» STAFF REPORT

The Degree Compass software, formerly known as the Course Recommendation system, is APSU’s newest resource to help students gather information about what classes they should take.

Degree Compass is used to help make course selection less of a maze and more of a path to keep students on track.

“Degree Compass is used to try to give as much information to help students make the best decisions,” said Tristan Denley, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs.

The system is meant to simplify advising and to help better educate students on the classes they need or want to take. How the system works is actually pretty straightforward.

Currently, the program looks at many variables that are unique to each student. It looks at the students’ transcripts, the courses they’ve taken and what courses they still have to take. Degree Compass takes into account degree evaluation as well as each student’s individual course bulletin requirements.

The analytics behind grade predictions are accurate. “If Degree Compass says you will get a C or better, you will actually get a C or better,” Denley said.

In the future, Denley said the next step in Degree Compass would be to incorporate a way to help students pick majors, as well as including an option to have students register for classes within Degree Compass rather than using the separate registration area within Self-Registration. TAS