The Academic Planner, a Tool for Planning Successful Academic Careers

Students' satisfaction with their academic environment is in part related to ease of access to information and an ability to communicate with those involved in their academic decision making. Student retention rates are, in turn, related to student satisfaction. The UM Web Technology Services organization designed and implemented a new application, the Academic Planner, which eases access to course and student-specific academic information and provides a user-friendly environment for constructing a four-year academic career plan. Successful planning and more productive advisor-advisee interaction are predicted to improve the likelihood of the student achieving the desired degree.