-right corner of the comments page takes you back to the study plan structure view.
General comment
Writing a guidance comment starts by clicking the Guidance -button at the top right corner of the study plan, which opens the comment page related to the study plan in question. The comment tree on the page shows any previous messages and applications from the student and their counsellor(s). Messages from any sent applications (i.e. applying for a custom module), and the counsellors' decisions regarding the applications are automatically saved into the comment tree.
The next step is to choose the message type (general or targeted comment). A general comment means a general question regarding the entire study plan structure. A general comment could for example be a student asking their counselor if their choices look acceptable, or asking for recommendations on what kinds of elective studies to choose for a particular career path they are aiming for. After selecting the message type the message is typed in the text box below.
Once the comment is ready, the message is sent by accepting the terms and conditions regarding sensitive information and data protection by checking the box, and clicking Send. The new message appears below the messaging field in the comment tree. The left side of the comment tree shows the student's messages, and the right side the councelor's messages. Because of due process comments cannot be edited or deleted after sending. Currently notifications from new messages are only sent within Sisu, and email notifications are not supported. Email notifications are being taken into consideration in Sisu's future development and in planning new electronic desktops and related applications.
Targeted comment
To write a targeted comment, select the course, study module or grouping to which you want to attach your comment from the screen prompt.
Clicking OK takes you back to the previous screen. Now you can write your targeted comment in the text box. Click Send and your message appears to the left hand side of the comment tree.
