Upon enrolling at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in the CIS Department each student is assigned an academic advisor. The academic advisor is one of the tenure-track faculty in the department. Typically the academic advisor meets with the student twice each year to plan choose courses the student takes the next semester. The courses chosen must be consistent with the approved program of study and the general education requirements. It is important that students identify their advisor. Current procedures within the CIS Department match students with advisors through a random process. The advising list is placed on a bulletin board inside the CIS office. This list is simply a pairing of students with advisors and presented in alphabetical order by student name.
There are several difficulties with the current method of operation: 1) the list is only available during working hours, 2) students don't know the list exists or where to find it, 3) advisors change, and 4) advisor location and office hours are not posted on the list.
Develop a system which will allow students to determine, in any given semester, who their advisor is from any desktop system on campus through the use of a standard web browser.
A working prototype for the system and all associated documentation for operating and maintaining the system. The accompanying documentation should include data from initial user testing to determine the level of interest and accessibility of the system.
Work on the project begins February 1, 1999. The work concludes on or before the first day of final exams.
Customer: Richard Upchurch, Professor, CIS Department.