SBIR Phase I: MyCCMajors: A Knowledge-Based System to Improve Student Advisement at Two Year Colleges

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to improve academic advisement for seven million community college students. Advisement is a major weakness in student progress toward degree completion. The research determines whether an Internet-based advisement instrument that takes into account a student's academic and other achievements can improve academic advisement. The instrument incorporates previously untapped knowledge from campus-wide and departmental counselors. It improves the success rate of students in STEM and other disciplines. It serves a broad range of traditional and non-traditional students. The recommendations are specific to the wide variety of courses of study available at individual campuses. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a system that embodies the knowledge of human advisors and counselors. Unlike prior instruments, this system incorporates actual student achievement in school, life experiences, and other relevant personal data in order to recommend appropriate majors. To do this, the research will identify, codify and convert "private" human advisor expertise in a knowledge-based system that can be more easily improved, evaluated, validated and verified than "human-based" systems. Recommendations will be specific to individual community colleges. MyCCMajors augments and supports advisor resources at these institutions.