edSPARK

Educational System for Student Pathway Analysis, Research, and Knowledge

Prototyping and designing edSPARK

Educational System for Student Pathway Analysis, Research, and Knowledge

The primary goals of developing edSPARK are to:

  • Design a general curriculum analyses tool
  • Visualize historical student pathways
  • Improve student understanding of course progression
  • Provide institutional insights for curriculum redesign

The system is developed through iterative prototyping and feedback collected from undergraduate students.

What students are saying about course planning

A total of 39 students, representing 9 STEM departments, responded to the survey about their current course planning experience, and impression about a proposed tool like edSPARK. The responses are summarized in the table1 at the end.

General summary of current student experience:

  • Students face persistent challenges in course planning and advising, including prerequisite navigation, scheduling uncertainty, and limited confidence in long-term academic planning.
  • Students strongly support a tool like edSPARK, especially for pathway exploration, delay identification, and alternatives evalutaion.

edSPARK screenshot

edSPARK employs IEMS course progression data from 2020 – 2023 in identifying a course progression graph. The system allows comparison of “ideal” prescribed curriculum and actual student pathways for identification of curriculum design effectiveness.

Empirical pathway analysis for IEMS students from 2020 -- 2023 generated using edSPARK. Each node represents a course, and each edge represents if courses are taken in back-to-back quarters. A larger node represents bigger impact in course completion to degree completion. A thicker edge represents if more students take the courses in back-to-back quarters.

Full student survey responses

Question Mean (Std)
Current experience (1 - Strongly disagree, 5 - Strongly agree)  
Currently, I feel confident planning my course schedule. 3.95 (1.05)
I understand the prerequisites required for my major classes and how the early classes connect to my advanced classes. 4.33 (0.87)
I am satisfied with my current academic advising experience. 3.62 (1.11)
I have no difficulty scheduling and getting into classes I plan for. 3.18 (1.1)
edSPARK usage example (1 - Not at all useful, 5 - Extremely useful)  
Planning: You are selecting courses for next quarter. edSPARK shows which courses you can take and how each choice affects your future quarters. 4.74 (0.59)
Prerequisite impact: edSPARK shows how early courses connect to advanced courses and highlights important prerequisite pathways (e.g., without CS 150 I cannot take CS 349). 4.54 (0.79)
Advising preparation: Before meeting your advisor, you use edSPARK to generate possible course plans and bring them to your meeting. 4.23 (0.96)
Exploring Alternatives: You are considering a minor or different track. edSPARK shows how your choices would affect your timeline and requirements. 4.79 (0.47)
Identifying Delays: edSPARK alerts you if delaying a course could impact your courses down the line and ultimately your graduation timeline. 4.85 (0.37)
Interest in edSPARK (1 - Strongly disagree, 5 - Strongly agree)  
A tool like edSPARK would improve my course planning. 4.67 (0.53)
A tool like edSPARK would improve my advising experience. 4.33 (0.87)
I would use a tool like edSPARK if it were available. 4.77 (0.48)

  1. Student survey response table ↩