| Though the role of traveler information in transportation has been widely recognized in Activity Analysis research, the needs of specific populations receive limited attention. The commuting burden on community college students received comparatively little attention, despite first semester attrition rates and sharp declines in observed parking demand through the first semester of enrollment. Activity Analysis focused on transportation mode and constraints of location on task fulfillment. Personal Information Management examined the ability of individuals to plan, monitor, and fulfill tasks and appointments. The needs of this population informed the design of a simulation framework informed by Personal Information Management, Activity Analysis, and Information and Communication Technology research in meeting those tasks under constraints of time, place, and the ability to retrieve and utilize personal activities to meet overall goals.;A simulation evaluated the impacts of improved information use in accomplishing personal goals. A database client application evaluated a population of individual simulated users. A relational data model captured task, schedule, and location information for the population, while representing the relationships between these entities to structured workflows and semester-length plans. A relational database client application incorporated standardized operators in managing Personal Information with respect to tasks, schedules, while reconciling these activities with relevant locations for completing them. Iterative Proportional Fitting techniques generated a population equivalent to Community College Survey of Student Engagement results received from an Upstate New York community college in 2010.;The simulation compared changes in the probability of recall and use for the factors for task, time, and location singly, in pairs, and collectively. These changes gauged the effectiveness of goal completion and differences in time, travel distances, and travel costs. A derived measure of efficiency related goal completion to travel costs. As confirmed in student success literature, improvements in task and time use improved overall goal efficiency. Improved goal completion led to greater travel costs but lower relative costs. |
