Inspiration
The first time we attempted to plan our schedules, we spent nearly two hours exploring different course combinations without finding a single viable option. We constantly switched between multiple tabs, comparing professor ratings on Rate My Professors, course evaluations on GT Course Critique, and available sections on Plan Ahead. Just when we thought we found something good, it often conflicted with our desired class times or professor preferences. Having to manually balance all these factors made the registration process incredibly time-consuming and stressful.
Our goal is to create a tool that helps students efficiently build schedules that work for both their academic goals and everyday lives.
What it does
CourseCraft helps students create personalized college schedules based on their degree requirements, preferences, and goals. It takes into account: -Degree Requirements & Graduation Date: Helps students figure out which classes they still need and when they should take them. -Professor Ratings: Uses RateMyProfessor to select the best teacher in accordance with the schedule -Average Class GPA: Shows historical GPA averages to give students a better idea of what to expect. -Course Availability: Considers which classes are offered each semester. -Schedule Planning: Finds class combinations that avoid time conflicts. Instead of making students figure everything out themselves, CourseCraft brings all these factors together to help them build a schedule that works for them.
How we built it
We began by surveying 55 GT students across campus to identify specific registration needs. 76.4% of students had trouble finding classes to fit their schedule, while 80% had scheduling conflicts. Moreover, 61.95% of students spent at least one hour, and of those, 16.4% spent 2 or more hours building a plan. We built our platform to fix these core issues.
Our system starts with understanding a student's degree requirements, completed classes, and personal preferences. CourseCraft then looks at available courses, prerequisites, professor information, and class times to find schedules that best match the student's needs. It brings all of this information together to generate schedule recommendations, helping students spend less time planning and more time focusing on their goals. Once the registration period begins, it can estimate the chances of getting off waitlists and suggest default classes when needed.
Challenges we ran into
The primary challenge we’re facing is figuring out how to bring information from different sources together in one place. The AI tool would need to be able to gather and synthesize not only public data, but also be connected on an internal level where it can access and view all the classes available for students. Some information about specific professors may also not be available online for the AI to assess.
Academic planning requires balancing several competing priorities. A schedule that maximizes professor ratings might create an overwhelming workload, while one that minimizes class hours might delay graduation if prerequisites are not considered.
Another difficulty was considering how to make recommendations useful without promising specific academic results. For example, past class GPAs can help students make decisions, but they cannot guarantee future grades.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
72.7% of students stated that they would use a platform that automatically creates personalized schedules. CourseCraft allows students to think ahead, stay on track for graduation, and build schedules that fit their lives. It saves students hours of stress by building personalized schedules in minutes, freeing up more time for studying, extracurriculars, and relaxation.
What we learned
Everyone has different academic goals, preferences, and commitments. There is no universally perfect schedule. Successful campus adoption would require reliable academic data, appropriate privacy safeguards, integration with existing registration workflows, and collaboration with university stakeholders.
Roughly 87% of the students mentioned registration to be stressful. Furthermore, 90.9% of students use at least 3 resources when planning a schedule, with 12.7% using 4-5 resources. Rather than using multiple platforms to create a schedule, CourseCraft is one comprehensive tool students can use to make registration simple.
Additionally, 80% of students believe their advisers are uninvolved in the registration process. While some students are getting the proper guidance they need, CourseCraft would provide that opportunity for all students.
What's next for CourseCraft - Scheduling Made Simple
-Building an internal GT AI system -Working with Georgia Tech advisors to make sure recommendations match degree requirements. -Connecting to approved university course data to show accurate class availability. -Testing CourseCraft with a small group of students before expanding campus-wide. -Protecting student information and keeping registration decisions in students' hands.
Built With
- algorithmic-scheduling
- api-integration
- database-management
- figma
- html/css
- openai
- predictive-modeling
- python
- react.js
- web-development
