A mobile course coordinator system

Abstract

The rapid progress of IT technologies has enabled users to access 'any service, anytime, anywhere', and wireless Internet services have enabled users to access Internet services even while traveling. Cellular phones have evolved to smart phones, and act as computers. Users can now access service categories that offer new possibilities and which are accessed and used in ways different from traditional services anytime, anywhere. Previous academic administration management systems had migrated from wired to wireless technology but were restricted to specific equipment, as such systems were not based on industry standards. The course coordinator plays a significant role in managing the curriculum and counseling students on academic matters, with a view to fostering their academic progress. However, the coordinator does not have the time to advise individual students on the details of which fields and courses they should pursue. This paper proposes a mobile course coordinator system (MCCS) to help students to choose and access the courses necessary for their major fields of study. When students apply, the MCCS recommends the most suitable subjects, using an inference engine that considers not only course sequences but also the student's information. The performance of the MCCS in tests was very good, coinciding 89.5% of the time with an expert's recommendations. In particular, our method was more effective than the Intelligent Online Academic Management System (IOAMS) in related research. Students can use their personal cellular phones to track their courses and receive course recommendations from the MCCS. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.